There are plenty of opinions flying around about NPR‘s decision to fireJuan Williams. The Washington Post editorialized against NPR‘s decision, arguing in part that Williams “undoubtedly spoke for many Americans who are wrestling with similar feelings” about seeing Muslims in airports. (Williams was worried primarily about those in “Muslim garb.”) Former Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, now at the Daily Beast website, called it a “blunder of enormous proportions.”
What I found most puzzling, though, was this passage from Williams’ commentary that appeared on FoxNews.com:
Daniel Schorr, my fellow NPR commentator who died earlier this year, used to talk about the initial shock of finding himself on President Nixonâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s enemies list. I can only imagine Danâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s revulsion to realize that today NPR treats a journalist who has worked for them for 10 years with less regard, less respect for the value of independence of thought and embrace of real debate across political lines, than Nixon ever displayed.
I don’tknowwhat Schorr might have said to Williams, but I suspect he may have pointed out thatin the most infamous case, Nixon had CIA agents trailing Jack Anderson, a reporter he despised, and they wereplottingways they might kill him. (Mark Feldstein’s recent book explaining the history was excerpted on NPR‘s website.) That seems worse to me. A lot worse.
Good for NPR, Juan Williams slant belongs to â┚¬Ã…“Fake Newsâ┚¬Ã‚ with the rest of the failed political candidates Palin, Huckabee, or should I say the 2012 GOP Presidential contenders. They are not bigots, I repeat they are not bigots; they are just the good old boys. They are the same bunch that keep telling us to be scared of BLACKS, scared of ASIANS, sacred of LATINOS, scared of WOMEN, scared of GAYS and now it’s be scared of Muslims. So long Johnny, don’t let the door hit you. I love that you went crying to â┚¬Ã…“Fake Newsâ┚¬Ã‚ and played the victim card, I guess it’s another â┚¬Ã…“it is a high-tech lynchingâ┚¬Ã‚Â, but it sure got him a new contract, but I guess somehow this silenced him, right?
Just so I am clear, in the ENTIRE saga that is Juan Williams being fired you find this nugget to be the most puzzling. Really? Wow, just wow. That is almost as bad as taking a sentence or two out of context and firing somebody for it. Big picture folks, let’s try that for a change. Otherwise it looks like you have an agenda. You don’t, right?
@Eric Aanestad: there’s got to be one thing about any story that is MOST puzzling about it to any particular observer. You are saying that this particular statement couldn’t possibly the most puzzling thing about it to Mr. Hart? Why not?
NPR did not do this well.
Boy you can say that again!
OK I will. NPR. Did. Not. Do. This. Well.
But I’d be wrong, both times:
“NPR” did nothing: some person with a NAME did that. That person is NOT NPR.
That person did not do this well.
And the NAME of that PAID person is?
(ah, I recall Monty Python and the Importance of Not Being Seen)
@gberke Williams has been flirting with firing for a long time by flouting NPRs professional ethics guidelines. You’re right: NPR did not do this well. They took far too long.
Sure, not the best way to do this, but it really is about time. His work was weak from the beginning and just got even weaker as the years went by.
I will always admire Juan Williams for the exemplary book “Eyes On the Prize”, it should be required reading for anyone wishing to understand the civil rights movement. That said, Mr. Williams has been drawing a paycheck from an organization he would have railed against a few years ago. There is nothing wrong with wanting a better income, however you have to be prepared to pay the price. His price was going against what he believed and trying to make the public think he was genuine.
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Gleason. What deeper betrayal can one commit than betrayal of one’s self? This is where Mr. Williams finds himself, and it would seem that he’s very comfortable with it. For myself, my only question is what the hell took NPR so long?
I am very angry about Juan Williams being fired!!! How absurd!!
juan was hanging out with wrong
cat.o’reily just used him to have a non white around..the fox people
never respected juan and just used him..fox has fired us all..lookout
Juan Williams got what I assume had to be his goal all along– a $million contract with Fox. NPR’s only mistake was in waiting too long go dismiss him. If NPR was at fault, it was only by not making it clear that its on-the-air staffers could not appear regularly on extremist (left or right) programs, because that would damage their credibility on NPR.
George Beres in Eugene, Oregon
Oh, the poor suffering Williams. This didn’t happen because of this silly comment, or the way, if you watch the whole appearance, the way he’s buttering up O’Reilly — a “stand-up guy” — nor is it his sickening appearance on Beck where he expresses his admiration. It happened because, if you’re a real journalist, the atmosphere at Fox is poisonous. Williams had been a neutral journalist. But each appearance with the ghouls and conservative opinion-mongers of Fox devalued him as a neutral observer. He’s now making $3 million being the house liberal at Fox. Like Colmes, like Doug Schoen and a few others, these people are well-paid but they shrink until they have no integrity left.
I did not like Juan Williams blatantly right-wing and white-washing slant.
But at the same time I am tired of purges of people for expressing opinions even if I disagree with them.
Repeatedly politicians and others are fired for expressing their genuine opinions like Helen Thomas from AP
while their actual actions and blatant distortions of facts are ignored.
In the meantime we get this homogenized right mainstream slant which glorifies warriors and thus indirectly War without ever mentioning War’s victims, which exalts racial, ethnic, religious and other differences
while glossing over the class warfare which is destroying our society, the middle class and our planet.
When will NPR ever have the genius Noam Chomsky on their airwaves, peace activists instead of soldiers, the working class instead of academic economist apologists for class warfare?
By the way, the viewership of Fox dropped 21% last quarter.
Oh, NPR will never have Chomsky on, because the right wing will go nuts. But then, they let Mara Liasson and Williams pick up some dollars. Since Fox is the de facto Republican National Committee, giving free, one-sided publicity to the Tea Party, and the old man gives millions to the Republican Governor’s Association, etc.– did you think the RNC had the authority in the GOP? Ha!
I might agree that he should not have been fired until I learned that Mr. Williams had received several warnings beforehand.
Juan Williams was a one hell of a medicore commentator, an embarassment to those he was supposed to “represent,” of which I am one. I left the room when he came on. That he decided to work for Fox proves his general stupidity, which accompanied general inarticulateness. NPR may have been clumsy in firing him. They were far more clumsy in hiring him; good riddance!
while npr didn’t cover themselves in glory with the way they canned juan, his post firing behavior simply reinforces the fact that that canning was long overdue….
ps:
real “journalists” don’t work for fauxnews…that will engender serious “diarespect” from anyone paying attention
pps:
comparing npr to tricky dick misunderstands history…nixon was a staggering bigot…npr fired williams for being a low grade bigot…
Looks like Williams has lost all sense of reason with his Nixon comparison.. That said, Fox is the perfect place for him to descend to.
Like Jay Levy above, I always like to see the right-wing nutjobs — and career-minded opportunists (as seems the case here) — move to Fox, since it makes it easier to ignore them, given that they’re concentrated on the Fox channels.
(I also found it telling that Williams is supposedly ‘uneasy’ about Muslims in traditional garb at airports. Every picture I’ve seen of successful [9/11, British rail] & unsuccessful [Christmas/underwear bombers, etc] ‘Muslim terrorists’ in airports or elsewhere shows that these individuals were NOT in traditional garb – – they appeared to be in western style clothing so as NOT to attract much notice, which makes sense. After all, any spy/infiltrator/suicide terrorist is going to want to pass by unnoticed, not drawing attention to themselves, so they’ll don the clothing/mannerisms of the predominant population to improve their chances of non-detection.)
In my opinion, Mr. Williams’ irrational fear of people dressed in arabic clothing should properly be discussed with a psychiatrist. As a journalist he should know that terrorists bent on terrorism dress inconspicuously when they are among us. Mr Williams broke his contract with NPR as a news analyst. He is now making loads more money and if he gets crazy and irrational enough, he will make a salary like those of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and their icky ilk. Good financial move, Juan, but check your ethics at the door.
I have heard people on NPR say certain people and their kids should die of aids…..nobody got canned.I have heard them use the disgusting term “tea baggers”…….nobody canned there either.Lots of things they say are not politically correct but they have one thing in common……….they toe the lefts line.Mr Williams missed that memo.NPR is fine.Only thing I have against them is they should not receive one cent of tax payer money since they are politically an action committee for the left.AS it is they only get like 2% but it should be cut off.I agree Mr Williams is weak and will add little to FOX.Waste of money.What he said was an opinion.Everybody has one.His firing was stupid but hey….you walk the bosses walk or….YOU WALK.No place for rhino Dems.Dont think if FOX had a Dem on that common ground was found.. or if” their” people went on a Liberal show- and talked nice nice that they will get fired.It is a stupid line in the sand.One thing I am surprised at is that 100% of FAIR bloggers are not screaming against NPR.After all i thought Fair was for freedom of thought come it from left or right.And that you people would be the greatest champions of this.Mr Williams will enjoy more freedom at FOX.So all is well that ends well.Another person for you to hate.
juan williams is old enough to remember the real nixon-the president who touched off a constitutional crisis when he attempted to illegally fire special prosecutor archibald cox during the watergate era.william’s mock indignation is reminiscent of a nominee for the supreme court who compared the senate judiciary committee with the kkk,whilst characterizing a series of sanitized,if somewhat embarrassing questions ,as a “high tech lynching.”
william’s relationship with npr is governed by a personal services employment contract.private businesses which receive government subsidies which dwarf anything npr could ever dream of,fire folks every day for reasons they don’t have to explain to anyone-they fire ’em by the trainload,and use those gov subsidies to move the jobs to china.they may have canned the reader,or her kid,or dad,or the guy next door.by the way,just as dan schorr was on nixon’s enemies list,so was broadway joe namath.joe willie was as surprised as anyone,as he liked nixon enough to vote for him twice.yeah,npr is exactly like that.
Williams’ firing was long overdue. The first time I saw him on Faux News quite a few years ago, I thought, “NPR needs to can him. They have no journalistic credibility if he continues to show up here.” He was not a good host on Talk of the Nation (Ray Suarez, please come back) and his “senior correspondent” reports on news programs were mediocre, at best. How does any respectable journalist reconcile his/her ethics with an appearance on Fox?
Does anyone remember the circumstances of Bob Edwards’ leaving “Morning Editiion?”
I just went back and re-read the excerpt from Williams’ statement on the Fox News blog and wanted to comment that Williams’ statement about being “uncomfortable” seeing people in Muslim garb in airports doesn’t quite make it as “independence of thought” or “real debate across political lines.” It is racial stereotyping and Mr. Williams ought to be sensitive to the completely non-productive effects of this type of argument in any debate.
i’m pretty sure juan WOULD have to “imagine Daniel Schorr’s revulsion,” because i suspect the great journalist, if he was here to see this, would be telling williams to “quit digging.”
if i’m going to imagine…i’d imagine Daniel Schorr’s revulsion at the once great npr’s slow slide into “national ‘publican radio.”
Michael,
I listen to NPR a lot -probably everyday, and I’ve never heard anyone say certain people should die of aids. In fact, the npr hosts are incredibly civil with interviewees, and give them opportunity to make their case. The guests are usually interesting, articulate and refreshingly not in the thralls of ranting. In the most reccent report of a media watchdog org, npr does not give liberals or progressives (much less the left,?) more airtime, but actually less if you count that most are from corporate, industry or government representatives.
Public media is critical for this large, complicated, and now divided populace. It is because of its fairness that it is targeted by the Right, which has been trying to kill it since Reagan era. PBS has been gutted politically. The investigative reporting on War, Insurance industry and Wall St. for instance, will NEVER be covered by corporate media. And let’s not forget that NPR also brings us wonderful science and culture reporting that has nothing to do with politics and would not be profitable for a commercial stataion. NPR never has a bias toward its corporate owners because We the People own it. It’s the closest to fair and balanced reporting on the air waves. it must be protected.
Truth be told we have no Bill of Rights that applies to working for companies so far. So if he is in a Right-to-Fire state like Texas they can do it for any reason or no reason. He showed a terrible prejudice he was in fact at odds with. Visceral verse intellectual but he said it out loud. The fact that it is stereotypical and unrealistic as much as people who won’t pick up black men because they are black—just ask Yaffet Koto. I wouldn’t have fired him but then I don’t run the conservative to right wing NPR. Williams is now fully employed at Fox PAC for at $2 million now. Now he is home. Colmes at least has shown some spine and fire in the belly since he doesn’t appear with Hannity. I think they sign a contract that limits that when they appear.
That is taxis picking up black men.
All’s I know is that as an atheist, I get VERY nervous around any vicious human being who wears a friggin’ cross around his/her neck. An instrument of torture and execution, which practices christianity took for its own against real humans for 2000 years. Siege of Magdeberg, Crusade against the Albigensians, the Inquisition, and hanging my eighth great grandmother, Susannah North Martin, at Salem.
Christians ALL make me very nervous, scared, and chock-a-block full of rage and hatred.
Susan
The Nina Totenberg thing was the flap over her saying a certain republican Senator should get aids.He and his children.The term TEA baggers has been used several times noted.That must not ever be repeated.Please though I dig NPR too.Some great stuff.Lately though their funding diversification has come under question.If it’s political air time is found to be funded in any way by we the people wether right or left…..funding should be pulled.And remember corporations are not right wing……they are” US”.All of us.It is nonsense to play class warfare with the term.
ditto, Brian Wood. fear and/or hatred of “not us” is unfortunatly the base response resulting from the extreemest acceptance of almost any belief system (regardless of the foundation or doctrine it adhears to). My mom was fond of saying that a little religeon never hurt anyone (she was not religeous herself but was raised in a Christian home), and that may be true for those who seem to need it, but belief seldom stops at a “little”. We seem to be living at a time in America where a “little” religeon just doesn’t measure up. As groups up the accepted level of devotion, they up the level of intolerance for those who aren’t godly enough. The intolerance leads to hatred and fear, and greater adhearance by others to their faiths in response and on and on until we’re where we’re at today, and that’s downright frightening to rational folk. I just hate intolerance!
Who is Juan Williams?
here is an item i’m pretty sure most of the folks who post here know,at least its no state secret-we carry it in what most people call “the “pre-conscious.”-
there is a guy who wears “arab garb”pretty much all the time.when he flies,it is often on a jet he owns.his name is prince alwaleed bin talal -after the murdoch family,he owns the largest block of stock in news corp,and therefore fox news,now apparently the sole employer of juan williams.does mr williams feel nervous whilst cashing his paycheck?
Truth is neither “left” or “right” and facts aren’t either.
I would have asked Williams to describe his “Muslim garb” just so we had a clear idea of his racist phobia actually entails.