TV news anchor responds live on air to viewer who called her N-word

'You think it's OK to call this journalist a 'n****r'. I don't'

A TV news anchor issued a powerful response live on air to a viewer who called her a "n****r".

Sharon Reed, a presenter on Atlanta station CBS 46, confronted a woman who had demanded her sacking in a racially abusive email.

The journalist and her co-hosts had been discussing the role of race in the Georgia city's mayoral election, which was contested this week by black and white candidates.

The viewer, who gave her name as Kathy Rae, accused Ms Reed of "race baiting" and told her: "You are a racist N****r. You what's wrong with the world."

Her email added: "You need to be fired for the race baiting comment you made tonight. It's OK for blacks to discuss certain subjects but not whites, really? You are what I call a N****r not a black person."

As producers displayed the message on-screen, Ms Reed said she would let the viewer's words "speak for themselves".

She responded: "I didn't say that white people couldn't talk about race. Quite the contrary, we think that race is an authentic discussion to have. It's one we're having tonight because it's one that you are talking about at home and it's one that has clearly entered the Atlanta mayor's race.

"That's why, behind the scenes, my colleagues and I - white and black - we decided, hey let's go for it."

She added: "When arguing with somebody you have to be careful not to mischaracterise their viewpoint, so I won't mischaracterise your view either, Kathy Rae. I get it. On 5 December, 2017, you think it's OK to call this journalist a 'n****r'. I don't.

"But I could clap back and say a few things to you. But instead I'll let your words, Kathy Rae, speak for themselves. And that will be the last word."

Atlanta's mayoral election has divided a city known as America's "black mecca" for its usually harmonious racial relations.

Polls had suggested Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is black, would win about three quarters of the black vote, with 80 per cent of white voters expected to back white independent Mary Norwood.

Ms Bottoms declared victory early on Wednesday morning, although Ms Norwood demanded a recount, with little more than 700 voters separating the two candidates.

A win for Ms Bottoms would continue a run of African-American mayors that began in Atlanta in the mid-1970s. Victory for Ms Norwood would give Atlanta its first white female mayor, and end the Democratic Party’s control on an office it has held without interruption since 1879