Thursday, October 21, 2010

NPR's Dan Rather Moment

Juan Williams unleashed!
Headline: In wake of NPR controversy, Fox News gives Juan Williams an expanded role

The cable news network signs the analyst to a new three-year contract for nearly $2 million. Meanwhile, conservative figures blast the public radio network for its response to Williams' comments about Muslims.
NPR has, however, indicated that the real reason had more to do with the intolerance of its executives toward Fox News, as well as pressure from the White House and George Soros, one of NPR's big contributors, along with CAIR's complaint as the figleaf.

By circling the wagons to enforce their bias, NPR has only freed Williams from its constraints, and sent the message to all other NPR commentators that they have to watch what they say or get fired. My judgment about NPR seems vindicated. Not only does it get federal money, which it is quick to say is only a tiny fraction of its budget, its stations are mostly on college campuses subsidized by the state. It has become more and more bold in reflecting the radical liberalism in academia. In firing Williams NPR has done nothing to hurt him, and an awful lot to make its own hard line on political bias more clear than ever.

Nina Totenberg is being caught up in this controversy as people point to much more bigoted statements on programs off NPR's air. Quelle surprise!

James Taranto points to the misstatement of Williams' remark by CAIR in its memo to NPR as evidence of NPR's disingenuity. Williams didn't say this on NPR's air, but CAIR went after his job there. That alone should have outraged NPR's executives. Who does CAIR think it is to go after a man's job, merely because he said something that everybody but a hermit would agree with, and then only to set up the point that Muslims should not be prejudged to be likely terrorists?

This is a stupid a move from the liberal media as we've seen since Dan Rather tried to defend using faked documents to show that George W. Bush had gotten an easy pass from the Texas Air National Guard. A half a moment of thought by anybody in the chain of decision would have saved them this total humiliation, but, hey, CAIR had complained! They just had to take action.

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