Race, Responsibility and Radio ‘Hack’

A lot of criticism online is brewing over a Seattle alternative rock radio station posting tweets advocating racial profiling, then claiming it was the work of a “hacker” — something that most say doesn’t wash.

The Stranger rips these claims, pointing out inconsistencies in the station’s story. Pixel Bits decries the station deleting the tweets.

The radio station was involved in an incident of click fraud recently.

Also worth acknowledging is TechFlash’s backpedal on its initial headline. Although we end up talking about non-white people who are Muslims or who might be Muslims coming from countries that are not majority white, TechFlash changed its headline to one of religion, not race.

The comment that prompted TechFlash’s about-face comes from “Tripped up by PC language.” Another comment asserts the headline to be “media being confused about race and religion, no new surprise.” Had the TechFlash writer been thinking a bit, folding so quickly might have not been a consideration.

The public rightfully expects journalists to expose and talk about the complexities of all kinds of issues. Sometimes that means breaking down a multifaceted subject and calling something what it is, even when no one else wants to say that’s what it is. Or perhaps at least explaining the fine points that others would just as soon avoid. Good writing does such a thankless task.

Are these bigoted radio station tweets explicitly about race in the vein of “we should round up all brown people into camps”? No, but what if everyone of the faith we’re discussing just happens to be of color, as here? What if the advocacy of such racial profiling just happens to impact mostly those people? Is TechFlash saying the threshold is now that someone must utter something specific to race to make it racially charged? Or is there no racial context?

I know it’s fashionable for a few (generally white) people to bar race from a conversation, lest there be a dialogue around racism, but the station in question was advocating profiling non-whites who could be Muslims, brought up in the context of the arrest of a Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Even Israel’s checkpoint strategy (used against Palestinians) was brought up as a positive example in this Twitter discussion.

Granted, no one really expects TechFlash to be in the running for a Pulitzer or break a My Lai investigative story, but one would hope journalists wouldn’t roll over for anonymous commenters and duck a challenge, especially at a time when hysteria is high.

Thanks to media friend David Cohn for the tip.