February 01, 2008
A reporter has been suspended from a Richmond news station for using an offensive commuter slur to describe drivers in her morning traffic report.
Ashley Wise, traffic reporter at CBS6, cannot return to work for three weeks after use of the derogatory highway epithet “rubberneck” in reference to drivers who were in part responsible for morning traffic delays this week. Tobacco Avenue is printing the word to draw attention to what is becoming widespread use of a term that describes drivers who slow down and turn their heads to look at the scene of an accident, sometimes subconsciously hoping to see gore, but typically impairing the flow of traffic.
“It is unfortunate that Ms. Wise had to use such a phrase to describe these folks,” WTVR station manager Alex Hoge said in a phone interview. “Slip-ups are going to occur on air and we understand that, but with her use of the ‘r-word’ several times over to describe commuters around the Richmond area, we felt some form of reprimand was necessary.”
Hoge said the suspension came after Tuesday’s 6 a.m. broadcast, a particularly accident-heavy morning througout the region. Wise was on her regularly-scheduled traffic duty.
“We’ve got several accidents to report this morning. Just south of the Chippenham on the Powhite we’ve got two cars on the right shoulder, the backup coming from what seems to be from a bit of rubbernecking,” Wise told viewers, nonchalantly pointing her finger at a computerized animation of the parkway and apparently not realizing what she had just said.
“Out in Henrico, we’re getting reports that state police have just arrived on a pretty ugly accident near the Staples Mill exit on westbound [Interstate] 64,” she continued, completely unfazed, ”so you’re best to take Broad if you’re trying to get to the West End to avoid the backup that the four-car crash and rubberneckers are causing.”
The vehicular smear follows on the heels of a remark by Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman, who inadvertently made an offensive comment when she implied that Tiger Woods should be lynched in a back alley.
“Unfortunately, racism against skin color, sex and driver style is still a reality in our world,” Wise wrote in an email to reporters.
“I myself have been guilty of the very action I described, but the way in which I chose to refer to it disgusts me,” Wise wrote, “almost as much as the thought of being gratified at just maybe seeing a body under a white sheet at a crash scene.”
The suspension was the latest traffic-related slur since a 1999 incident in which 8 News anchor Juan Conde reported on an accident that involved woman who he referred to as a “leadfoot.”
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Nick Cavalieri, who has lived in the apartment directly above 3 Monkeys Bar and Grill since November, is getting "more than fed up" with having to continuously tell his neighbors to be quiet, the 30-year-old said today.
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Awesome! I was not familiar with site and it’s Onion-like form. The sad thing about this story is that in Richmond it is conceivable. Great stuff!