ABC News: "They Are Happy to Have A Party When Black People Drown"

Updates from John Nolte, Breitbart.com

***UPDATE III: Yahoo just announced they have terminated Chalian effective immediately.

***UPDATE II: Romney camp comments:  "It hasn’t even been 24 hours after the primetime speech line up at the Republican National Convention last night, and you can already tell how successful and powerful of a night it really was by the complete and utter meltdown the mainstream media is experiencing today. ... Most shockingly, Yahoo! Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian got caught on an ABC webcast saying that Mitt Romney would be “happy to have a party when black people drown.”

***UPDATE: ABC News reached out to Breitbart News to name the man heard mocking the Romneys during this ABC News livecast: David Chalian (pictured) of Yahoo! News. Chalian is a former political director with ABC News, but according to ABC News has no association with the network now. The headline has been changed to reflect this update, as has the story itself.

This is the culture that the Republicans and Mitt Romney are fighting during this election. 

ABC News was running a live feed of the Republican National Convention and an unknown ABC staffer can be heard saying the Romney's are, "happy to have a party when black people drown." Referring to the timing of the hurricane and the RNC. 

You don't get more egregiousness and indicative than this. These are the conversations that take place in newsrooms. These are the people editing the video tape, producing the newscasts, writing the copy and dictating what the public see on evening newscasts. This is what they believe. You can hear it on their broadcasts through their anchors, but rarely do you get this snapshot of their mindset. 

The comment was met with laughter and was preceded by the statement, "they aren't concerned at all." This was happening while video of the Romney's was playing during the live internet feed. 

ABC News must address this. They owe the Romney's an apology. They know who this staffer is and she must be fired. If not, then they condone this behavior. 

I could write a thousand columns on comments like these, and similar comments I heard while working in newsrooms. The open cries and tears when George W. Bush was elected in 2000 come to mind right now. There was weeping and wailing. It is the culture. Leftists live and thrive in this environment and they are rewarded with advancements. Rarely are they held accountable.

Of course, ABC News and the rest of the Activist Old Media should work to change the culture that harbors leftist bias, but they will not. It's who they are. It's too deep, too ingrained, and they really don't want to change it. It's like telling a rattlesnake not to bite. They will cease to exist before they correct the culture. 

ABC News, you know who said this live on your internet broadcast, the next move is yours. 

Follow Ron Futrell on Twitter @RonFutrell

Miller vs. Leno, And The Winner Is.....

It's tough to watch late night TV much anymore. Letterman is just a bitter, angry old man. Kimmel will take advantage once ABC moves Nighline out of his way, but that doesn't happen until January; and Leno has now officially gone of the rails. 

Jay had Dennis Miller on last night and, as expected, Miller was rock solid with jokes, and Leno couldn't get out of his leftist way. 

"At this point Biden's so silly they outta put one of those plastic dog collars around his neck so he doesn't hurt himself," joked Miller. All "Jay the Joke Killer" could add was, "I like Joe." Ya, whaddya like him for, he gives you punch lines? Jay, save the punch lines for one of your mechanics---we'd like to have a VP that is actually competent and doesn't sound like he spent the last 6 years sparring Rampage Jackson without headgear. Plugs won't help with that. 

It gets better. 

Jay believes Republicans have a War on Women (he's not joking.) I always thought he was smarter than that; I knew Letterman wasn't, but I thought Jay was. Miller talked about how he likes Barack Obama's execution of the War on Terror (by maintaining the Bush Doctrine) and all Leno could say was, "I think he (Obama) has compassion for regular people, if the Republican Party is missing anything it's this sort of, War on Women." Jay was serious about that. Let's just vote for the spirit of Mother Teresa and we'll have everything we need there, Jay. We would have compassion taken care of, women taken care of, and Chicago's dearly departed could come out of the graves again and have a candidate they could relate to.

Oh, it gets better still. 

Leno then brings up Todd Akin and claims that "he (Akin) was saying what the (Republican) platform is...it shows what many believe." Jay, stick to car jokes. Your politics are about as funny as 4 missing lug nuts on your Duesenberg SG. 

Miller capped it off his spectacular appearance by saying of Obama, "it's been an inept 4 years." "I wanna help the helpless, but I don't give a rats ass about the clueless anymore, Jay." Big cheers for that line.

I don't want to be mean here Jay, but you can now be numbered amongst the politically clueless.  Please, somebody give Miller a late night TV gig. 

Follow Ron Futrell on twitter @RonFutrell

Networks Feature Mormonism Prior to Romney Nomination

I expected the worst when I heard ABC and NBC were going to do in-depth examinations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a life long Mormon and journalist, I had gotten used to the media clouding their reporting on the LDS Church. 

ABC used good judgement by not showing video of the sacred Mormon garments, NBC did not use that same discretion. 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy and context with which the reporting was done. 

ABC's Dan Harris did a two-part series that was simply factual about the LDS Church. No frills or opinions, just the facts about the Church. He focused on the temples and showed video of the inside of a temple yet to be dedicated in Brigham City, Utah. He accurately portrayed the history of persecution inflicted on members of the Church 150 years ago. It was very well done and kudos to Harris for his reporting.

NBC did a full hour with Brian Williams on Rock Center focusing on the LDS Church. They mentioned some of the controversial aspects of the Church, but for the most part, did it fairly. In a conversation with Abbey Huntsman (who is a former Mormon and daughter of former Republican candidate for President Jon Huntsman) Williams talked about how he would like to be able to walk into a Mormon temple and see what was inside, as he could with any other church, but they failed to mention that Mormon churches are open to anybody who wants to go inside, temples are not. It's a minor point, but the distinction between a church and a temple in the LDS faith should've been made. 

NBC's special focused on the service within the faith and how that shapes people's lives. Harry Smith pointed out the welfare services that are second-to-none and how Mormons take care of their own and also serve those outside the Church. You couldn't watch this segment without thinking this would be a great model for the nation. 

I thought NBC did a great job explaining how serving an LDS mission shapes the lives of members of the Church. You learn to serve, you learn to love others, you learn to sacrifice, and when you live outside America for 2 years, you learn to love this country and you forever have a unique perspective of the world. I served in Ireland when I was 19 years old and so much of that experience has defined my life. Mitt Romney's experience in France in the late 60's is a large part of who he is. When Romney talks about his concern of America taking on the negative aspects of European socialism, he knows of what he speaks, and he can explain it in French if he needs to. 

The media may do hit pieces on the LDS Church between now and November 6th to attack a potential Romney presidency,  but for the most part, their coverage this week has been fair and should be applauded.  

Follow Ron Futrell on Twitter @RonFutrell

ABC Celebrates The "Crip Walk"

I almost....almost could not believe what I was seeing. ABC Good Morning America anchors celebrating the"Crip Walk."

Oh, I understand funny, silly, happy-talk news, but this was over the top.

I'm guessing you don't have to be a brilliant ABC news anchor to know what the 'Crip Walk" is, you could probably figure it out on your own, but I will tell you. It's a dance made popular by deadly Los Angeles gang members in the bloody, decades long battle between Crips and Bloods in the Southland. Hundreds die every year in this senseless battle that has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. 

Bianna Golodryga laughed and joked about Serena Williams doing the "Crip Walk" after winning Olympic Gold in women's tennis. Golodryga called it, "one of my favorite moments....a joyful little dance, I believe they call this crip-walking." She then performed part of the dance while on set. What's next Bianna, flashing gang signs? Dan Harris then joked that the weather gal might do "a little bit of a crip walk" after she gets a weather cast right. Yuck, yuck, yuck, yo, yo, yo.

Maybe this is an East Coast, West Coast thing. Perhaps news anchors in New York don't get out west very often and when they do, they stay in Malibu. Having grown up in LA I spent a lot of time living and working in East LA and South Central, I knew the moves and signs of gangsters. But still, when it's called the "Crip Walk" you should have a pretty good idea what it means. If not, use Google.

Crip-walking was banned in LA high schools because of what it symbolized. Even MTV banned its use and refused to show music videos where rappers were crip-walking. Oh, Bianna, it's also called, "hopscotching on crack" by teenagers. If performed in the wrong neighborhood it could cause a fight, or much worse. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Serena Williams did what she did, she's from Compton, and that's how she chose to celebrate, I'm not here to critique that, I'm only looking at the media reaction. ABC News does not have to glorify it or joke about it. It is a gang sign, it is not a "joyful little dance." My only question; was ABC News ignorant, or did they know what this was and joke about it anyway? I'm hoping it was just ignorance. What's next week, a blue bandana?  

Reflecting on 25 Years of Las Vegas TV Sports Coverage

The news was not unexpected, but still mildly painful.


The TV station where I had anchored sports and news for 25 years was dropping its sports department. Anchors will now read the sports with the same passion they do a hatchet murder, or a panda being born at the local zoo, and the viewers will get used to it (please pronounce Mark Teixeira's name right.) Perhaps they will.


Certainly, media is changing and some have called this a trend in the business. Consultants (who are usually failed news directors) have told us for years they want to attract females and since they believe women do not like sports, they must lessen the importance of sports, or kill it altogether. You could argue against that premise (which I did) until you were Dodger Blue in the face, but you would never win that argument and eventually management will find somebody who would just shut up and fill the three-minute segment (cut to 2:30 if weather went long.)


The news of removing the sports department did cause me to reflect on more than 2 decades of covering sports in Las Vegas and developing a bond with this community that will never be broken. It's been 4 years since I've done full time news on TV, but I still have people come up to me and think I'm the sports guy. "Hey, good job last night on the sports." I usually smile and say thanks.


I feel fortunate to have covered big-time sports during some great times in Las Vegas. I covered the careers of Randall Cunningham, Andre Agassi, Greg Maddux, Mike Tyson and many others. There were the great boxing events with Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, and Duran. I got to cover the rise of NASCAR and the UFC in Las Vegas, and was green-side for Tiger Woods' first win on the PGA Tour. The first month I was in Las Vegas I covered Kareem Abdul Jabbar setting the all-time NBA scoring record at the Thomas and Mack. Whew! Nice way to break-in back in April 1984. I was no Hunter S. Thompson, but covering the Mint 400 in the glory days of off-road racing was a dirty job long before the days of "Dirty Jobs." I was fortunate to cover World Series', Super Bowls, and NBA Finals.


Certainly, the rise and fall of UNLV basketball was a story that few got to report on up-close. 3 Final Fours in 5 years and then the internal struggle where a university president worked covertly to use the media to remove a coach (Jerry Tarkanian) because he did not have the courage to fire him. Who can forget "Cam Scam" when university officials put a camera in an air conditioning duct in the North Gym to try to catch a violation? I am most proud of covering this story straight up and honestly and my commentaries have stood the test of time. Nothing united this community more than Rebel Basketball, nothing tore it apart worse than the subsequent battles. Those were big, historic stories from 20 years ago that are still being talked about today. Often sports was called upon to lead newscasts because the stories were that big.


What I enjoyed most was the time I spent at local high schools and ball fields covering the youth of this valley and getting to know them through their sports exploits. Sure, it was fun interviewing future NFL star Steven Jackson as he barreled over opponents at Eldorado High, but doing the first, and likely the only interview ever with a Bonanza High tennis player was always rewarding. My former station let me cover grass-roots local sports unlike any other station in town and I will always appreciate that and it had great rewards.


Occasionally we did some serious journalism. There was the time a UNLV Athletic Director was using racist talk in open staff meetings. I uncovered the story and "broke" the story. Other media outlets followed but we reported this story first and did it under the risk of legal action. We were right and we broke a story that needed to be told. 


We made a lot of money with our sports department. I was trusted to produce and host hour-long shows that were highly profitable. We did NASCAR and IRL race shows, Thunder hockey shows, UNLV shows and there was the local sports show we did for 5 years following Monday Night Football, titled Monday Night Quarterback. How about this show from the late 80's that we did from Hawaii introducing a UNLV basketball team in embryo that would later win a National Championship?Aloha Rebels. These were the combined efforts of a lot of people who had passion in the projects. They were a lot of work, and a lot of fun and I believe were the essence of what a good sports department does.

What the future brings with local TV sports is hard to say. If media is one thing, it is chaning. UNLV basketball is making a comeback and Dave Rice is on his way to returning this program to national prominence. Las Vegas will have a major league professional sports team before this decade is out and viewers will want to hear from somebody who knows these sports. I thank my former station for giving me the resources and trusting me to cover sports as it deserved to be. It's also my opinion local TV news viewers (male and female) will seek stations that give them sports with flair, fun and accuracy. I'm guessing consultants don't want to hear me say that anymore.  

Twitter Suspends Account of Olympic Critic

I guess you have to say what NBC wants you to say about the Olympics, or you could get your Twitter account suspended.

Don't laugh. It has happened to Guy Adams.

Adams is a journalist with The Independent. He works out of California but his paper is published in Great Britain....and nowadays with this new thing called the internet, you can read his stories pretty much anywhere, but at the time of this column, you cannot follow him on twitter. 

Adams has mainly been critical of NBC making tape-delayed coverage appear to be live. Certainly understandable. NBC says Adams crossed the line when he tweeted out the e-mail address of one of its executives and Twitter apparently agreed. The e-mail address was an easy one to figure out once you knew the executives name and the style that NBC used for its e-mails. 

Twitter allows some of the most profane and abusive attacks imaginable, which is fine, it is what it is, and as lovers of Liberty, most would choose the side of free speech, just don't slam NBC and its sacred Olympic coverage. That would be over-the-top.

From The Independent:

What exactly did Guy Adams have to say? Plenty. Here's a look at some of his tweets, all of which are now hidden, but have been preserved on Topsy:

@guyadams Guy Adams

Am I alone in wondering why NBColympics think its acceptable to pretend this road race is being broadcast live?

3 days ago

@guyadams Guy Adams

According to NBC's commentary team, the Surrey countryside is full of “chateaus” #ffs!

@guyadams Guy Adams

Matt Lauer: “Madagascar, a location indelibly associated with a couple of recent animated movies.” #tosspot

@guyadams Guy Adams

Matt Lauer would do well to shut up, wouldn't he?

3 days ago

@guyadams Guy Adams

Techcrunch call @NBColympics total buffoons http://t.co/1DYypK0T Sums up why Gary Zenkel, moronic exec behind the time delay, shd be fired

@guyadams Guy Adams

If only someone had invented a technology to help us actually see this. Oh, wait... MT @NBCOlympics: Muhammad Ali is one of the flag bearers

@guyadams  Guy Adams

“Sneak peak” my arse MT @NBCOlympics: Check out this sneak peek of tonight's #OpeningCeremony http://t.co/vf7KKMf9

3 days ago

@guyadams  Guy Adams

Say “up yours” to @nbcolympics and watch that opening ceremony here MT @edfcarrasco: we got what the people want: http://t.co/IB5epHmx

3 days ago

@guyadams  Guy Adams

America's left coast forced to watch Olympic ceremony on SIX HOUR time delay. Disgusting money-grabbing by @NBColympics http://t.co/bQxKCCdj

4 days ago

@guyadams  Guy Adams

I have 1000 channels on my TV. Not one will be showing the Olympics opening ceremony live. Because NBC are utter, utter bastards.

4 days ago

UPDATE: The twitter feed of Guy Adams has been restored as of Tuesday morning, July 31.

Follow Ron Futrell on Twitter @RonFutrell

Media Attacks Romney on Olympics

Like any political campaign, you are told to attack your opponents strengths. Make no doubt about it, the Activist Old Media is Barack Obama's most powerful SuperPAC and they are out to attack Mitt Romney on his strength.

Take the Olympics. 

Mitt Romney speaks his opinion based on what he, and others have seen about the 2012 Games while in London and the media, wanting so hard to proclaim a "Romney gaffe" go into full attack mode on the Republican candidate. Everybody seemed to jump on this, ABC's David Muir said, "So many Brits are boiling...a rough first stop." "Boy, it sure was," added George Stephanopoulos. Hey guys, you wanna see rough? Let's check out rough. Let's compare actual Olympic experience. 

The media has created this battle, clear and simple. It wasn't like Romney attacked everybody who had ever built a business in America (who was it who did that?) he simply gave his opinion that it was a bit "disconcerting" to see lack of preparation in some areas in London. Many observers in Great Britain have said the same thing. Now, an Olympics expert giving his opinion is called a "gaffe" by the media. ABC's Rick Klein can't wait to declare that Romney and gaffes is a "long term pattern" that he is falling in to. You want gaffes? Go to Europe and talk to people in Austria about speaking "Austrian." Obama did that and the media ignored it and the many other gaffes made by this President (and don't get us started on Biden and gaffes.) The scary thing about Obama's statement here is that it was not only a gaffe, he must also think "Austrian" is a real language, or he would not have said what he said. 

As a reporter, I covered the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City that Mitt Romney saved. I challenge ABC and the other networks to do extensive research on what Romney did to save those Games that were facing financial ruin and were held at a time following 9/11 when security questions in this country were at their highest level. The Games were virtually flawless. Mitt Romney knows of what he speaks. The international negotiations that Romney had to go through to change Olympic protocol by allowing the American flag found in the ruins of the World Trade Center to be displayed at the Salt Lake Olympics was nothing short of historic. Flags of any individual nation are not to be "singled out" during the Games, but Romney went through intense international negotiations to make one of the great moment in our lifetimes happen. Watch the video and tell me it doesn't give you chills to see this again and be reminded of this moment in time.

Also ignored is Barack Obama's Olympic experience. Does the media remember the trip he made to Europe to try to win the Games for his hometown, Chicago, while as president in 2009? How did that turn out? What is Obama's history with the Olympics? Like with so many things in his administration, it is a history of failure. Obama boldly proclaimed he was going to Copenhagen to bring the Games to Chicago and the International Olympic Committee laughed at him. Chicago didn't make it out of the First Round. "I urge you to choose Chicago," Obama told the IOC. Wow, quite a pitch there, Barack. Fail. Let's see how often the media mention Obama's Olympic experience.

In spite of actual performance, the Activist Old Media is dead set on changing history and creating a template where Romney is seen as a failure, and Obama's numerous gaffes and policy failures are ignored. The Olympics are just the media's latest vehicle to use.