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Respect in Media: Manners and Kindness in the Workplace with Dr. Nsenga Burton
Episode 181 • 24th October 2024 • TonyTidbit: A Black Executive Perspective • TonyTidbit ™
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Episode Audio Link: https://podcast.ablackexec.com/episode/Respect in Media: Manners and Kindness in the Workplace

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In this engaging episode, Dr. Nsenga Burton delves into the critical importance of respect and manners in media and professional environments. She critiques a controversial CBS Mornings interview, emphasizing the need for respectful treatment of guests, such as award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates. The discussion highlights the significance of objectivity in journalism and how supportive, respectful workplaces can positively impact historically disenfranchised groups, particularly in media settings. Join us to explore creating a more welcoming and kinder professional space.

▶︎ In This Episode

00:00 Introduction to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton

00:19 The Importance of Manners in Business

00:42 Ta-Nehisi Coates' Controversial Interview

02:04 Morning News vs. Hard News

03:57 Minding Your Manners in Business

04:45 Reflecting on the Interview

05:17 Mistreated in a Hostile Manner

05:42 Respect in Shared Spaces

06:00 Morning News and Workplace Culture

07:27 Respectability Politics and Journalism

08:02 Understanding the Middle East

08:10 Treating Guests with Kindness

09:09 The Role of Journalists

09:55 Final Thoughts on Respect and Kindness

10:40 Conclusion and Next Steps

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Transcripts

BEP Narrator:

A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Good afternoon and welcome

to Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: I am Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Today I want to talk about manners and

not manners in the respectability politics

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sort of way or the Emily Post sort of way,

um, even though those kinds of manners

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are important, I guess, in some spaces.

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But when we think about business and we

think about the ways in which we treat

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other people, Who are doing business

with us, we have to really be mindful of

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that, particularly in the media space.

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Right?

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So, um, some of you may have

seen a video, um, circulating

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of the great and award winning.

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Uh, I was, I call him a philosopher

Ta-Nehisi Coates, um, uh, and his

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latest book, """The Message""", and

there's a video of him speaking.

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You know, there are lots of videos out

of him having, you know, like fantastic

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interviews with people, but there's

a particular interview with him, um,

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gentleman, um, Tony, whose last name

escapes me, but who's on CBS mornings.

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Um, and he is.

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Basically, being, I would say her

reigned, you know, uh, by Tony, um,

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for a portion of the book, um, that he

wrote, which is called ""The Message"",

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um, for his views on Israel, which

are what we call empirical data.

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That's data by observation.

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So it's what he witnessed.

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About Israel while he was

there spending time there.

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Right?

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And so Tony went in on

him for lack of a better.

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It's just like, you know, held his

feet to the fire in a very specific

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way, which I think would have been

appropriate as a journalist for

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a different type of programming.

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Let's say, if it was for 60

minutes, or if it was for a type of.

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You know, ABC News special investigation.

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So Tony, uh, went in on, uh, Mr.

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Coates.

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And let them have it, which is

not unusual for a journalist, but

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it is unusual for a morning show.

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Right?

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Morning shows.

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We wake up, we get, you know, our

headlines that you get, you know,

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things you should buy, you know, so

there's a lot of cross promotion of

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things who's starring in this movie,

this wonderful person, like Adrian

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Alvarado wrote this wonderful memoir

about growing up in Jersey City.

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Yeah, you get those kinds of, um, um,

Books, obviously, you get the kind

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of lighthearted approach to life.

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And that's why it's morning news, right?

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Morning news is supposed

to be upbeat and uplifting.

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Then there are other types of hard news,

what we call hard news, and typically an

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interview of that type, if you're going

to conduct it in that way, as a journalist

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would have happened on a 60 minutes, it

would have happened on a news program.

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It would have happened on a special

type of, um, Program that was really

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about delving into this book or this

particular topic and the person might have

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been invited on and would have known in

advance that that's what was happening.

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Not to say that he didn't know in advance

that that was going to happen because he

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was very well prepared in his response.

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So, in the same way that I'm

talking about minding your manners.

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My next video is going to be talking

about not burning down the house when

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you could, because he could have that

means coats could have burned down the

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house based on how he was being treated.

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I understand, um, why the video is

circulating because it is so out

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of pocket in terms of morning news.

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It is.

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It absolutely is.

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You would never see that in morning news.

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You know, I would say, please show me

5 examples of that type of interview

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being done in that way on a morning

news show on ABC, CBS or NBC.

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And I promise you, you'd

be hard pressed to see it.

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So when I talk about manners and

business, that is what I'm talking about.

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You don't invite people to your

house and then mistreat them.

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That is just a basic tenant.

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You know, that's how most of us.

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I'm sure we're raised.

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You don't invite people over and

then talk about them to their face.

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You know, as black and brown people,

we don't invite anybody over that.

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We don't like to the house.

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So, you know, that analogy doesn't

really apply here because, you know,

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Ta-Nehisi Coates is conducting business.

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He's trying to get his book out.

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He's trying to talk about his book,

things of that nature, but you

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don't invite people over and then.

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Either burn down a house, um, or

mistreat them and you certainly

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don't do it, particularly in a space

where that is not traditionally done.

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So, we think about business and what

I was watching this, um, because I

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watch all of the morning shows, um,

I just switch between them or what

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have you but when I was watching this

segment, um, because I had missed

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this and someone sent it to me and I.

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3 times, like.

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Is this is this a, I mean,

that's how unbelievable it was.

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Like, it's somebody over here playing

because I'm sure this did not happen.

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Well, it did happen.

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Um, you know, he was invited

onto this show and then he was

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berated his work was undermined.

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Um, and he was, um.

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Mistreated, like, in a very, I would say,

hostile manner and then allowed to do.

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So no 1 intervened.

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Not that anybody needed to intervene

because he's a grown man and he's,

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you know, he wrote this book and he

was able to, you know, to justify

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what he was saying in a very

sophisticated and calm manner, but, um.

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I just want people to be mindful of how

they treat people when they invite them

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into their spaces, you know, businesses,

workplaces are not necessarily homes.

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They are not, but they are places where

you have to share space with other people.

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There are places where you have

to bring certain types of energy.

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You know, morning news is rife

with all kinds of, um, innuendo and

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challenges that have resulted in the.

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Firing of certain people.

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So we, we know it's not a, a safe space

per se, in terms of the me too movement,

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but we do need to understand that when

someone is used to a type of culture

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and when they get to watch other people

being treated exceptionally well, I mean,

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like, literally, you will see Gail and

Tony and Nate bending over backwards

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to be a nice and decent to people

who really honestly don't deserve it.

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But to see Ta-Nehisi Coates, who I

don't always agree with, by the way, you

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know, I think it's a fantastic writer.

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When I read his writing,

it makes me think more.

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It also makes me want to be a better

writer, but I don't always agree with him.

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I haven't read the books.

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I don't have anything to say about

the book, but when you invite

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somebody to your home, and that

includes your workplace home, then

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you should treat them with respect.

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You should allow them to answer a

question, and you should move on.

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You also need to do that.

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Out of respect for your viewers,

because I didn't learn anything about

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the book because, uh, Tony just.

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You know, would not give up

on this particular point.

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Um, I guess it was an answer to a

satisfaction, but I think he could

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have moved on because not be an answer

to satisfaction is actually response.

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We've been watching the debates now.

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It is allowed in certain areas.

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It's not allowed in this area.

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So I just wanted to say that, um,

you know, we don't have to be.

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Involved in respectability politics,

you can actually feel very passionate

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about an idea or what have you and,

um, you can, you know, ask people tough

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questions anytime, especially when

you're a journalist, but you do have to

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take into account what the expectations

are of the workplace, which you have

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done previously with other guests and

what the expectations are of viewers.

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All of your viewers.

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All of your viewers, uh, when you are

addressing information that may be

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controversial or difficult to talk about.

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Um, and most people, honestly,

in this country don't understand

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because we don't know anything about

the Middle East quite honestly.

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We don't know anything except what

people are telling us on tick tock.

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So, um, I just want to say that

when you invite people into your

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home in your workplace, make

sure that you treat them well.

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Regardless of whether or not you agree

with everything they say, if it gets

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to a point where you can't agree with

them, you can't abide by their behavior.

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You can always ask them to leave.

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But people have have the right,

especially in the media space,

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especially when it's morning television.

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I'm sure Tony.

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He's his coach's publicist

is like, what is happening?

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You know, you do, you should be able

to go on and talk about your books,

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your work, your content, even if it's

controversial, because that's most of the

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time while you're being invited on and

not be mistreated in the process, not be.

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Uh, not be bullied, um, not

be undermined, not be berated.

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And all of that happened in this

interview, um, because your views.

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Are opposed the views of someone who is a

journalist and quite frankly, journalists

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are trained actually to not do that.

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We are supposed to just ask the

questions and let you listen to them.

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And then we ask follow up

questions, not, uh, be rate.

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And, um, beat you up, you know, for

lack of a better term, uh, because the

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answers that you've given or what you

put in your book don't align with what

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you think what the journalist thinks.

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Um, so we need to really think about this

whole idea of objectivity and if we even

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want to claim to have that in journalism.

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Because I think people are capable

of reading and making their own

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decisions and deductions from all

books, whether it's Ta-Nehisi Coates

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books, whether it's Adrian Alvarez's

book, or whether it's one of my books.

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Um, so that's all.

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I just wanna make sure that we treat

people with kindness and respect.

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And when we think about it, especially

those of us who are members of

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disenfranchised groups, historically

disenfranchised groups, historically

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disempowered groups, historically,

um, members of groups that have just.

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Had eliminate have been

on elimination lists.

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You know, that all of us are in

project:

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was thinking when I'm watching

this, um, and not in a good way.

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We are the people who

are being eliminated.

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We're on that list, um, that we should be

thankful, uh, be more thoughtful, um, and

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kind to each other, even when we disagree

with one another, um, and hold space for

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us to have differing opinions, without

burning down the house, which is my next.

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Uh, video.

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All right.

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So without further ado, I

wish you a wonderful day.

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Tune in next week to a black executive

perspective podcast and learn much more

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about the workplace and what we can do

to make it a better, more welcoming and

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happier space for black and brown folks

in general, and all people specifically,

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