A snarky defense of NPR hypocracy on firing Juan Williams
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This NY Times story reeks with put downs of those complaining about the firing of Williams. Starting with its opening paragraph highlighting complaint letters from "viewers" and ending with a complaining caller making a pledge of support. In between it is written like a brief in defense of former Times executive Vivian Shiller who exhibited unprofessional behavior in response to the outrage sparked by the firing.Not addressed was the disparate treatment of opinion given by Nina Totenberg, a notorious liberal who appears to be in regular violation of the code of ethics that got Williams fired.
The story just does not live up to the NY Times standard for quality journalism. It lives down to a standard for defending liberals who have screwed up as Shiller did.
I am not a regular listener to NPR. I prefer the fair and balanced approach of Fox News. But I am a regular reader of the NY Times and I would have liked to see them explore the inconsistency of the application of the NPR ethics code.
I really don't care if Totenberg exposes her liberalism in giving opinions. I think it says more about the NPR agenda, and it is good to get that on the record. I am really not that concerned about Juan Williams career which will probably be enhanced by his unprofessional treatment by Shiller and NPR. But the Times and NPR owe us an explanation of why they view the rather innocent remarks of Juan Williams as verboten while they don't seem to mind liberal opinions from Totenberg.
The Washington Post did a better job of covering the fallout from the firing although it too failed to address the double standard issue with Totenberg.
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