Juan Unleashed
…This week when I pointed out that they had forced me to sign a contract that gave them distance from my commentary outside of NPR I was cut off, ignored and fired.
And now they have used an honest statement of feeling as the basis for a charge of bigotry to create a basis for firing me. Well, now that I no longer work for NPR let me give you my opinion. This is an outrageous violation of journalistic standards and ethics by management that has no use for a diversity of opinion, ideas or a diversity of staff (I was the only black male on the air). This is evidence of one-party rule and one sided thinking at NPR that leads to enforced ideology, speech and writing. It leads to people, especially journalists, being sent to the gulag for raising the wrong questions and displaying independence of thought.
Daniel Schorr, my fellow NPR commentator who died earlier this year, used to talk about the initial shock of finding himself on President Nixon’s enemies list. I can only imagine Dan’s revulsion to realize that today NPR treats a journalist who has worked for them for ten years with less regard, less respect for the value of independence of thought and embrace of real debate across political lines, than Nixon ever displayed.
I’ve always like Juan Williams, because he just seemed like a decent fellow. I’m ever so glad to know how right I was.
Life, Media, Nanny State, People | tree hugging sister | 
October 22, 2010 8:21 am
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Yes, he’s not one of the smug doctrinaire types that seem to inhabit the public airwaves these days. You could actually have a conversation with him unlike the spin doctor types that don’t really care what you think. Evidently Soros has just pumped in 1.8 million to help hire 100 new journos there so maybe they are going cutting edge left as opposed to the wine and cheese left of old.
I love how he throws Daniel Schorr in their faces. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Schorr would have been the lead cheerleader to throw Williams under the bus, but Williams was able to refer to earlier experiences of Schorr and Schorr isn’t there to trump up some fake logic of why it’s a different rule for Williams. Brilliant move by Williams.
Mr. Williams is a liberal that I respect. And the list of liberals that I respect is short, and growing shorter by the hour.
Looks like Mr. Williams just had a “come to Jesus” moment:
“I’ve always thought the right wing were ones that were inflexible and intolerant and now I’m coming to realize that the orthodoxy at NPR, its representing the left,” he said.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/10/juan-williams-i-dont-have-a-psychiatrist-npr-ceo-low.html
I disagree with just about everything he has ever said, but, like you, I sensed that he was a decent guy. NPR showed its true colors and should be defunded, pronto.
Well, well, Mr. Williams just got mugged by reality. Next thing you know he’ll be a Neocon (original definition of a neoconservative: a liberal who has been mugged by reality). It may take a while, Jeanne Kirkpatrick was still a registered Dem in the 1980s. If Mr. Williams ever realizes just how bad for black people liberal policies have been, he’ll end up to the right of Edmund Burke.