About time Lemon got axed

Exactly a week ago today, CNN fired its main man Don Lemon for reasons that, as of this writing, remain unclear. Unofficial suggestions, however, flew thick and fast and that, as a whole, the firing took in more of the appearance of being a relief to CNN and many of its staffers rather than a regret.

There is an unwritten rule among journalists everywhere that open criticism of colleagues in the profession is to be avoided as much as possible. If it can be helped, any mention by name of one journalist by another is best reserved in flattery, or at least in something positive. In a nutshell, if you have nothing good to say, don't say it.

I have broken this rule several times, mostly on account of Don Lemon. And it is not just because rules always have exceptions but, more often than not, it is because it just cannot be helped. Don Lemon often takes positions that are contrary to mine. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but he is always so arrogant and abrasive in his.

I do not mention Don Lemon by name I hide him, perhaps unfairly, under the mantle of CNN, in much the same way that I used to hide Karen Davila behind the cloak of ABS-CBN. To a certain extent, I find great similarities in the way both giant media personalities handle their truths. My only regret is Don Lemon never got Imee Marcosed like Karen Davila.

Readers might be tempted to think I am just sour-graping. They can think what they want but Don Lemon and Karen Davila are broadcasters while I am a writer. Our measurements and our mediums differ greatly. I write and get paid for my own personal opinion, which are necessarily biased.

Broadcasters, on the other hand, need to be objective and neutral when reading the news, and necessarily fair and respectful to guests they invite and engage. You cannot interview a person for his side of a story or an issue and then quarrel with him or shut him down if he does not hew to your preconceived notions or position.

Between western journalists and local practitioners, however, I tend to be more forgiving or tolerant of my fellow Pinoys. In the realm of mass communication, we Filipinos probably still need to eat a lot of rice, so to speak, even if we do have our feeble western pretensions. But US and western journalists think of themselves as masters of the universe.

Get that into your head and you become arrogant and abrasive, like Don Lemon. So when I heard the news that he got fired by CNN, the reason for his firing no longer mattered as much to me as the fact that he is gone, at least from CNN. Much of the associated bias I pinned on CNN was due in large part to how Don Lemon handled his media power.

Another American broadcast personality also got fired on the same day as Don Lemon. Tucker Carlson got the axe from FoxNews but I cannot comment on his case because I do not know him, have not heard of him. My cable provider does not carry Fox. Anyway, while CNN still needs more purging, Don Lemon's is enough for my indigestion.

As I said, there is still no finger resting on the real reason for the Don Lemon firing. But the Internet is abuzz with analyses and conjectures and you can form your own conclusions from them. Any and all of them are plausible. One final note. I am glad it is clear nobody wants to make a hero out of him, like some people tried to do with Maria Ressa.