So Imus Was Fired Because Moonves Cares About Women?!

Les Moonves is such a liar.

You remember the garbage that came out of the president of CBS' mouth when he refused to fire Dan Rather after his George Bush Air National Guard story blew up simply because Rather had violated every principle of journalistic ethics in a deliberate, carefully timed, thoroughly unresearched effort to stop President Bush from being re-elected.

Here's a refresher from a C-SM post from Jan. 2005:

The Thornburgh report makes it clear: myopic zeal made CBS news doggledly pursue the TexasANG story and rush it to air.

CBS News Chair Leslie "Moonbeam" Moonves still sees no charge of bias in the report. What is myopic zeal if not bias? Did CBS show myopic zeal to pursue the Swiftboat story and rush it to the air? Did they pursue Kerry's Senate record with the same myopic zeal with which they pursued Bush's TexasANG records? Of course not.

Today Moonves was at it again. Here's his quote explaining why he fired Don Imus:

"There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."

So Moonves is suddenly concerned about how CBS properties treat women? Well then, I sure he's really, really careful about how women of all sorts of color are treated by CBS. Here's how women are treated at a little CBS property called The Junkies, dubbed "beer-and-babes radio but with a lot of heart," airing on CBS radio station WJFK in Washington DC:

Well, we'll give Moonves a break. Something about these women was probably weighing heavily on Moonves' mind. He should be proud of the jocks at Junkies for all the work they are doing to build up young women.

Over at CBS Television, Moonves' strong desire to advance the cause of women drove him to sign on a Victoria's Secret special for the network. Yes, Victoria's Secret does great things for women of color, whose skin contrasts nicely against white lingerie:

I'm sure the word "sexploitation" never crossed Les' mind when he saw this example of "young women of color trying to make their way in this society."

Until it was spun off from CBS, Moonves was also major domo for Viacom, which of course owns BET, the black music station where the effect of language apparently is not considered to have a negative impact on young women of color. They are routinely subjected to verbal assaults -- it was BET, after all, that popularized "ho" as a word for black women.

Also owned by Viacom: MTV, which daily airs specials that encourage young women to bear their skin for the enjoyment of men ... you know, making their way in this society.

Not mentioned in Moonves statement: Advertisers were fleeing Imus faster than a flying forward on the Rutgers women's basketball team. Would Les have been so quick to fire Imus if the show was not undergoing a financial meltdown?

Concern for the effect of words on women doesn't go that far!