Revisiting the Rob Blair Case

Since it's been in discussion and occasional "The Strip" co-host Amy found this for me, I thought I'd post it. It's weatherman Rob Blair in a taped weekend weather cut-in, which means it's the short clip you see sometimes on CNN or during a national broadcast. It also means that editors recorded, watched, cut and transmitted it knowing its content.



I know it's debatable what he said and the sound quality here isn't great. But in these cases, reasonable people ought to give the poor kid the benefit of the doubt. The alternative -- that he's a blatant, crazy racist who was waiting to drop slurs along with a warming trend -- is simply nonsensical.

Yet any which way, in the twisted journalistic universe of KTNV General Manager Jim Prather, that qualifies for a summary firing and the total jeopardy of a young career but he'll stand "100 percent" behind a seasoned, experienced lead anchor who he acknowledged had leaked a story to sources and then offered to help them to mitigate the damage? Huh?

Also, it's Day Five of this. Where the hell is Nina Radeitch's public apology to her newsroom and the news-viewing public? Blair apologized immediately. And Ron Futrell, as we've said, didn't even get a chance to prove his innocence. But Nina? She's golden. And nobody has any idea why.

P.S. Blair seems to have recovered well. He's now a weatherman in Chico, Calif.