Turkish TV Anchor Dons Blackface to Address Obama
When video appeared online this week of a Turkish television anchor in blackface, reporting on President Barack Obama’s speech to the Turkish parliament, American bloggers leapt to comment on it — despite having little or no idea what the anchor was saying or what he could possibly have been thinking when he applied the makeup....
Here at The Lede, we were fortunate enough to be able to turn for help to Sebnem Arsu, a Turkish journalist who reports for The Times from Istanbul. Sebnem was kind enough to watch the clip for us and give us an explanation via e-mail. She says that what we are watching was broadcast on a channel called “Flash TV,” which generally presents the news in a sensational, tabloid style. Sebnem writes: “They tried to be funny, but obviously, they have no idea what kind of a message their ‘joke’ would convey in your part of the world.”...
Read entire article at NYT Lede blog
Here at The Lede, we were fortunate enough to be able to turn for help to Sebnem Arsu, a Turkish journalist who reports for The Times from Istanbul. Sebnem was kind enough to watch the clip for us and give us an explanation via e-mail. She says that what we are watching was broadcast on a channel called “Flash TV,” which generally presents the news in a sensational, tabloid style. Sebnem writes: “They tried to be funny, but obviously, they have no idea what kind of a message their ‘joke’ would convey in your part of the world.”...