Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Black, White and Racist All Over

Steve Nylund, president of the company that is selling a 49 percent stake of the free newspaper Metro Boston to The New York Times, apologized yesterday for referring to African-Americans as "niggers" during a company meeting last year. The apology came in response to a story my colleague Rory O'Connor broke at MediaChannel.org yesterday. The exclusive now has executives at The Times and its subsidiary Boston Globe scrambling to deal with a potentially damaging racial firestorm, as black community leaders consider boycotts and other measures in response. Read the latest at MediaChannel.org.

Update: and now this report from The Boston Herald and this from The Boston Globe. The $64 question: After all this, will the Metro NYT deal go through?

Update II: Metro execs resign, as the Times weighs whether to pooch the $16.5 million deal in the wake of the controversy.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Riedel Communications said...
Great job uncovering this nasty mess. Glad to see the Globe pick it up. Is this unbelievable or what? Just when I think I am beyond being shocked by anything anymore...

Leon Bertoletti said...

It sounds unbelievable. But thing like this happens, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

That's enough for me. I won't pick up a Metro again, ditto NYT, until these racists are fired. Let THEM stand in the cold and hawk papers for minimum wage.

Anonymous said...

I am really annoyed that freedom of speech is gone. So someones feelings get hurt, no one should have to apologize for everything they say, because "A GROUP" says it had their feelings hurt. The African-Americans should spend more time on redeeming thier kids, school, books, learning, no drugs. Then I bet these comments would stop. Tell the African-American groups to spend their energy on the right place and quit this feeling sorry for myself routine, that is annoying everyone.

Anonymous said...

Here's a thought. Boycot these SOBs and anybody who associates themselvers with them. It's better "sooner" than "later" that people start saying "enough" -- and DOING SOMETHING about these types of genetically mutated gene strains.

Anonymous said...

Being born and raised in Boston this atrocious behavior unfortunately doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is what in Hell took so long for anybody to get pissed off. Hello America! Anybody home?

Anonymous said...

I understand the anger here. What I don't understand, is WHERE IS THE ANGER when it comes to rap music, videos, movies, etc. expressing the same racial epithet by African-Americans in the above industries? Children, teens & young adults are exposed to this behavior daily through the entertainment industry! Racial etiquette begins at home~~~~~
Sue Miles
Fair Oaks, CA