Milwaukee Radio Show Host and Station Decline Appeals For Religious Tolerance
Sun Nov 25, 2007 at 10:22:14 PM PDT
A Right-Wing Milwaukee talk show host, backed up by station management at WTMJ-AM 620, are at odds with Milwaukee's mainstream religious umbrella group called the Interfaith Coalition of Greater Milwaukee.
The issue: the talk show host's posting on his blog of a version of the popular "coexist" bumper sticker that substitutes a swastika for the Star of David - - all as an intentional slam at Islam!
When Interfaith asked that the bumper sticker come off the post, the host said he was drawing "a line in the sand" against political correctness, and the station backed him up.
Charlie Sykes, is the morning talk show host on WTMJ-AM 620, Wisconsin's leading AM station, and part of the electronic media arm of Journal Communications, Inc., which operates a number of radio and television stations, along with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.
A vocal conservative, Sykes posted on his blog a link to, and praise for, so-called parody of the popular "coexist" bumper sticker, which spells out in the original "coexist" using the symbols of the world's major religions.
An artist first created the image through the dialogue-supporting Israeli Museum of the Seam. The "coexist" message, on posters, t-shirts and bumper stickers, is now an iconic image of tolerance known worldwide.
The parodied version, created by an online Wisconsin conservative designer, substituted a swastika for the Star of David, and inserted Communism's Hammer and Sickle, too.
The message of the parody apparently is that there can be no coexistence with Islam because it is the new Nazism or Communism.
You can access the two designs through the website of the person who created the 'parody,' here.
Sykes' first posting is here
Sykes and other right-wing bloggers have used the parodied design and the controversy to weigh in heavily with angry, anti-Islamic postings.
The Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, a coalition of major churches, synagogues, mosques and temples - - including the powerful Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee - - through its executive director, asked Sykes and station management to remove the redesigned bumper sticker.
They said it was offensive and insensitive - - unneeded in the community.
Hard to argue with that. I posted several reponses on my blog.
One is here::
Sykes refused the Interfaith request, publishing its letter and saying he was drawing a "line in the sand" against what he called politically correctness and the wishes of the "perpetually offended."
He said it was a matter of his free speech, and the station management backed him up.
It's a classic example of how conservative talk radio gins up its audiences with unapologetic appeals to intolerance, causing or exacerbating divisions and fears in a community - - for notoriety and ratings.
Sykes and I worked some years ago at the city's leading newspaper - -known then as The Milwaukee Journal. We both know that media make decisions all the time to tone down, not cover, or spike offending language or stories.
It's not censorship (unless the government makes the demand, which is not the case here): it's the exercise of judgement by employees and management, done dozens of time a day at a media outlet - - even at a talk radio program, which is somewhere between new media and entertainment.
Thus editors and writers consider good taste and community relations constantly as they determine what goes into print, on the air, and now, on the Internet.
Their consciences and corporate structures all come into play. It's not censorship: it's commonsense.
It's not clear how this will all work out: Milwaukee has a genuine opportunity to turn this into a victory for tolerance and understanding, and as a way to open real dialogue among religions - - or the voices of anger and negativity will succeed.
In the coming days, people in Milwaukee will be watching the station's management, and corporate executives, for a fresh sign affirming that we don't need more pointless anger and division in Milwaukee.
Permalink | 8 comments