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Washington Post - August 23, 2005
Talk show host fired over Islam remarks
By Paul Farhi
Washington radio station WMAL-AM fired talk show host Michael Graham yesterday (Aug. 22, 20025) after he refused to soften his description of Islam as "a terrorist organization" on the air last month.
Graham had been suspended without pay from his daily three-hour show since making his comments July 25. The station had conditioned his return to the midmorning shift on reading a station-approved statement in which Graham would have said that his anti-Muslim statements were "too broad" and that he sometimes uses "hyperbole" in the course of his program. WMAL also asked Graham to speak to the station's advertisers and its employees about the controversy.
But Graham refused both conditions, prompting the station to drop him.
According to WMAL, Graham said "Islam is a terrorist organization" 23 times on his July 25 program. On the same show, he also said repeatedly that "moderate Muslims are those who only want to kill Jews" and that "the problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam."
The comments drew complaints and prompted an organized letter-writing campaign against WMAL and its advertisers by a Muslim group, the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) of Washington. The protests led several advertisers to ask WMAL to stop airing their ads during Graham's weekday show, although the station says it didn't lose any advertisers amid the controversy.
In a statement yesterday, Graham blamed CAIR for his firing and defended his comments: "As a fan of talk radio, I find it absolutely outrageous that pressure from a special interest group like CAIR can result in the abandonment of free speech and open discourse on a talk radio show."
Chris Berry, WMAL's president and general manager, disputed Graham's characterization, saying in an interview that "no one involved in this decision ever had any contact with anyone from CAIR." Instead, he said, Graham was terminated because he violated station policy and disregarded "management direction" to redress it.
Officials at WMAL, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., had initially declined to take disciplinary action against Graham, defending his comments as part of the overheated rhetoric of talk radio. But that stance began to change as complaints about Graham's remarks mounted…..
CAIR applauded WMAL's decision. The organization had asked the station for a retraction or an apology, but "we didn't get specific on what [Graham] should say," said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman. "We were looking for an acknowledgment that his statements were anti-Muslim and hateful, and harmful to our community and our country's image."….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/22/AR2005082201255.html
THE WASHINGTON TIMES - August 23, 2005
Talk host fired over comments on Islam
By Chris Baker
WMAL-AM (630) has fired conservative talk-show host Michael Graham, three weeks after the ABC-owned radio station suspended him for calling Islam a "terrorist organization."
Mr. Graham also has lost his gig, at least for now, as a panelist on "Eye on Washington," the weekend political talk show produced by WUSA-TV (Channel 9), the local CBS affiliate.
"The First Amendment and I have been evicted from ABC Radio," Mr. Graham said in a statement posted to a Web site Sunday night.
Mr. Graham described Islam as "a terrorist organization" 23 times during the July 21 edition of his show, which WMAL aired weekdays between 9 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.
On July 25, he told listeners that "Islam is at war with America," "We are at war with a terrorist organization called Islam," and "The problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged WMAL to discipline Mr. Graham and called on group members to contact WMAL advertisers after the July 25 broadcast. At least one, Moore Cadillac Hummer, wrote to the group to denounce Mr. Graham's statements, but did not say it would pull its ads.
WMAL initially declined to discipline Mr. Graham, but it relented July 28 by pulling him off the air without pay.
In his statement, Mr. Graham said ABC wanted him to retract his comments about Islam, apologize on air and perform what he called "additional outreach efforts" to people he had offended.
"I will not apologize for my opinions or retract the truth," Mr. Graham said in the statement…..
http://washingtontimes.com/business/20050822-100712-5353r.htm
August 24 2005
Let freedom ring
by John Janney
Radio talk show host Michael Graham is claiming his recent dismissal from ABC Radio for defaming Islam was an attack on the First Amendment, but his termination was actually a step towards defending the rights codified in that Amendment.
Rights extend only as far as they do not violate the rights of others. This is a truism understood by activists from all rays of the political spectrum. They understand that free speech is not absolute - that it ends where it infringes on the rights of others.
Examples of free speech limits are numerous. We cannot yell 'Fire' in a crowded theater, joke about having a bomb at airports or incite others to commit crimes. Defamation, libel and slander are other examples of impermissible speech. Such speech brings harm to the public and no one argues that these restrictions are censorship - they are recognized as responsible limits in consideration of public safety.
The lyricists of the Broadway musical Shenandoah understood freedom when they wrote: 'Freedom is a flame that burns within ya, Freedom is a state of mind.' Freedoms are not simply ideas codified on parchment, encased in bulletproof glass and stowed away in our national archives. Freedom is a feeling - a realization that we can freely express ourselves without fear of unwarranted reprisals. Simply put, we are not free if we do not feel free.
Right-wing radio talk show host constantly spread unwarranted fear and hatred against Muslims by wrongfully associating the religion of Islam with terrorism and portraying all Muslims as terrorists - despite the fact that Islam teaches its followers to never commit such acts. The do not debate - they dictate. But these pundits are not alone.
The 'Islam' sections in your local bookstores possess a feature not shared by other religion sections: books maliciously attacking the religion. Somehow, it is fashionable to write, publish and distribute books that spread false information about Islam and hatred against Muslims. Those who malign an entire faith and demonize its followers find it perfectly acceptable to make Muslims feel unwanted in America.
However, it is imperative that we understand that we lose grasp of the principles of freedom if we consider it tolerable to make Muslims feel un-free in the 'Land of the Free'. Have we forgotten that freedom denied to one is freedom lost by all?
Radio talk show hosts often justify their malicious attacks on Islam and Muslims by claiming that no one has the right to not be offended. However, what is happening to Muslims in America goes far beyond being offended. In fact, the collective effect of their voices joined in a chorus of hatred is a religious community under siege in the land that promised them freedom.
On August 9, an eight-month pregnant Muslim woman in Virginia was attacked by a group of men yelling anti-Muslim and racial slurs. On August 8, a Rhode Island Muslim family's home was burned down. On July 29, a mosque in California was vandalized. On July 9, arsonists set fire to an Indiana mosque. On July 5, a mosque in Maryland was vandalized and the list of anti-Muslim hate crimes continues.
The incidents listed above are only a small number and only from July and August of this year. Anti-Muslim hate incidents number in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands. Women who wear religiously-mandated head scarves are regularly harassed, assaulted and even violently attacked. Muslim men face harassment, job discrimination and much worse. Muslim children are being scared into hiding their religious identity for fear of ridicule.
Where is their freedom?
Pundits who twist the truth for the purpose of trampling on the rights of others breach the bounds of what should be considered allowable speech. No one has the right to take away the right of others to feel secure and free to openly express their religious identity. These Islamophobes are not free speech advocates - they are free speech violators.
ABC Radio should be applauded for understanding that misusing speech to violate the First Amendment rights of others is immoral, harmful to society and does not fall within the realm of responsible speech. It is the hopes of those who desire to see the flame of freedom burning brightly in the hearts of all peoples that other media outlets begin to understand that freedom is not the sole domain of those behind their microphones and keyboards.
Freedom only rings true when it rings for all.
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