Journalist Martin Bashir Calls Female Writers ‘Asian Babes’

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UK journalist Martin Bashir, son of Pakistani immigrants, is best-known for wringing titillating stories from celebs like Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. He’s also kind of a doofus when it comes to racial comments.

At a July 31 address to the Asian American Journalists Association, Bashir said he was “happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, he continued: “In fact, I’m happy that the podium covers me from the waist down.” A good speech, according to Bashir, should be “like a dress on a beautiful woman—long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest—like my colleague Juju’s.” Juju Chang, by the way, is an Emmy-Award-winning 20/20 correspondent who has won national awards for her groundbreaking reporting on transgender and women’s issues and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

I may be only half-Japanese but I’m more than half-offended by Bashir’s comments. The guy has experienced racism in his life, both as a person and a journalist. He knows better. He knows how hard people of all colors work in the field to get to where they are. Perhaps he felt that he was among friends, and that Asian women wouldn’t mind if he threw in a little sexism with his “ha ha, Asians are short” joke. At least he apologized: “Upon reflection, it was a tasteless remark that I now bitterly regret,” he wrote the AAJA. He also apologized to Chang for his “boorishness.”

While it’s admirable that Bashir apologized, Chang’s comment to the audience at the AAJA dinner says it all: “See what I have to put up with?” It’s funny ’cause it’s true.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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