November 23, 2018

The ABC executive who said "Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show" is now leaving ABC.

I'm reading "Channing Dungey, First Black Entertainment Executive at a Major Network, Is Leaving ABC" (NYT).
Ms. Dungey was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year — an unusual spot for the publicity-shy executive — when the network made the sudden decision to cancel its biggest hit, “Roseanne,” after the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, sent a racist tweet....
Terrible journalistic style to say "a racist tweet" instead of something like "a tweet that many people decried as racist." Tell the facts. Also, was Dungey "thrust into the spotlight," or did she step into the spotlight? Who "thrust" her? I regard it as anti-feminist to portray women as lacking their own agency. She was an executive! If she didn't make decisions and act upon them, she didn't belong in her job. You can't have it both ways. Either she's a shy person who got thrust or she's a capable executive.

It would be so much better to tell the facts straight. Spinning everything, a newspaper trips all aver itself.

ADDED: Why did the Times call Dungey "publicity-shy"? Further down in the article, it says: "Ms. Dungey rarely strayed from talking points in gatherings with the news media...." Think of what the NYT might have written if it felt inclined to criticize Dungey. We're told her successor, Karey Burke, "has been freer in her public appearances" and given an example of something vivid and original that Burke said.

51 comments:

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

A person, male or female, can be both publicity averse (shy) and a capable executive.

Glen Filthie said...

I am suspecting this person is token, Annie - a hallmark of racism, BTW.

And - a very expensive one. Political correctness and profit are mutually exclusive.

Paco Wové said...

I think Althouse was pointing out that the NYT makes it sound as though the decision was not Dungey's – "the network made the sudden decision" – implying that Dungey wasn't really responsible for making decisions.

rhhardin said...

That's what happens when you put a monkey in charge.

gspencer said...

"She [Channing Dungey, a black] was an executive! If she didn't make decisions and act upon them, she didn't belong in her job."

Her "job" was being an AA hire.

tcrosse said...

It's not business. It's personal.

rhhardin said...

Wait a minute! We have something here

"To be, or not to be, that is the sxyvsxx."

Shouting Thomas said...

I regard it as anti-feminist to portray women as lacking their own agency.

Solution: Get rid of your evil, stupid Marxist feminist ideology.

Quit improving women. Mind your own business.

Hagar said...

Was CBS trotting into Roseanne Barr territory by visualizing Alex Smith as an animal?

In the original "Planet of the Apes" was there not a very sympathetic and intelligent female character? Quite fell in love with Charlton Heston and his American values, etc., or something?

narciso said...

Yes zira Cornelius's spouse.

William said...

I have some sympathy for Dungey. If she had been tolerant of Roseanne's comment, many would have said that she was hired only to give such comments a pass. On the other hand,the decision was vindictive and almost guaranteed to cause the show to fail....... It does seem to me that Roseanne got excessively punished for a dumb joke, but the decision about her fate should not have been for Ms. Dungey alone to decide. It was a poor business decision, and nothing about it eases racial distrust. I don't know the proper way to handle it, but surely ABC could have found a better way.

Craig said...

Fan those flames, Prof, and collect that cash. Don’t bother thinking hard about things. Thst would just slow down the flow of money.

Lnelson said...

Didn't she also cancel "Last Man Standing", while it was a top rated show?
Agenda?

iowan2 said...

This is why I believe everything the media tells me about the Israel/Palestinian conflict. Or the "sources" close to the Trump administration.

Lying about little things that don't matter. Think about what the media does about things that they think matter

narciso said...

No, they can't these are the people that canceled agent Carter, who kept that in kind contribution to Democrats scandal and grays anatomy,

Rob said...

Who "thrust" her, indeed? I'm gonna thrust you, baby, all night long . . . .

iowan2 said...

Craig said...
Fan those flames,


Do you have some opinion based on something other than being against ... Make a case FOR something or move along. Please?

J Lee said...

Hindsight's 20-20, and in the wake of the falling ratings for the Roseanne-less "Rosaanne". Dungey may be taking the fall for not going slower on the original cancellation of the show following the Valerie Jarrett tweet. Then you'd have to dig down deeper than the Times does, in finding out if there were voices at the time within ABC urging Dungey to go slow, and she opted against listening to them.

The Times' story tries to be as sympathetic to Dungey as possible, including saying she decided to stop down on her own, but does note that "But ABC has also struggled mightily in the ratings during Ms. Dungey’s tenure as the network’s entertainment president. It is once again in last place among the broadcast networks." So the incident with Barr and the current drop in ratings for the rebooted show could be just a timing coincidence or it could be a last straw, where higher ups saw "Roseanne" as a way out of the ratings cellar and now are irked that Dungey cancelled the show immediately, rather than seeing if the problem would blow over (which is hard to believe, in the current day and age of permanent Twitter outrage until a scalp is collected).

Craig said...

Blogger iowan2 said...
Craig said...
Fan those flames,

Do you have some opinion based on something other than being against ... Make a case FOR something or move along. Please?

11/23/18, 8:25 AM

---

That's ironic.

JAORE said...

That'll teach her to fling poo.

rehajm said...

ABC is in a tough spot. They believed their social justice programming philosophy was a winner but now that there’s overwhelming evidence to the contrary the excuses are harder to come by. Not that they won’t dig deeper to find more excuses, just that it’s more difficult.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"What a scary, repressive place Hollywood is! Such weak, craven people."

--Ann


I love that, Ann. Fits all over the place.

rhhardin said...

Meta-insult

The reason that Africa didn't produce the works of Shakespeare is that they didn't have typewriters.

Wince said...

Terrible journalistic style to say "a racist tweet" instead of something like "a tweet that many people decried as racist."

Turns out it's not ABC's first "racist tweet".

bagoh20 said...

"Terrible journalistic style to say "a racist tweet" instead of something like "a tweet that many people decried as racist."

Every time I've read a story about this, the writer has made this assumption, yet even if a perpetrator killed someone on video, they would say "alleged murderer". I see it as very possible there was no racism involved in Roseanne's tweet, and I believe her that she might not have known Jarrett was Black. I always assumed she wasn't myself. She does look like that character in the movie, and it has nothing to do with her skin color.

Tommy Duncan said...

Perhaps she was hired to save money, since women work for 73% of male salaries. Was this a case of false economy?

MayBee said...

Companies need to learn to ignore social media outrages. They pass, and they don't represent the country at large.
Ride it out. #RideItOut

rcocean said...

The Network President approved her decision, and he is ultimately responsible not this exec - who is just a scapegoat. This was too big a descision and cost too many $$$ for it to be just her call.

This is no different than Trump blaming a staffer for a bad Presidential decisions.

rcocean said...

"racist Tweet"

when legend becomes fact, print the legend.

Ann Althouse said...

"Quit improving women."

What I'm trying to improve here is journalism.

Narayanan said...

ABC could have challenged Roseanne to work the controversy into the show for lemonade.
They already had the lemon preshow publicity

We've all know cute story about child taken back to store apologize for shoplifting.

Narayanan said...

There's creative (in art) vs destructive (political) way to
not wasting a crisis

MD Greene said...

Good points on the NYT's phrasing. Newspaper reporters and editors either don't understand or don't care about the implications of their sloppy writing. The latter implies bias and the former implies an inability to write, or think, with precision. My guess is it's a bit of both.

We're seeing a lot of that these days. It cheapens what passes for discussion and discredits media outlets that hire the "best" people and that expect to be taken seriously.

iowan2 said...

The Network President approved her decision, and he is ultimately responsible not this exec - who is just a scapegoat. This was too big a descision and cost too many $$$ for it to be just her call.

I got caught in this trap. My CEO assigned me a project concerning reimbursement for contract sales. He told to figure out if the contract was being adhered to, and if not, what this years reimbursment would look like. I did the work and told the CEO what the new number would be, and if we in fact followed through we would get sued. He said our lawyers would handle the blowback. In short he threw me under the bus. Which I could handle, except he caved and used the old numbers, so I looked like a renegade crossing my own boss, AND the contractor.

Bob Boyd said...

"It would be so much better to tell the facts straight. Spinning everything, a newspaper trips all aver itself"

Professor Althouse, some might conclude you are an inherently optimistic and generous soul.

MadTownGuy said...

"Spinning everything, a newspaper trips all aver itself."

How can the writer of the article aver while being so unclear?

TKD3 said...

I like “aver.”

Unknown said...

"I regard it as anti-feminist to portray women as lacking their own agency."

HER own agency

tcrosse said...

Kevin Dillon said...
I like “aver.”

It's a crossword puzzle word.

Hagar said...

What I'm trying to improve here is journalism.

And, "Oops, there goes another 10,000 kilowatt dam!"

cronus titan said...

#GetWokeGoBroke

Sebastian said...

"Terrible journalistic style to say "a racist tweet" instead of something like "a tweet that many people decried as racist."

What do you mean? It was a racist tweet to all right-thinking people, progs would decry the gas-baggy "that many people decried," and the racist tweet serves the prog narrative. Ergo, not terrible: great.

There's not nothing to "improve." The prog MSM know exactly what they are doing and are immune to the lamentations of sensitive emerita law profs.

SeanF said...

Unknown: "I regard it as anti-feminist to portray women as lacking their own agency."

HER own agency


"Women" is plural, "her" is singular. "Their" (plural) is correct here.

chillblaine said...

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Uploading is my conception, my sports talk 'mock' show: Cope Land.

Today, grief for Michigan! coming later. come on! mb

Not Sure said...

To make matters worse, she lost her job to a total Becky.

Yancey Ward said...

Isn't "spinning" just lying? It isn't like this is accidental.

Ray - SoCal said...

Disney is trying to be a bit less political / sjw. Losses at espn and abc are the reason, not to mention Star Wars.

James K said...

“I don't know the proper way to handle it, but surely ABC could have found a better way.”

It’s not rocket science. Just say, “We have discussed this with Ms Barr and believe that she there was no racial animus in her tweet. She understands the need for more caution in her social media so as to avoid future misunderstandings. End of subject.

daskol said...

Two weeks prior to the tweets Ms. Dungey announced at the upfronts that Roseanne would be less political next season. Roseanne laughs last.

MadisonMan said...

So Dungey failed.

Not the first TV exec to fall out of favor.

Bunkypotatohead said...

NYT can't write something critical of a black, female exec. That would be raycist...like some Roseanne Barr lowlife.