She's gorge! Look at those cheekbones! And she resides in her house by the side of the road! But I digress.
Now, what was the policy, you ask? Well, apparently, after several Internet conversations went totally sideways, the station emailed all their employees and said that when they receive comments online that are disturbing, they are either to ignore them or tell the poster to contact the station. After receiving a comment about her short, natural hairstyle, Ms. Lee responded, and was, in turn, fired for failing to comply with the policy. Petitions have been filed; people are in an uproar; and even the poster himself states that he called the station.
Huffington Post (Black Voices) Story <<--- click here for links to statements, email, etc, etc.
*sighs*
For one, I think the policy of that station is silly. Instead of saying "Don't respond to anything people say about you," the station SHOULD have said "Let's TEACH you how to respond to the simplistic, mindless, idiotic things that people will say." You know, the same way the NFL is trained to handle press, the press has to be taught how to handle the people. Media is a tough career path to work in, and people are going to say WHATEVER they want, especially on the Internet where you can keep your identity the purest secret. News outlets have to have policies in place that allow for any and every type of situation. Keep in mind, a white male was also fired from the same station on the same day for breaking the same policy. So, it's not just a "black woman is fired for defending her hair" type of story; it's a "people were fired for defending themselves" type story, and to me, that's an issue. When did defending yourself, especially in such a professional way, become such a bad thing? Why do we as professionals have to allow those on the outside to say whatever they want to us, but we can't respond in an adult fashion?
I hate the policy. I do. Because if you follow policy, she should have been fired. She broke the rules. But dammit, was there no room for leniency? Was there no room for the white guy, an eight year station veteran, who was fired? Who stands up for those who get in trouble, even when they are wrongly right?
