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Biodun@bbcnews.com

Monday, 25 October 2010

NPR Does a Disservice by Firing Juan Williams
Topic: juan williams, npr, biodun iginl

Breaking from Newsmax.com

By Susan Estrich

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage of my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery — then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved."

— Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking at the PUSH convention in 1993

"When I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

— Juan Williams, on Bill O'Reilly's show, for which he was fired

Editor's Notes:

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I wish I didn't get nervous seeing black men behind me on the street. I wish there was no correlation between race and crime.

I wish 100 percent of the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 had not been members of one religion. I wish we didn't hear diatribes on a daily basis threatening our children and us in the name of Allah. I wish I didn't get nervous seeing Muslims on a plane.

But firing Juan Williams won't make it so.

What exactly was he fired for? According to National Public Radio, "His remarks on 'The O'Reilly Factor' this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

Come again?

I've known Juan for decades. He is not a bigot. He went on to warn O'Reilly against blaming all Muslims for the actions of extremists, just as all Christians should not be blamed for the likes of Timothy McVeigh or all Catholics for the death of Dr. George Tiller or all Jews for the death of Prime Minister Rabin.

Is it really inconsistent with "editorial standards and practices" for a "news analyst" to honestly express his opinions on another network? Or was it because it was Fox News?

Juan and I have been contributors to Fox News for more than a decade. We're part of the "balance" in "fair and balanced." I've taken heat for it from my Democratic friends, and he's taken heat from others at NPR.

My answer — and I expect his, as well — is that because of the strong conservative voices heard on Fox, it is all the more important for there to be strong voices expressing other views.

You could certainly make a case that reporters should stick to reporting and not cross the line between reporting the news and expressing opinions about it. But that line gets crossed every Sunday morning and most days in between.

Besides, Juan's title at NPR was "analyst." On O'Reilly's show, he was clearly expressing an opinion — one shared, painfully, by many people.

Others are free to disagree, on both Fox News and NPR. But to fire an analyst for expressing an honest opinion violates the very principles of free expression and the First Amendment on which NPR so often prides itself.

I have no doubt that Juan will be just fine. I'm sure there will be plenty of room for him at Fox. I'm sure conservatives will rush to make him their hero and use his firing as a weapon with which to attack NPR.

As an NPR listener, that saddens me. Public radio doesn't have to be politically correct radio. NPR does many wonderful things. This was not one of them. I fear that in the end, NPR — and its listeners — will pay the price.

Additional Links:

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Posted by biginla at 4:26 PM BST

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Sunday, 24 October 2010

Gone from NPR, Williams begins bigger role on Fox
Topic: juan williams, npr, biodun iginl

Buzz up!190 votes

by Suzanne Gould, BBC News Analyst, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla

WASHINGTON – As listeners and angry citizens complained to NPR and public radio stations across the country over the firing of Juan Williams, the news analyst kept up his own criticism of his former employer as he began a bigger role with Fox News Channel.

As the guest host Friday night of "The O'Reilly Factor," Williams, who was axed for saying he gets nervous on a plane when he sees Muslims, mentioned several remarks made by other NPR commentators that didn't result in firings.

"My comments about my feelings supposedly crossed this line, some line, somewhere. That crossed the line?" Williams said. "Let me tell you what you can say on National Public Radio without losing your job."

Williams went on to note that commentator Nina Totenberg said 15 years ago that if there is "retributive justice," former Republican North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms or one of his grandchildren will get AIDS from a transfusion.

An NPR spokeswoman said Totenberg has repeatedly apologized for her comments.

Meanwhile, a number of major stations said they were meeting or surpassing their fundraising goals in the wake of the furor over Williams' dismissal, despite it being pledge season.

"We find ourselves kind of caught between NPR and the audience," said Craig Curtis, program director at KPCC in Pasadena, Calif., which won't hold its pledge drive until next month. He said the station had received about 150 comments on the firing, mostly disapproving, and three people asked to cancel their memberships.

Conservative leaders including Sarah Palin called on Congress to cut off NPR's federal funding — an idea that was also raised in the 1990s and didn't get very far.

Williams was fired Wednesday over comments he made on "The O'Reilly Factor."

"When I get on a plane," he said, "I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

After his remarks, Fox announced it had re-signed Williams, who has been with the network since 1997, to a multiyear deal that will give him an expanded role.

NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller held a staff meeting Friday and said management was standing by its decision, spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm said. Schiller acknowledged that NPR didn't handle the firing perfectly and executives would review their process, Rehm said.

Veronica Richardson, 38, a paralegal from Raleigh, N.C., said the firing revealed that NPR had a "political agenda." She said she would stop listening and donating to her local station, WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill.

"I think it's unfair to fire someone for a comment that was innocuous to begin with. It's how many people feel," said Richardson, who describes herself as a libertarian.

Teresa Kopec, 42, of Spartanburg, S.C., backed the firing, saying, "I thought what he said was kind of offensive. I think it was probably the last straw. He had a pattern of saying things that were not appropriate." But she said his association with conservative Fox News may have been more troubling, because it damaged NPR's reputation for objectivity.

At KUNC, an NPR affiliate in Colorado, general manager Neil Best said that Thursday, the start of a pledge drive, was one of the station's best fundraising days ever. Best said some callers who criticized the firing seemed to be reading from a script since they used some of the same words, such as "totalitarian."

Rehm said several other stations also reported callers may be reading from a script. In other cases, it was clear the callers weren't listeners or supporters, she said.

"When people say, `I'm never going to watch you again,' that's an indicator," she said, because NPR isn't on TV.

Stations in some big cities such as New York, Washington and Philadelphia, all three of which have been holding pledge drives, said fundraising remained strong even as complaints rolled in. In Denver, Colorado Public Radio President Max Wycisk said the episode could boost fundraising. "It might actually help, because it reinforces how seriously public radio takes its integrity," Wycisk said.

At least one station wants to distance itself from the firing. In Miami, WLRN general manager John Labonia said he was hearing dozens of complaints from angry citizens and loyal donors. He said one called to cancel a $1,000 pledge. The station's fundraising drive had already ended when the furor erupted.

"We don't want that negative halo of NPR's decision to affect us, so we are making it perfectly clear that we were not part of this decision and we do not agree with it," Labonia said. "It was a short-sighted and irresponsible decision by NPR."

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said he will introduce legislation to end federal funding for public radio and television.

"Once again, we find the only free speech liberals support is the speech with which they agree," he said in a statement. "With record debt and unemployment, there's simply no reason to force taxpayers to subsidize a liberal programming they disagree with."

In June, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., introduced similar legislation in the House. He said the Williams firing will help his bill.

NPR radio stations are independently owned and operated and, like the nation's public TV stations, receive government funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which got about $420 million this year from Washington.

As for NPR's headquarters operation, federal grants account for less than 2 percent — or $3.3 million — of its $166 million annual budget. It is funded primarily by its affiliates, corporate sponsors and major donors.

This isn't the first time public broadcasting has been in the crosshairs of conservative politicians. In 1994, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for an end to all federal funding for public broadcasters.

NPR's Rehm warned that if Congress cut off funding, "stations across the country would be hurt by that and would have to make up that balance elsewhere. In many places that would be difficult to do."

___

Posted by biginla at 12:29 PM BST

Updated: Sunday, 24 October 2010 12:32 PM BST

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