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Juan Williams Dropped By NPR Over Fox News Remarks

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

The longtime public radio contributor was let go by NPR in the wake of comments made on "The O'Reilly Factor" about comments Bill O'Reilly made on "The View" (which caused two co-hosts to storm off the set). Specifically, Williams opined that he would be "nervous" and "worried" if Muslims boarded a plane that he happened to be on. This goes against NPR's "editorial standards" and so the network terminated his contract.

More info:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/npr-...remarks-made-about-muslims-on-oreilly-factor/
 
NPR would have been similarly justified in canning Juan Williams if he had said "Being around Catholic priests makes me restless, they remind me of child rape". Even with the leeway afforded an opinionated commentator, that kind of statement will always be cited as a known cultural or religious prejudice against Catholic officials. And that's exactly what Williams did--express a well-defined prejudice. And saying "I'm not a bigot, but..." didn't make said prejudice any more palatable.

I know the talk radio righties will jump all over this, but they've never been seriously concerned about news credibility before. NPR apparently does care, and I have no problem with their termination of Williams.
 
Nate Wesley said:
I know the talk radio righties will jump all over this, but they've never been seriously concerned about news credibility before. NPR apparently does care, and I have no problem with their termination of Williams.
Click to expand...

One big problem with your statement: Williams was a commentator, not an anchor. He was paid to give his opinion. In my view you can't very well fire a guy for doing exactly what you pay him to do.
 
Nate Wesley said:
NPR would have been similarly justified in canning Juan Williams if he had said "Being around Catholic priests makes me restless, they remind me of child rape". Even with the leeway afforded an opinionated commentator, that kind of statement will always be cited as a known cultural or religious prejudice against Catholic officials. And that's exactly what Williams did--express a well-defined prejudice. And saying "I'm not a bigot, but..." didn't make said prejudice any more palatable.
Click to expand...

If he had said something like "Being around white Southerners makes me restless; they remind me of the KKK and lynch mobs," somehow I doubt that NPR would have canned him.

I know the talk radio righties will jump all over this, but they've never been seriously concerned about news credibility before. NPR apparently does care, and I have no problem with their termination of Williams.
Click to expand...

He's being defended by folks on both sides of the political aisle, but more on the right: Whoopie Goldberg, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin. It'll be interesting to find out what Limbaugh (who was also fired for making dumb statements) and Olberman have to say on the matter.

What Williams said was factually inaccurate (what terrorists have worn "Muslim garb" - whatever that means?), but he's entitled to his opinion, which, as a Common Tater, is what he's paid to give. But apparently NPR has had issues with him for some time. He made a comment about Michelle Obama during the campaign, calling her "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress."

Juan Williams is a liberal, but not a hard-lefty, and certainly not one to succumb to political correctness. He made a stupid and inaccurate statement, but he was giving his own opinion. But his opinion was about a group of people that is now "protected" by the more-liberal members of the Blatherer-American community. Had he made a moronic comment about, say, Mormons, white Alaskans, or Southerners, he more likely would still have a job at NPR today.
 
KeithE4 said:
Nate Wesley said:
NPR would have been similarly justified in canning Juan Williams if he had said "Being around Catholic priests makes me restless, they remind me of child rape". Even with the leeway afforded an opinionated commentator, that kind of statement will always be cited as a known cultural or religious prejudice against Catholic officials. And that's exactly what Williams did--express a well-defined prejudice. And saying "I'm not a bigot, but..." didn't make said prejudice any more palatable.
Click to expand...

If he had said something like "Being around white Southerners makes me restless; they remind me of the KKK and lynch mobs," somehow I doubt that NPR would have canned him.
Click to expand...
"I'm cautious around Catholic priests" would have also flown under the radar.
They're not on the PC protection list anymore.
 
johnnyu said:
And our tax dollars are going to this politically correct outfit?
Click to expand...

For years I've been saying that it's time the tap is turned off when it comes to government funding for public broadcasting.

What disturbs me the most is that many of these so-called non profits spend millions of dollars in salaries for their CEO's and other top executives. Meanwhile these same people get on the radio and TV and cries the poverty blues.
 
The Voice of Reason said:
johnnyu said:
And our tax dollars are going to this politically correct outfit?
Click to expand...

For years I've been saying that it's time the tap is turned off when it comes to government funding for public broadcasting.

What disturbs me the most is that many of these so-called non profits spend millions of dollars in salaries for their CEO's and other top executives. Meanwhile these same people get on the radio and TV and cries the poverty blues.
Click to expand...

I'll say from years of experience volunteering and interning at a PBS station that many of them would actually welcome an end to federal funding. The thought being that the amount of complaining and restrictions on the programming they can offer is not worth the money they take in. Indeed they believe they could get a lot more revenue if the FCC would simply ease up on what kind of underwriting messages they can air. I'm sure the same is true for some of the NPR affiliates.
 
KeithE4 said:
Juan Williams is a liberal, but not a hard-lefty, and certainly not one to succumb to political correctness...
Click to expand...

Maybe CNN should have given him the 8 PM time slot! ::)
 
Good riddance and a gutsy move on the part of NPR. Unfortunately there will be repercusions: NPR will now be forced to install a truly right-wing commentator into their staff, and Fox News will now have yet another full time bigoted commentator.
 
Last night, O'Reilly pointed out/joked (choose one) that Al Sharpton is going to have to pound at NPR's door because with the ouster of Juan Williams, they now do not have any minority personalities on their air...
 
tested said:
Nate Wesley said:
I know the talk radio righties will jump all over this, but they've never been seriously concerned about news credibility before. NPR apparently does care, and I have no problem with their termination of Williams.
Click to expand...

One big problem with your statement: Williams was a commentator, not an anchor. He was paid to give his opinion. In my view you can't very well fire a guy for doing exactly what you pay him to do.
Click to expand...

You apparently missed the part where I said the following after my opening theroretical: "Even with the leeway afforded an opinionated commentator, that kind of statement will always be cited as a known cultural or religious prejudice against Catholic officials. Muslims."

At the risk of snickers from the crowd who talks about 'Taxachusetts' or 'the Dummycrat party' in conversation, I would note that there tends to be some elevated expectations from the commentators who appear on All Things Considered as opposed to those who appear afternoons on News/Talk 1220. And NPR apparently cares enough to have these standards on paper. Williams violated them, and NPR acted as it saw fit. Not so tough cookies for Juan, as Roger Ailes has rode to the rescue. (Odd that he didn't see fit to do such a deal ten years ago, but...)

But the comments were harmless, you might say; Williams was being honest. True, they weren't bigoted or intentionally anti-Islam. But now that everyone knows 'Muslim garb' makes Juan nervous, it just cost him any reasonable objectivity from speaking on related matters going forward. He might have the most well-reasoned, well-thought commentary on why the Park 51 Community Center should be built at another New York City location--and it would be moot because of his well-defined prejudice. And you can't get around that, tested--what Williams said goes beyond a throwaway opinion--its a cultural prejudice, the most loaded of opinions one can have.

If NPR believes allowing someone to comment in that way hurts its credibility or the operating values it holds dear, more power to them. Fox News doesn't have the same operating values, and they think Williams will help their product--more power to them too.
 
DToTheJ said:
Last night, O'Reilly pointed out/joked (choose one) that Al Sharpton is going to have to pound at NPR's door because with the ouster of Juan Williams, they now do not have any minority personalities on their air...
Click to expand...

And predictably, Billo is wrong: Michele Norris is still a host for All Things Considered, and
Michel Martin is the host of Tell Me More.
 
tested said:
One big problem with your statement: Williams was a commentator, not an anchor. He was paid to give his opinion. In my view you can't very well fire a guy for doing exactly what you pay him to do.
Click to expand...

He's an analyst. What he said was not analysis. Really, he was pulled into this discussion in this way by O'Reilly. It wasn't the Muslim part of what he said that was wrong, but confessing his feelings.
 
Nate Wesley said:
tested said:
Nate Wesley said:
I know the talk radio righties will jump all over this, but they've never been seriously concerned about news credibility before. NPR apparently does care, and I have no problem with their termination of Williams.
Click to expand...

One big problem with your statement: Williams was a commentator, not an anchor. He was paid to give his opinion. In my view you can't very well fire a guy for doing exactly what you pay him to do.
Click to expand...

You apparently missed the part where I said the following after my opening theroretical: "Even with the leeway afforded an opinionated commentator, that kind of statement will always be cited as a known cultural or religious prejudice against Catholic officials. Muslims."

At the risk of snickers from the crowd who talks about 'Taxachusetts' or 'the Dummycrat party' in conversation, I would note that there tends to be some elevated expectations from the commentators who appear on All Things Considered as opposed to those who appear afternoons on News/Talk 1220. And NPR apparently cares enough to have these standards on paper. Williams violated them, and NPR acted as it saw fit. Not so tough cookies for Juan, as Roger Ailes has rode to the rescue. (Odd that he didn't see fit to do such a deal ten years ago, but...)


If NPR believes allowing someone to comment in that way hurts its credibility or the operating values it holds dear, more power to them. Fox News doesn't have the same operating values, and they think Williams will help their product--more power to them too.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's the best comment on this thread so far. Hope this doesn't make me sound like some intellectual snob (I'm not), but there are elevated expectations for NPR commentators. It's not meant to be Hot Talk 1530...thank God. In fact, I've reconsidered a number of my liberal views precisely because I heard well thought out, factual, and reasoned arguments from conservative commentators on NPR.

To me, this also contradicts the assumption that NPR is some left-wing proganda monolith.

For example, an NPR commentator recently argued that the guarantee of citizenship by birth for children of immigrants is typically not guaranteed in other countries. He had some other views on the subject that really got me thinking. But if these remarks had come from some Obama-bashing over-emotional screeching Hannnity type, I doubt I would have paid attention.

Another example - there was a lot of discussion on NPR yesterday about the elections and the economy. Much of the facts presented were NOT very complimentary to the Democrats of the Obama administration.

Personally, I don't think Williams brought much of value to NPR - at least not lately He's been far more visible on Fox News toadying up to the anchors, and kissing Bill O'Reilly's a**. Fox News probably pays him better, anyway - he's probably crying all the way to the bank.
 
Lkeller said:
Personally, I don't think Williams brought much of value to NPR - at least not lately He's been far more visible on Fox News toadying up to the anchors, and kissing Bill O'Reilly's a**. Fox News probably pays him better, anyway - he's probably crying all the way to the bank.
Click to expand...

Now, Juan Williams has publicly called his former employer out--this Friday morning on that intellectual juggernaut known as Fox and Friends.

I could accept some of his complaints as genuine anger over his firing, but its clear to me he's playing to the conservative crowd now. He didn't seem to mind cashing paychecks 'on the federal dole'.
 
Nate Wesley said:
Now, Juan Williams has publicly called his former employer out--this Friday morning on that intellectual juggernaut known as Fox and Friends...
Click to expand...

Former employees - they always have some sort of ax to grind... ::)
 
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