Why does NBC continue to tolerate the rantings of confirmed bigot and anti-semite Pat Buchanan? The answer is simple. He is popular. He drives print, television and new media ratings.
Pat’s latest anti-semitic rant was in relation to the proposed confirmation of Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court Justice. Kagan is Jewish. Pat, true to form, complains there are too many Jews on the Supreme Court bench. In his May 13, 2010 column, he states,
“If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. Is this the Democrats’ idea of diversity?’
This is not the 1st time Buchanan has come under fire for his anti–Semitic viewpoints and not the 1st time NBC has turned a blind eye.
In 2009, Buchanan’s personal website, Buchanan.org, hosted a forum entitled “Disinformation, Deception and Other Tricks” and within that, a thread called “Discussion about ‘The Holocaust. The thread discussions allegedly propagated the revisionist historical theory of “Holocaust Denial”
The entire forum section of the website was allegedly taken down hours after an op-ed by Menachem Rosensaft in the New York Daily News pointed out it’s existence. NBC offered no statement and took no action against Buchanan.
NBC has a corporate social responsibility to not sanction either by action or inaction, hatred towards racial, religious and ethnic minorities. Along with this social responsibility comes the obligation to not allow those who they pay to represent them to espouse these despicable views or allow them to be espoused in a forum under their control. CBS understood this well when they fired Don Imus for racial slurs.
While Pat has the right to express certain views or allow them to be expressed on his personal site, NBC does not have to tolerate it when they are paying his bills and it reflects negatively on them. Employers set policies and make such statements to employees in the realm of blogging and free expression on a regular basis. Pat has the right to say he does does agree with that policy and walk. It boils down to the priorities and social consciousness of NBC. What we are seeing from NBC is where money is involved social conscience takes a back seat to profit. Hate is for sale at NBC.
