Colorful Reporting

By: Adrian Aitken

One of the topics this election period brought up in the early part of the campaigns was if America was ready for an African American president. I believe this to be an okay idea to focus on because whether you like it or not is a big deciding factor. Yet to report on this the reporter needs to be objective and sensible.

Quinn and Tennent are two radio talk show hosts on The War Room with Quinn & Rose who discussed Colin Powell in regards to his racial status. Rather than focusing on his achievements and advancing his race the pair talked about which race he belonged to.

At one point they agreed Powell was a white man as he served on the Bush Administration. The hosts agreed the public as a whole also thought the same way. They then moved on to stating that after Powell left he became "black by popular demand," as stated by Quinn.

Quinn and Tennent are tarnishing the media by taking such a hot topic and playing with it like play-doh. The media isn't seen in a good light as it is now, but this type of reporting does not help. I'm not sure if the radio hosts were punished by the FCC for calling Powell an Oreo, but their credibility must have taken a dive.