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Post by Chesapeake on Oct 21, 2010 9:19:33 GMT -5
NPR Fires News Analyst After Remarks About Muslims by The Associated Press WASHINGTON October 21, 2010, 10:04 am ET Longtime news analyst Juan Williams, who has written extensively on race and civil rights, has been fired by National Public Radio after comments he made about Muslims on the Fox News Channel.
NPR issued a statement late Wednesday saying his contract as a senior news analyst was being terminated after Williams' comments Monday on "The O'Reilly Factor."
Host Bill O'Reilly brought on guests to discuss his appearance last week on ABC's "The View" during which Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in protest of O'Reilly's views on Muslims.
"Where am I going wrong here, Juan?" O'Reilly asked.
Williams, 56, responded that too much political correctness can get in the way of reality.
"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the Civil Rights movement in this country," Williams said. "But when I get on a 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."
A phone message left for Williams at his home in Washington seeking comment was not immediately returned Thursday morning.
Before he was fired, Williams' comments drew a response from Islamic civil rights groups.
In a statement Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said such commentary from a journalist about other racial, ethnic or religious minority groups would not be tolerated.
"NPR should address the fact that one of its news analysts seems to believe that all airline passengers who are perceived to be Muslim can legitimately be viewed as security threats," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
Later Wednesday, NPR issued a statement saying Williams' remarks "were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."
"Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years and we did not make this decision lightly or without regret," NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm said in an e-mailed statement.
Williams was previously a longtime reporter, columnist and editorial writer at The Washington Post. He has written extensively on the Civil Rights movement, including a book on the African American religious experience and a biography on Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Conservative bloggers defended Williams on Thursday, blasting NPR's decision.
"All Juan Williams did is say both exactly how he feels and how many, many other Americans feel on this subject," wrote Erick Erickson on his "Red State" blog. "The man's body of work makes clear he is no bigot. But we sure can't offend Muslims can we?"
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Post by omaha on Oct 21, 2010 9:21:45 GMT -5
The politically correct have begun to eat their own.
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Post by patrick on Oct 21, 2010 9:27:31 GMT -5
The politically correct have begun to eat their own. Ridiculous. We're finally starting to apply the same standard toward bigoted remarks about Muslims as we had been about bigoted remarks about Jews or any other group. It was a stupid remark.
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Post by j on Oct 21, 2010 9:40:17 GMT -5
+1. The level of discourse (especially journalistic discourse) is a fundamental force in shaping the behavior of any group of people. If you sanction similar oral atrocities you're fostering "fear and divisiveness" (to quote a concept dear to Omaha) among the audience and, by consequence, the public at large.
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Post by Doug on Oct 21, 2010 9:41:58 GMT -5
How is it a stupid remark? If he had said that all or most Muslims are bombers that would be one thing. But what he said is that he "feels uneasy" a statement of how he feels not of facts.
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Post by Fingerplucked on Oct 21, 2010 9:48:06 GMT -5
If Williams had said that to me over a beer, I would have said "Me too." But he didn't say it in private, he said it in public. He should have known better, especially considering that he works in the news media, and he deals with civil rights.
It was a stupid thing to do. While I don't fault him for being prejudiced (who isn't?), talking about it in this manner, helping O'Reilly justify what he did (I don't know what he did, but I'm assuming he did something), only tries to legitimize the prejudice.
Prejudice might come naturally, but I think good people fight against it and actively try to be more fair.
He screwed up in an area where he couldn't afford to screw up. He should have been fired. Too bad NPR couldn't fire O'Reilly as well.
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Post by omaha on Oct 21, 2010 9:49:17 GMT -5
Williams is guilty of nothing but thoughtcrime. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights says "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion". Apparently that's everyone except NPR employees.
The UN UDHR also states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
Again, apparently everyone except for NPR employees.
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Post by Fingerplucked on Oct 21, 2010 9:51:45 GMT -5
How is it a stupid remark? If he had said that all or most Muslims are bombers that would be one thing. But what he said is that he "feels uneasy" a statement of how he feels not of facts. He said "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the Civil Rights movement in this country," Williams said. "But when I get on a 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." The first part of that is a rambling disqualifier. He doesn't actually say anything until the end: "...Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." Muslims = cause for worry.
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Post by Fingerplucked on Oct 21, 2010 9:53:53 GMT -5
Williams is guilty of nothing but thoughtcrime. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights says "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion". Apparently that's everyone except NPR employees. The UN UDHR also states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Again, apparently everyone except for NPR employees. Sorry, I have trouble accepting that from someone who builds binders. When I get on a plane and see someone pull out a three-ringer, I point him out to the stewardess and ask if he's been checked for box cutters. Or worse, non-glare page protectors.
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Post by billhammond on Oct 21, 2010 9:54:13 GMT -5
When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in nun garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Catholics, I get worried. I get nervous. Next thing you know they might be singing "Dominique."
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Post by millring on Oct 21, 2010 9:54:26 GMT -5
Williams screwed it. He expressed thoughts that aren't illegal, but they stand in abject opposition to the positions of his employer, NPR.
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Post by dradtke on Oct 21, 2010 10:00:17 GMT -5
Williams screwed it. He expressed thoughts that aren't illegal, but they stand in abject opposition to the positions of his employer, NPR. No, they stand in abject opposition to the need of his employer to have unbiased analysts.
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Post by j on Oct 21, 2010 10:00:34 GMT -5
Williams has the right to say whatever he wants; he also has the obligation to deal with the consequences.
Similarly, NPR has a right not to employ anyone who expresses similar feelings. I don't hear a lot of advocates for bestiality, pedophilia, or necrophilia on their news staff (or if they're there, they keep it to themselves)
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Post by Doug on Oct 21, 2010 10:04:43 GMT -5
How is it a stupid remark? If he had said that all or most Muslims are bombers that would be one thing. But what he said is that he "feels uneasy" a statement of how he feels not of facts. He said "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the Civil Rights movement in this country," Williams said. "But when I get on a 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." The first part of that is a rambling disqualifier. He doesn't actually say anything until the end: "...Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." Muslims = cause for worry. Personal feelings notice the "I" in those statements. Thought police.
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Post by Doug on Oct 21, 2010 10:06:21 GMT -5
Williams has the right to say whatever he wants; he also has the obligation to deal with the consequences. Similarly, NPR has a right not to employ anyone who expresses similar feelings. I don't hear a lot of advocates for bestiality, pedophilia, or necrophilia on their news staff (or if they're there, they keep it to themselves) J, I'd agree with that if it was a private employer but NPR is government.
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Post by millring on Oct 21, 2010 10:08:51 GMT -5
Williams screwed it. He expressed thoughts that aren't illegal, but they stand in abject opposition to the positions of his employer, NPR. No, they stand in abject opposition to the need of his employer to have unbiased analysts. That's clearly not the case. You can't honestly tell me that NPR hires people who are unbiased. You mean to tell me that if he had expressed his opinion that Obama should spend more on the stimulus he would have been fired for bias? You mean to tell me that if he had expressed his opinion on cash for clunkers, or nationalizing healthcare, or the AIG bailout, he would have been fired for his bias? This has to do with NPR's position regarding the specific issue of expressing opinions about muslims (or, one might assume, other religions).
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Post by Supertramp78 on Oct 21, 2010 10:10:14 GMT -5
NPR fired a reporter for expressing an opinion. Used to be that reporters weren't supposed to express opinions, they were supposed to be objective and avoid opinions. Now, opinions lead the news and drive ratings. You can have a much bigger career by being opinionated than you can by being a reporter. Williams broke the rules for a reporter. He did exactly what he should have done if he wanted to shift careers to the big bucks world of opinion reporting.
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Post by sidheguitarmichael on Oct 21, 2010 10:12:49 GMT -5
When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in nun garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Catholics, I get worried. I get nervous. Next thing you know they might be singing "Dominique." If you were at Spokane/GEG, that would be a legitimate concern. I played the guitar part for that tune during the filming of a discovery channel special on those nuns. They're everywhere around here...
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Post by millring on Oct 21, 2010 10:13:06 GMT -5
NPR fired a reporter for expressing an opinion. Used to be that reporters weren't supposed to express opinions, they were supposed to be objective and avoid opinions. Now, opinions lead the news and drive ratings. You can have a much bigger career by being opinionated than you can by being a reporter. Williams broke the rules for a reporter. He did exactly what he should have done if he wanted to shift careers to the big bucks world of opinion reporting. Williams expresses his opinion every single weekend on FOX Sunday with Chris Wallace. Every single Sunday Williams expresses his bias toward the liberal answer of most every topic of the day. If what you are saying were the case, Williams would have been fired from NPR many, many years ago.
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Post by dradtke on Oct 21, 2010 10:15:12 GMT -5
Yes, John, you're right, I'm wrong. NPR is a socialist machine and the only fair unbiased news organization is Fox. Mea culpa. I'm really trying to learn, but it's hard because I'm so deluded and brainwashed.
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