by John Dankosky – On a recent flight to Denver, I struck up conversation with an airline employee who asked about my business there. When I mentioned public radio, the first thing I heard was, “I love Juan Williams.” The employee knew the long-time NPR analyst from his work on the Fox News program, “The O’Reilly Factor.” Other that this connection, I could tell…he was not a fan of public radio.
That relationship got Williams – and NPR – introduced to a lot of people who view Fox as their main source for news. It’s also what got him kicked off the network. Here’s the comment in question: O’Reilly asked Williams to talk about the idea that the U.S. is facing a dilemma with Muslims.
Williams responded: “Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But 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.”
According to NPR, this statement violated a key section of the network’s ethics code: “In appearing on TV or other media including electronic Web-based forums, NPR journalists should not express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist.”
But this isn’t a case of “one strike and you’re out.” According to the memo released by Vivian Schiller, President and CEO of NPR, “this isn’t the first time we have had serious concerns about some of Juan’s public comments. Despite many conversations and warnings over the years, Juan has continued to violate this principal.”
This is similar to what NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard told me when she appeared on Where We Live September 7th. She said that both Williams and National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson have been in violation of this policy on other occasions, and have been asked by NPR to reconsider their work as analysts on Fox. According to Shepard, Liasson told NPR “she believes she’s entitled to go on there (Fox).”
“I think it absolutely creates a perception problem,” Shepard said of Williams’ 50/50 role with the two networks. “I feel that, in an ideal world, Juan Williams would choose one or another,” she told me.
Shepard said that, at times, the ongoing controversy over Williams’ role on Fox has made her feel like the “Ombudsman for Fox News.”
The content of Williams’ statement notwithstanding, the continued presence of the two NPR veterans on Fox presents another perception problem for NPR: That it’s being used by the unabashedly conservative Fox network to “balance” its ranks of commentators. Now, with Williams’ dismissal, that problem (partially) dissolves. It’s replaced by this:
Please know that I and my extended network of family and friends will not give a dime to NPR until Vivian Schiller has formally apologized to Juan Williams and is gone from the network.
I wanted to think that NPR is an organization that is not afraid to present different ponts of view on the stories that it produces. With the firing of Juan Williams for expressing a point of view that I too hold is totally out of order.
Just want to say that while I have made contributions to NPR in the past, I will no longer, having heard that Juan Williams was terminated for expressing an honest common-sense opinion.
Those are just three of many comments I’ve gotten from angry listeners about the way NPR has handled the situation. What do you think? Let me know in the comments section below.
Phone is ringing off the hook here in St. Louis, too. (And, of course, we’re in the middle of a fund drive.)
To include Bill O’Reilly and Fox News in any serious discussion of journalism and its ethics is a stretch. I have been confused by Juan Williams’ presence on Fox. Why would someone with any sensitivity or intelligence lower themselves to that degree? If it was to effect change from within, or bring sanity to the Fox nightly barrage of vitriol, then I guess it might have been an idea with merit. But once certain lines are crossed in the mind of the Fox viewer, then NPR suffers. NPR is the final barrier – our last bulwark against the forces of cynicism and greed – our last source for truth. The world is a tinderbox and we must grasp the importance of tolerance and understanding now more than ever. What we say and feel in private is one matter. Journalists must be held to a higher standard. While I feel sad for Juan Williams, I applaud your executives for their swift action.
I believe Fox News is guilty of what I call “terror speech” – the combination of fear and misinformation that when stated by the media as fact, and whose purpose is the obfuscation of truth, puts terror into the hearts of their listeners. Yesterday I learned that a large percentage of the elderly still believe that the recently enacted Obama health care reform, so carefully crafted with the best of intentions, does indeed include provisions for “death panels”. It is this kind of cruel rhetoric and untruth that is dividing our nation and is abhorrent to me. Our own elderly parents now live in constant “fear for their country” and worry incessantly about “socialism,” and we, their liberal children are part of the problem for them. They have been traumatized by years of seeing the world only through the filter of Fox News. Through that filter the world is indeed a very scary and unsettling place – a place without hope. The end result of Fox News’ rhetoric is a nation divided and families in chaos.
Freedom of speech does not mean the right to terrorize anyone else to further your own agenda and fill your wallet. Shame on you Fox News – take a look in the mirror.
NPR must protect itself from this kind of subversion. These are strange, sad times. Honest journalism plays a major role as our source of truth and as a remaining beacon of freedom and, as such, must be protected. Without NPR, we would all be in the dark.
Juan Williams was fired because he violated his contract with NPR. If he was told to stop and didn’t, NPR had no choice.
I am a long-time NPR member and plan to continue as such.
I can see NPR not wanting to associate with Fox News. NPR has the highest standards in journalism. Fox has news + opinion shows like the O’Reilly Factor, which are not journalism. Fox opinion shows are anything but fair and balanced.
I see Mr. Williams’ remarks as alarming proof that bigotry is, at root, colorless – meaning that like sin, almost anyone is likely to give it a try if they think they can get away with it.
National Public Radio needs to be defunded NOW. They have revealed themselves as a far left gtoup doing the bidding of George Soros and others like him. Why should the taxpayers have to underwrite their far left views?
I find Juan Williams honest and brought out a discussion that needs to be held in the US. Some people like NPR would just like everyone to keep silent and maybe all would go away. What Juan said is true for many especially those affected by 9/11 and the Pentagon. By keeping silent we will not get past this issue. Instead it will become all the worst for not talking about it. In the US we cannot speak about race but have allowed Westboro Baptist Church to spew bigotry by stating God loves dead soldiers and homosexuals. We allow the New Black Panthers to intimidate voters and we allow Feisal Abdul Rauf to state that Osama bin Laden was made in the USA. But what we cannot do is state how we feel. As for NPR, Nina Totenberg’s comments that Jesse Helms granchildren should get aids. What did NPR do? Not a thing. Pathetic. There are those pushing Amercian into being a bunch of politically correct hypocrites…..
To read some of the responses here, one would think that public tv adheres to the strictest ethical guidelines of journalism. Were it only to be so. Every night, there’s an editorial comment during the news segments that goes unchallenged during interviews with guests and with text read by the news anchors. It’s subtle, but readily discovered if one is truly listening.
It’s the usual apples to oranges comparison to state that Fox News efforts and results are not on the same plane as Public TV’s. The O’Reilly show is a mix of opinion, analysis and entertainment, based on the days’ news. The “news” to which your readers/viewers refer occurs during the hours before 5 pm and during later, brief segments. At least Fox News is honest in that regard.
At least the Fox News opinion shows are honest in what they do and say. And, they have a variety of views versus the predominantly liberal/left stable that Public TV has. Just look at the rosters of “news people” and contributors on both networks.
When a person, on an opinion show, cannot state his opinion, for fear of retribution, this politically correct society (save us Lord) has a lot more to fear than the elitist attitudes portrayed by contributors to your “Comments” section.
For those that disagree with the firing, let’s try another take on the comment, playing mad libs with some word choices, but keeping the sense of it all:
fictitious news anchor: “you know, i lock my doors driving through (insert urban neighborhood).”
fictitious analyst: ““Look, fictitious news anchor, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I am walking down the street in (insert urban neighborhood), I got to tell you, if I see people who are wearing their pants too low and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as urban, I get worried. I get nervous.”
that sounds wrong, right? and racist, and bigoted, and completely idiotic when knowing facts and figures.