Oh gracious, oy vay, mama mia, my bon dieu, holy cow, ay carramba!
I have been trying to blog for the past 36 hours but the brouhaha over NPR’s firing of Juan Williams has, well, taken a lot of my attention away from other activities. If you’re wondering what this is all about, check out the In Box discussion of the issue, i.e., should news reporters/analysts express personal opinions in public forums?
Here’s the official NPR response to listeners:
“Late Wednesday evening we gave Juan Williams notice that we’ve terminated his contract as a Senior News Analyst for NPR News. We didn’t make this decision lightly or without regret. Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years.
However, his remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday violated our ethics guidelines. Unfortunately, this has occurred several times in other media. Our decision to end our contractual relationship with Juan has come after repeated conversations and warnings about some of his public comments. This was a difficult, but principled decision.
We’ve been contacted by listeners who have passionately agreed with our decision, as well as those who have disagreed with it, with equal conviction. We hear you both and respect your perspectives. At the same time, we believe that the public is better served by NPR holding firm to the values and standards that have guided us for many years.
As some listeners have also asked for more details about our funding, you can find a detailed overview of our funding on our website in our “About” section: http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/ Of note, and as is explained in that site, NPR, Inc. has received no direct operating support from the federal government since 1983.
I recognize that this decision has sparked a strong debate in the blogosphere and elsewhere, and that you have a firm position on the matter. While we stand by our policy, we also regret that we were compelled to take the actions that we did.”
Now, we must grapple with a number of complicated ethics issues–in the context of the new landscape that includes web pages, blogs, pod feeds, tweets, you name it. Check out the link to the ethics guide lines in the letter above. It’s the document we go by here at NCPR.
Tags: Juan Williams, NPR
Dear Ellen,
Allow me a little tongue in cheek here.
It’s bad enough I am supposed to obey (hate that word) the Ten Commandments but it becomes really frustrating when I am told I also must follow: the millions of laws our law makers have passed, the tens of millions of policies and guidelines published by just about every business and organization that has ever existed.
The only solution I see to all of this is to gather up everything except for the Ten Commandments and toss all into the nearest burn plant.
One more thing. After getting rid of everything but the Ten Commandments we will need to violate one of the commandments just to make certain we don’t find ourselves in the same mess again.
We will need to kill all of the lawyers and religious leaders because you know darn well they will once again start interpreting the Ten Commandments and start passing new rules and regulations again.
God, please save us from all the people who want to control every aspect of our lives!
Ellen,
Your post actually reveals nothing about what you think about this.
Since you are apparently on the board of NPR (or were) your opinion is very important.
I think NPR is as wrong in this as can be imagined and the fallout from this botched effort to not offend Muslims will seriously harm NPR permanently. Political correctness finally jumped the shark and there is no way to defend what NPR did. None.
Here is why.
Everybody supposedly wants to start a “national conversation” on race and bigotry and Islam etc etc. but when someone actually says something that is the least disturbing to professional Islamic groups like CAIR or professional advocates for blacks, or Hispanics, gays or any minority he or she gets fired.
What Williams said is not only what most Americans think but is the only sensible way to think. Of course we fear Muslims, many of them are apparently trying to kill us and destroy our way of life and if there are moderate ones, I for one have no idea who or where they are or what they think – for example do “moderate” Muslims recognize Israel’s right to exist, believe our first amendment trumps all religious sensitivity, or think criticism of the Koran or any religious book is perfectly OK?
NPR and PBS should have widely published all the prophet cartoons to support free speech back when this first amendment stuff first came up.
As it stands before this incident most people including your members believe that NPR cares much more about not offending anyone and being politically correct than it cares about the first amendment, reporting news, telling the truth or defending our country against Islamofacists.
Politically reporting-wise in any typical day one will get more true and honest “news” from the first five minutes of Jon Stewart’s monologue than the whole four hours of All Things Considered and Morning edition put together.
As far as Williams goes he is lazy, superficial and a lousy reporter and should have been fired years ago.
Ellen, you need to stand up for the first Amendment and freedom of speech. If your studio is not being picketed and screamed at by gays, muslims, the tea party, greens, Democrats, and Republicans you are probably not doing your job because if you truly reported what is going on EVERYBODY would be furious with you.
The North Country which you serve is better able to take the truth, and more more mature and broadminded than any other media market in the whole US. So you can stand up with more likely support than any other public radio director in the US.
Here is a quote for your desk
From a manual for bank regulators advising trust officers about their responsibilities.
“It is, of course disagreeable to take another person by the throat: But if a person undertakes to act as a trustee, he must face the necessity of doing disagreeable things when they become necessary in order to keep the estate intact. A trustee is not entitled to purchase a quiet life at the expense of the estate, or to act as good natured men sometimes do in their own affairs, in letting things slide and losing money, rather than create ill feelings.”
Pete, simplify! Dump the ten commandments! Keep only the golden rule!
Jim and all,
Check out my post today: Juan Williams, Part 2. Also, if you can tune in at 10 am this morning (Monday), Brian and I are co-hosting the fundraising around On Point, which will focus on the Williams firing.