the doctor is out - no rehab
Dr Laura is leaving her show when her contract expires. This comes in the wake of her controversial N word comments on a recent show. Dr Laura's racially charged blurt came in response to a caller who complained of having to deal with insensitive comments from her husband's white friends. Dr Laura claimed the woman was getting upset over nothing, and should try being less sensitive. Then - perhaps to help the woman toughen up, or maybe to amke a philosophical point - Laura blurted out the offensive term 7 or 8 times.
Now Laura ought to have known better. Many other high profile personalities have lost their careers through reckless disregard for there audiences' sensitivities: Don Imus, Michael Richards (who also seemed to be trying to make a 'philosophical point'), etc. Yet Laura seemed to think that she was on right side of the line. She was to find out differently in the ensuing controversy.
With a backlash of hate mail and sponsoring rushing to abandon ship, Laura seems to think that the heat medium of AM talk radio is the wrong forum for her reactionary conservative views. So on Larry King Live last night she announced that she's leaving. Dr Laura feels that the talk radio medium is too restrictive, and she wants the freedom to spout her views with out feeling censored by the feelings of her audience.
Dr Laura shouldn't have to be reminded that radio isn't only a platform for political views, it's also a business. The free market is something that Laura, as a conservative, is supposed to believe in. Therefore she can't really be too upset about this. Try thinking of it as a market readjustment rather than a free speech issue. Dr Laura as the right to say as many hateful and controversial things as she likes. However radio networks aren't obliged to provide her with a forum, nor are sponsors obliged to pay for it. If the powers that be feel Dr Laura has alienated key target groups then this becomes as much as free enterprise issue as anything else. Maybe that could be some comfort to Dr Laura as she contemplates her next career move - maybe she could get a blog?
