I know what Juan WIlliams sounds like, but I can't recall any specific commentary of his; he always seems to be talking about New York schools or Hispanic children or something.
Apparently he's been busy gettin' fired up on FOX News though:
Juan Williams’s tendency “to speak one way on NPR and another on Fox,” as NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard once put it, has finally caught up with him.Williams was unceremoniously relieved of his duty as an NPR contributor following an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor during which he confessed to being “worried” and “nervous” about getting on a plane with Muslims.
“His remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices,” NPR said in a statement, “and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
Williams was asked to comment but said he was not ready to do so yet.
[from thedailywh.at]
I have to admit, this story really does make me want to pledge a dollar a day to get the 4 CD set of smack-talkin', dirt scatterin' NPR First 40 Years drama. Does Nina Totenberg have a dark side?
But before we make any hasty decisions, let's roll playback:
I have to say that I think Juan Williams just knows his audience. He knows he will continue to make money on FOX News by saying inflammatory things in a heated debate context, and he knows he can make bank from NPR by presenting logical, cogent arguments. I disagree with Bill O'Reilly's pronunciation of "NPsnaRRRl," but I understand that he too knows what his audience expects of him and delivers.
This being said, I am now more convinced that FOX News is terrible and NPR actually does try to present discussions ahead of personalities. However, I do NPR caved to pressures on this one; they shouldn't have had to sever ties with Juan WIlliams for this. I bet Scott Simon is sad :(
People love to make too much out of everything; that's the basis of FOX News. It is a shame that that sort of pandemonium and chaos theory had to spill over to NPR in this instance.
What do you think?
3 comments:
All the 24 hour cable news should be shut down and all their employees summarily executed.
I agree w/ tard. The advent of cable news was the death of modern political society.
On the specific topic though, I think NPR handled this very poorly. He shouldn't have been cited without reason or opportunity to explain himself. He should have, however, been fired for being a totally worhless journo-hack.
Now people are calling for the CEO of NPR to be fired. It's just so silly. She messed up by being too reactionary, yes. Juan Williams messed up by playing both sides and saying frivolous top-of-your-head FOX News fodder. But honestly, can't people apologize and try to do their jobs better after their mistakes anymore?
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