As with anything in politics, there should be room for a lively debate about Christiane Amanpour’srecent appointment to host ABC’s This Week. Legitimate arguments can be made both for and against the decision to hire an acclaimed foreign correspondent to do a Sunday morning show that previously focused on domestic issues. And employees at ABC are well within their right to bemiffed at the network’s decision to pay top dollar for a star like Amanpour at the same time they are scaling back and laying off long-time employees. But what cannot be countenanced is accusing her of bias based only on insinuations about her Iranian heritage. The attacks on Amanpour follow in a long line of Iranophobic attempts to keep qualified Iranian Americans out of the public sphere in America, and it should be called out for what it is: anti-Iranian bigotry. As one of the most prominent and well-respected Americans of Iranian descent, the attacks on Amanpour are offensive to the entire Iranian-American community. Iranian Americans are proud of her accomplishments and her integrity, and have stepped up to defend her against attacks rooted in ignorance an… >>>
