Respect in Media: Manners and Kindness in the Workplace with Dr. Nsenga Burton

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A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Good afternoon and welcome

to Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: I am Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Today I want to talk about manners and

not manners in the respectability politics

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sort of way or the Emily Post sort of way,

um, even though those kinds of manners

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are important, I guess, in some spaces.

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But when we think about business and we

think about the ways in which we treat

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other people, Who are doing business

with us, we have to really be mindful of

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that, particularly in the media space.

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Right?

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So, um, some of you may have

seen a video, um, circulating

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of the great and award winning.

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Uh, I was, I call him a philosopher

Ta-Nehisi Coates, um, uh, and his

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latest book, """The Message""", and

there's a video of him speaking.

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You know, there are lots of videos out

of him having, you know, like fantastic

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interviews with people, but there's

a particular interview with him, um,

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gentleman, um, Tony, whose last name

escapes me, but who's on CBS mornings.

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Um, and he is.

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Basically, being, I would say her

reigned, you know, uh, by Tony, um,

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for a portion of the book, um, that he

wrote, which is called ""The Message"",

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um, for his views on Israel, which

are what we call empirical data.

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That's data by observation.

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So it's what he witnessed.

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About Israel while he was

there spending time there.

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Right?

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And so Tony went in on

him for lack of a better.

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It's just like, you know, held his

feet to the fire in a very specific

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way, which I think would have been

appropriate as a journalist for

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a different type of programming.

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Let's say, if it was for 60

minutes, or if it was for a type of.

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You know, ABC News special investigation.

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So Tony, uh, went in on, uh, Mr.

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Coates.

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And let them have it, which is

not unusual for a journalist, but

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it is unusual for a morning show.

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Right?

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Morning shows.

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We wake up, we get, you know, our

headlines that you get, you know,

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things you should buy, you know, so

there's a lot of cross promotion of

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things who's starring in this movie,

this wonderful person, like Adrian

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Alvarado wrote this wonderful memoir

about growing up in Jersey City.

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Yeah, you get those kinds of, um, um,

Books, obviously, you get the kind

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of lighthearted approach to life.

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And that's why it's morning news, right?

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Morning news is supposed

to be upbeat and uplifting.

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Then there are other types of hard news,

what we call hard news, and typically an

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interview of that type, if you're going

to conduct it in that way, as a journalist

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would have happened on a 60 minutes, it

would have happened on a news program.

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It would have happened on a special

type of, um, Program that was really

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about delving into this book or this

particular topic and the person might have

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been invited on and would have known in

advance that that's what was happening.

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Not to say that he didn't know in advance

that that was going to happen because he

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was very well prepared in his response.

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So, in the same way that I'm

talking about minding your manners.

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My next video is going to be talking

about not burning down the house when

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you could, because he could have that

means coats could have burned down the

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house based on how he was being treated.

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I understand, um, why the video is

circulating because it is so out

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of pocket in terms of morning news.

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It is.

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It absolutely is.

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You would never see that in morning news.

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You know, I would say, please show me

5 examples of that type of interview

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being done in that way on a morning

news show on ABC, CBS or NBC.

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And I promise you, you'd

be hard pressed to see it.

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So when I talk about manners and

business, that is what I'm talking about.

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You don't invite people to your

house and then mistreat them.

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That is just a basic tenant.

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You know, that's how most of us.

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I'm sure we're raised.

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You don't invite people over and

then talk about them to their face.

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You know, as black and brown people,

we don't invite anybody over that.

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We don't like to the house.

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So, you know, that analogy doesn't

really apply here because, you know,

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Ta-Nehisi Coates is conducting business.

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He's trying to get his book out.

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He's trying to talk about his book,

things of that nature, but you

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don't invite people over and then.

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Either burn down a house, um, or

mistreat them and you certainly

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don't do it, particularly in a space

where that is not traditionally done.

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So, we think about business and what

I was watching this, um, because I

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watch all of the morning shows, um,

I just switch between them or what

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have you but when I was watching this

segment, um, because I had missed

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this and someone sent it to me and I.

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3 times, like.

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Is this is this a, I mean,

that's how unbelievable it was.

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Like, it's somebody over here playing

because I'm sure this did not happen.

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Well, it did happen.

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Um, you know, he was invited

onto this show and then he was

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berated his work was undermined.

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Um, and he was, um.

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Mistreated, like, in a very, I would say,

hostile manner and then allowed to do.

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So no 1 intervened.

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Not that anybody needed to intervene

because he's a grown man and he's,

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you know, he wrote this book and he

was able to, you know, to justify

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what he was saying in a very

sophisticated and calm manner, but, um.

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I just want people to be mindful of how

they treat people when they invite them

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into their spaces, you know, businesses,

workplaces are not necessarily homes.

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They are not, but they are places where

you have to share space with other people.

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There are places where you have

to bring certain types of energy.

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You know, morning news is rife

with all kinds of, um, innuendo and

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challenges that have resulted in the.

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Firing of certain people.

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So we, we know it's not a, a safe space

per se, in terms of the me too movement,

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but we do need to understand that when

someone is used to a type of culture

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and when they get to watch other people

being treated exceptionally well, I mean,

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like, literally, you will see Gail and

Tony and Nate bending over backwards

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to be a nice and decent to people

who really honestly don't deserve it.

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But to see Ta-Nehisi Coates, who I

don't always agree with, by the way, you

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know, I think it's a fantastic writer.

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When I read his writing,

it makes me think more.

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It also makes me want to be a better

writer, but I don't always agree with him.

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I haven't read the books.

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I don't have anything to say about

the book, but when you invite

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somebody to your home, and that

includes your workplace home, then

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you should treat them with respect.

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You should allow them to answer a

question, and you should move on.

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You also need to do that.

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Out of respect for your viewers,

because I didn't learn anything about

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the book because, uh, Tony just.

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You know, would not give up

on this particular point.

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Um, I guess it was an answer to a

satisfaction, but I think he could

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have moved on because not be an answer

to satisfaction is actually response.

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We've been watching the debates now.

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It is allowed in certain areas.

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It's not allowed in this area.

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So I just wanted to say that, um,

you know, we don't have to be.

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Involved in respectability politics,

you can actually feel very passionate

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about an idea or what have you and,

um, you can, you know, ask people tough

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questions anytime, especially when

you're a journalist, but you do have to

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take into account what the expectations

are of the workplace, which you have

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done previously with other guests and

what the expectations are of viewers.

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All of your viewers.

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All of your viewers, uh, when you are

addressing information that may be

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controversial or difficult to talk about.

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Um, and most people, honestly,

in this country don't understand

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because we don't know anything about

the Middle East quite honestly.

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We don't know anything except what

people are telling us on tick tock.

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So, um, I just want to say that

when you invite people into your

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home in your workplace, make

sure that you treat them well.

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Regardless of whether or not you agree

with everything they say, if it gets

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to a point where you can't agree with

them, you can't abide by their behavior.

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You can always ask them to leave.

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But people have have the right,

especially in the media space,

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especially when it's morning television.

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I'm sure Tony.

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He's his coach's publicist

is like, what is happening?

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You know, you do, you should be able

to go on and talk about your books,

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your work, your content, even if it's

controversial, because that's most of the

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time while you're being invited on and

not be mistreated in the process, not be.

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Uh, not be bullied, um, not

be undermined, not be berated.

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And all of that happened in this

interview, um, because your views.

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Are opposed the views of someone who is a

journalist and quite frankly, journalists

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are trained actually to not do that.

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We are supposed to just ask the

questions and let you listen to them.

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And then we ask follow up

questions, not, uh, be rate.

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And, um, beat you up, you know, for

lack of a better term, uh, because the

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answers that you've given or what you

put in your book don't align with what

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you think what the journalist thinks.

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Um, so we need to really think about this

whole idea of objectivity and if we even

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want to claim to have that in journalism.

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Because I think people are capable

of reading and making their own

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decisions and deductions from all

books, whether it's Ta-Nehisi Coates

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books, whether it's Adrian Alvarez's

book, or whether it's one of my books.

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Um, so that's all.

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I just wanna make sure that we treat

people with kindness and respect.

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And when we think about it, especially

those of us who are members of

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disenfranchised groups, historically

disenfranchised groups, historically

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disempowered groups, historically,

um, members of groups that have just.

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Had eliminate have been

on elimination lists.

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You know, that all of us are in

project: 2025

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was thinking when I'm watching

this, um, and not in a good way.

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We are the people who

are being eliminated.

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We're on that list, um, that we should be

thankful, uh, be more thoughtful, um, and

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kind to each other, even when we disagree

with one another, um, and hold space for

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us to have differing opinions, without

burning down the house, which is my next.

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Uh, video.

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All right.

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So without further ado, I

wish you a wonderful day.

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Tune in next week to a black executive

perspective podcast and learn much more

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about the workplace and what we can do

to make it a better, more welcoming and

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happier space for black and brown folks

in general, and all people specifically,

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BEP Narrator: a black

executive perspective.