Juan Williams fired at NPR
- Locked due to inactivity on Aug 4, '16 4:13pm
Thread Topic: Juan Williams fired at NPR
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tongue NewbieFirst off, Juan Williams was for many years a radio host on NPR and is also a FOX News contributor. He's actually a Democrat, which is an odd thing to be at FOX. Anyway, Williams was on O'Reilly Factor earlier this week, where O'Reilly was discussing remarks he made that all Muslims were responsible for 9/11. Williams was actually arguing that Bill was incorrect to think that, but in that discourse, he made the mistake of saying he "would be uncomfortable on a plane" if he "saw people in Muslim garb." It was for this comment that NPR has fired Juan Williams.
Some have read this move as government censorship because NPR receives federal funding. I'll stick to the line that it's really just not very fair. There are commentators who have gotten away with much worse. Conservative radio host Michael Savage cracked cancer jokes at Ted Kennedy and said autism was just "bad parenting." He's still on the air. O'Reilly's comment regarding Muslims was worse. So why did Juan Williams get fired? Well, compared to Savage and O'Reilly, he doesn't have as much freedom because of who he works for. O'Reilly works for a right-wing propaganda network; Savage owns his own station. Williams works for NPR, which is a left-leaning organization. So his comments don't really fall in line with their desired message.
I understand the need for damage control. I personally disagree with Williams' remarks. But Juan Williams is a great journalist, and firing him is too harsh, especially since he has never made any inflammatory, offensive comments in his 30 years as a journalist. Two weeks suspension might have been acceptable; firing the guy was a bonehead move. -
Agreed. I think that this shows some hypocrisy on the part of NPR. In 1995 Andrei Codrescu said
"The evaporation of four million people who believe this crap [the Rapture] would leave the world an instantly better place." Sure he apologized, but that's as far as NPR went.
That same year, Nina Totenberg said "
I think [Sen. Jesse Helms] ought to be worried about what's going on in the Good Lord's mind, because if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it." She was saying this related to a debate about federal funding for AIDS research.
There was also one guy I heard about from over there who fantized about watching Rush Limbaugh die.
If NPR is gonna fire Juan Williams for this then they should fire their other employees for making offensive comments too.
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