Karen Dinkins Fired for Wearing Obama T-Shirt

Karen Dinkins, a radio personality in Detroit, has just been fired for wearing an Obama t-shirt. She didn't wear it at home or to the store, but while covering a presidential rally.

She probably didn't think about because, after all, it's radio.

But she was in the public eye, representing the station at the time. The station fired her after 13 years for showing her bias, but is that really fair?

Here's why firing Dinkins wasn't fair:

1- She covers radio, not television.

2- This was an Obama presidential rally she was covering. How many people there do you think were McCain supporters?

Here's why it was fair:

1- She was representing the news radio station. Anything she wears reflects a bias, not just on her part, but on behalf of the radio station.

2- It shows a serious lapse in judgment on her part.

Here's the Statement from the Director of Programming Georgeann Herbert at WWJ: "WWJ Newsradio 950 believes that our credibility with our listeners rests on the independence of our newsroom staff. WWJ does not favor any candidate, party or issue. While we encourage employees to exercise their rights as citizens, we expect them to be on their guard against any actual or perceived conflict of interest when covering news stories."

Reporter bias has become a topic of discussion because of Gwen Ifill, who'll be moderating at tonight's presidential debates. Ifill's situation is different because she stands to gain monetarily if Obama wins.

Let's face the facts. Everyone has a bias-- from reporters to judges. But it isn't good form to show that bias.

People watching the news might lap up op-ed stuff, which is grounded in opinion (and therefore bias) but they miss the days when a reporter would at least seem like they didn't have a bias when reporting. It's a part of "journalistic integrity," one of the old school rules that have fallen by the wayside.

But does pretending not to have a bias work in today's world? Wearing an Obama t-shirt at least honestly lets the public know where you stand.

Fox News, home of what they call "fair and balanced" reporting is far from it. Nobody there wears a McCain t-shirt. Would we feel better about it if they did?

If every reporter did wear a t-shirt declaring their affiliation, we would know how they felt and what sort of rhetoric they'd be spouting.