It's hard to feel too sorry for former National Public Radio news analyst Juan Williams. He also appeared regularly on Fox News, which is where he made comments that displeased his NPR bosses. He was abruptly fired last week by NPR for expressing his fear of fellow plane passengers wearing Muslim garb. NPR felt his role as a news analyst had been compromised by his statements. Fox News had no problem at all, offering Williams a two million dollar deal to stay with them. In this overheated political season, it's no surprise that some politicians on the right wanted to use this incident as a reason to abolish the two per cent of its funding that NPR receives from the federal government. Some liberals also expressed their displeasure with NPR. Did NPR have a right to let him go if they were so uncomfortable with his dual media roles? Yes. Did it appear to be handled too severely and open NPR to criticism from conservatives who contend the network is too far left? Absolutely. Even many guests on NPR took issue with the move. Were these honest comments of his on Fox that far over the top? I don't think so, but that's just my view and I wasn't paying him to be my news analyst. Since leaving commercial radio back in March, I've become a big fan of the service NPR provides. Its very intellectual presentation does give NPR a very elite, even snobbish image. After hours and hours of listening, I have to say NPR is much more objective than their detractors give them credit for, providing less heat and more light than most commercial networks. At the same time, they became the story themselves and a lightning rod for free speech advocates and conservative critics. The Williams incident could have been handled more diplomatically, but he'll be just fine. It would be a shame if NPR's reputation suffered just because of this.
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