Redding News Review
Redding News Review is a subscriber-supported breaking Black news web site and radio show founded by Robert Rob Redding Jr. in 1999. He started the site as X-Political.com in 1999 and relaunched it in the current form in 2002 to complement his talk radio program while at WAOK-AM in Atlanta.[1]
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | Aggregator, News & Commentary |
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Owner | Redding Communications, Inc. |
| Founder(s) | Rob Redding |
| Key people | Rob Redding |
| Industry | News |
| Employees | 5 |
| URL | ReddingNewsReview.com |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Registration | Yes |
| Launched | 1999 Atlanta, Georgia, United States[1] |
| Current status | Active |
Radio show
Redding News Review has aired six days a week for nearly half decade and more than 420 episodes in all 50 states via Sirius XM Satellite Radio and on numerous radio stations for more than 6 years and 3,600 hours via his former network deal with Genesis Communications Network.[1][2]
The Redding New Review radio show host Rob Redding was named one of the "100 most important radio talk show hosts in America" by industry trade Talkers magazine.[2]
On April 1, 2014, Redding's talk show morphed into "Redding News Review Unrestricted" becoming the first ever and most successful stand-alone spoken word program available exclusively on a Web site - via ReddingNewsReview.com[3]
Web site
Stories from the Redding News Review web site have become a regular part of National Public Radio and Fox News Channel. The site's 's comprehensive coverage of the black community became a resource for Fox News during the Don Imus "nappy-headed ho's" controversy. Its reports have also been used by Arutz Sheva, Israel's Channel 7 news. Its scoops have also been acknowledged or linked to by ABC News, BET, MSNBC, The Hill, Roll Call, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Times, and The National Newspaper Association.[1]
The web site, called "an Internet clearinghouse for African-American news" by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was the first to report former Mayor and Ambassador Andrew Young's comments on Senator Barack Obama not being ready to be president. The site has also been called the "vanguard of Internet news sites" by AllAccess.com writer Perry Michael Simon.[4][5]
The web site was credited by Editor & Publisher for breaking news of the harassment of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts by a white supremacist group. The web site has been recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists for its Hurricane Katrina coverage.[6]
In December 2004, the site's breaking news coverage prompted Brian Williams, NBC News anchor and managing editor, to apologize for saying there are "bigger problems" than newsroom diversity. The web site's coverage also spurred NBC News President Neal Shapiro to vow to redouble the company's minority hiring efforts.[7]
Controversy
In May 2011, Redding attracted the attention of talk icon Rush Limbaugh when he asked Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, about a skit in which a Limbaugh staffer "reinterpreted" his criticism of Pres. Obama's immigration speech in Ebonics. "I thought it was highly inappropriate," Steele told Redding. "It is stupid. It’s not something that furthers the conversation." Limbaugh responded:
In what may be a first, we have a formal complaint lodged against the Official Obama Criticizer, Bo Snerdley. Bo Snerdley was recently utilized on this program last week as the Official Obama Criticizer, and it was as though it had happened for the first time. Now, we’ve been featuring the Official Obama Criticizer for close to a year, if not more on this program, but something about last week’s version of the Official Obama Criticizer has rubbed 'em wrong out there, particularly your translation for brothers and sisters in the hood. The complaint is that there aren’t any of those listening to the program. Of course, the left and the media are on this kick now that there’s racism everywhere, and really racism and race-baiting has its home on the left. But there’s a show out there called Redding News Review. It's some guy named Rob Redding and his program is syndicated. Whose isn't? And Rob Redding interviewed the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele. And Redding says, "Okay, Rush Limbaugh is widely thought to be a racist. No, accused, baselessly so by members of the left when they can’t come up with anything better to criticize me for. But nevertheless, "Rush Limbaugh is widely thought to be a racist. You’ve gotten into, as Snerdley would say, his grill several times, and you were repudiated for it within the Republican Party. Is Rush Limbaugh a racist? Is he wrong for doing this satire? Yes? No?"[8]
References
- "About Us… – Black News – Redding News Review". Black News – Redding News Review. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
- "Rob Redding Returns to WAOK in Atlanta". Radio Facts. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- "Redding News Review Moves To Subscription Model". All Access. 2018-10-27. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
- Galloway, Jim (December 10, 2007). "On how Andy Young's comments on Obama came to light". Political Insider. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- "10 questions with.... Robert "Rob" Redding Jr". Redding News Review. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- "Local Columnist Threatened By White Supremacist Websites". Fishbowl DC. Archived from the original on May 6, 2008.
- maynardije.org
- "WAOK's Rob Redding gets Rush Limbaugh's attention". AJC. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved November 18, 2011.