Rick Sanchez Fired…

Well this is something of a surprise and will be debated for a while. Rick Sanchez has been dumped by CNN…

Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.

Proportional response to a single incident or a response to a cumulative set of incidents combined with some internal division at CNN regarding Sanchez’s shtick in general? That will be what people will be discussing in the coming days.

Then again, after Octavia Nasr’s all too quick firing for a first time offense, should we be surprised that someone who’s known to have a big mouth like Rick Sanchez gets canned? CNN seems to have become increasingly risk adverse, Eliot Spitzer’s hiring notwithstanding, especially when unauthorized opinions are being given. I’m not the first one to note this. Others like Jay Rosen have been saying this for a while now.

Update: That said, Sanchez did take a direct swipe at CNN Management and by inference its news judgement. Um, does the name Ashleigh Banfield ring a bell? Never, never bite the hand that feeds you. At least not publicly. Controversy with Stewart or no, that dig at CNN is probably enough to get him canned.

Update 2: You should really read the transcript snippet as posted by The Wrap. Or listen to the posted audio. It gives you a better idea of what CNN would be chafing over. It could have less to do with Stewart and “control of the media” and more with talking out of school…

RS- I had a guy who works here at CNN who’s a top brass come to me and say, ‘You know what, I don’t want you to —

PD- ‘Will you wash this dish for me, Sanchez?’

RS- No no, see that’s the thing; it’s more subtle. White folks usually don’t see it. But we do – those of us who are minorities and women see it sometimes too from men in authority. Here, I’ll give you my example its this ‘You know what, I don’t want you anchoring anymore, I really don’t see you as an anchor, I see you more as a reporter, I see you more as a John Quinones – you know the guy on ABC. That’s what he told me. He told me he saw me as John Quinones. Now, did he not realize that he was telling me, ‘When I see you I think of Hispanic reporters’? Cause in his mind I can’t be an anchor. An anchor is what you give the high-profile white guys, you know. So he knocks me down to that and compares me to that and it happens all the time i think. To a certain extent Jon Stewart and Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot.