HOWARD STERN - IMUS DEFENDED BY WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE

IMUS DEFENDED BY WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE

The imminent return of Don Imus to the airwaves has been welcomed in an Op-Ed piece in the Boston Globe by the writer of a book about discrimination against women in the legal workplace. Lauren Stiller Rikleen, author of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women's Success in the Law, called Imus's remarks about the Rutger's women's basketball team "reprehensible" but maintained that "hypocritical" broadcast media have turned a blind eye to similar outrageous comments since Imus's dismissal. "Imus should be back on the air because he remains one of the few interviewers willing to ask the tough questions that most others ignore," Rikleen wrote. "Unlike so many other journalists who treat their interviewees gingerly so as not to scare away other 'gets,' Imus did not let his guests off the hook with evasive answers." She acknowledged that at times Imus could be crude. "When that happened, many of us probably did the same thing: We changed the station. It's an old-fashioned approach, but it still works." Meanwhile, published reports have indicated that when Imus returns on Dec. 3, he'll have a co-host for the first time. Monday's New York Post suggested that Imus "partner up with an African-American woman, as Howard Stern did so successfully with the lovely Robin Quivers, who keeps Stern from straying into misogynistic, racist territory."

27/11/2007