Fields: NPR Fired Wrong Person

BY SAM FIELDS
Guest Columnist

 

It was right that the Juan Williams/Nation Public radio kerfuffle led to a firing.
 
NPR  just fired the wrong person.  Public radio’s CEO Vivian Schiller is the one that needed to be shown the door.
 
In case you have been living a Chilean mine, long-time NPR news analyst Juan Williams was fired for remarking on FOX News that he gets nervous when getting on a plane with people who are dressed in Muslim/Mideast garb.
 
It was an honest thought, shared by tens of millions of Americans, even though it is totally irrational. 
 
As far as I know not one single terrorist attack or attempted attack in America has been perpetrated by someone wearing a burqa or a taqiyah.  Terrorists may be psycho but they’re not stupid. 
 
Schiller fired Williams for talking about his emotional prejudice. I wish more writers would reveal their fears and prejudices. Everyone has some sort of irrational thought and listeners and readers should be able to include those views in evaluating a journalist’s reporting.
 
I wish Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and company would feel comfortable in admitting what they really think about Jews, Blacks and gays. The trouble is that they look at the fate of Helen Thomas, the veteran White House reporter who fired for expressing her true thoughts about Jews and Israel. As a result they keep their mouths shut or use code words like denouncing “Hollywood or “San Francisco when we all know they want to say “kikes and “faggots.
 
Schiller’s explanation for firing Williams is total bullshit that can only have the effect of chilling honest expression at NPR.
 
I want to believe that if Daniel Schorr, the recently deceased NPR analyst, was still alive he would point out what an asshole Schiller is.

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Here’s the statement NPR from CEO Vivian Schiller and Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss released:

“Tonight we gave Juan Williams notice that we are terminating his contract as a Senior News Analyst for NPR News.

“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. However, his remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a News Analyst with NPR.

“We regret these circumstances and thank Juan Williams for his many years of service to NPR and public radio.”

As for what Juan said on O’Reilly, as David writes:

“O’Reilly has been looking for support for his own remarks on a recent episode of ABC’s The View in which he directly blamed Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in the middle of his appearance.

“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 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.’

“Williams also warned O’Reilly against blaming all Muslims for ‘extremists,’ saying Christians shouldn’t be blamed for Oklahoma City bomber  TimothyMcVeigh.

 

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Williams had the last laugh.  Fox News immediately hired the fired commentator in a $2 million, three-year deal.  



14 Responses to “Fields: NPR Fired Wrong Person”

  1. disenchanted says:

    see sam, hope exists eternaly, some left wing station might hire you only if obama sends them our money. have a peacefull halloween sam , and please wear a mask.

  2. sam fields says:

    I would wear a Limbaugh mask but it might terify the children

  3. Anonymous says:

    This is exactly what is wrong with NPR. They use our money to further their obsession with politically correctness.
    There constant message is that muslims are good people. Where are the voices of these good people speaking out against terrorism? Is there a terrorist organization threatening America that is not muslim?
    What do we need NPR for when we have hundreds of other commercial choices?

  4. disenchanted says:

    sam i see you more in an oriely mask or, if im right, you would love to wear a madonna mask to show your true personna……

  5. Death Frog 3 says:

    This firing to me is not unlike Sharrod from the USDA.

    They both spoke openly and honestly about dark places in their psyche. They both spoke of the need to overcome those feelings.

    Williams gets fired. Sharrod becomes the poster child for exercising restraint before making decisions.

  6. Mister Courthouse says:

    The person who should be fired is Sam Fields from this website. Aren’t we all tired of his long-winded and ill-informed diatribes? At least this one isn’t attacking people of faith.

  7. S.O.B. says:

    this is the same $%^& as some folk can walk or march with firearms and get away with it, some attend Presidential appearances armed with rifles and pistols strapped to themselves, and nothing happens. But if you or I want to carry a firearm for protection, in our cars…we are arrested.. is there justice in that. years a go when the hijacking of airlines to Cuba, when you flew did you worry about a hijacking happening to your flight…I did !!! Now we are so sensitive to the “minority” feelings were are wooried about arrest or firings, something is in the water ???

  8. SAM FIELDS says:

    Dear Mr Outhouse

    Wait for the next one

  9. watcher says:

    I have preset stations in the car…the 3 on sports talk… 2 oldies and NPR…when I surf and hit NPR it is always vanilla…the business is factual, the interviewers talk to everyone…the news sometimes seems to attack my narritive of things, as a total lefty…you guys 1 to 7 above are not fair minded at all……I thought firing was wrong but Juan was the only NPRer working for a network which donates millions to a party…he’d been warned that that was problematic…

  10. Sirius listener says:

    I listen to satellite radio and because of that, realize there is no longer a need for NPR. I can get all the news and music I want. The idea of government supporting broadcasting smacks of totalitarian states. End any subsidies for NPR, which showed its true biased colored by firing Williams.

  11. watcher says:

    Sirius…we libs buy sports stadiums for you yahoos with our tax dollars…we can contribute to a truer balanced voice…you just think classical music is liberal when its just music

  12. Joe King says:

    Williams should have been let go a long time ago. This guy is the standard for lowered expectations. The smirks from the other panel members on Fox news is joyous. They have him as a “liberal mouthpiece” to show balance only because he is ineffectual.

  13. watcher says:

    joe,,,,agreed

  14. ontheequator says:

    I am becoming less tolerant of tolerance.