Posted on 10/30/2010 11:52:58 AM PDT by Graybeard58
The firing of journalist Juan Williams by his longtime employer, National Public Radio, for remarks NPR deemed inappropriate may have been a personal and career calamity for him, but there's little new information to be gleaned from this incident about the nature of the NPR beast. It was a creature of the far left long before Mr. Williams, an occupant of the squishy center, got his pink slip.
Fox News Channel pundit Bill O'Reilly, on whose show Mr. Williams said sharing an airliner with full-dress Muslims made him nervous, did the public a favor by digging up, for purposes of comparison, comments NPR commentator Nina Totenberg made in 1995. At the time, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., had called for reduced federal funding for AIDS research. In so doing, he referred to homosexual activity as "unnatural."
"I think he ought to be worried about the — about what's going on in the good Lord's mind," snarled Ms. Totenberg, "because if there's retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion or one of his grandchildren will get it."
Ms. Totenberg did not lose her job for saying it was just, even desirable, for a senator or child to die a horrible, premature death. Mr. Williams did get fired, for saying during Mr. O'Reilly's show Oct. 18: "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 the 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." He subsequently bracketed his sentiments with qualifiers, something Ms. Totenberg did not include in her fatwa against the Helms family.
NPR is well known as a far-left precinct, subsidized by leftist financier George Soros, who gets income-tax deductions for his donations, and peopled with reporters and commentators who largely share his beliefs. It is not at all surprising that Juan Williams would be fired for expressing the mildest of animus against one of the liberal grievance groups du jour, Muslims, while Ms. Totenberg would suffer no sanctions for wishing death on a right-wing boogeyman.
Neoconservative columnist Jonah Goldberg confesses he often listens to NPR, but only to keep his mind tuned to the arguments liberals are making on the policy issues of the day. Certainly, NPR offers a more erudite, intellectually stimulating perspective on liberalism than the blogosphere or mainstream press. It also has its share of nonpolitical programs focusing on music, education and entertainment, such as Tom and Ray Magliozzi's popular "Car Talk" show.
Since Mr. Williams' firing, many on the right have been calling for Congress to take the "National Public" out of National Public Radio. It's true that NPR and public television are relics from a time when most cars were equipped with AM radios and televisions were able to pluck no more than a half-dozen signals from the air. The best of public broadcasting would thrive in the commercial market; the rest would disappear without notice or lament.
But as Mr. Goldberg points out, "PBS and NPR have spent decades target-hardening their budgetary bunkers. Busting them quickly would take an enormous amount of time and effort, with minuscule reward. Indeed, Democrats would love it if Republicans allowed themselves to be baited into what would essentially be a culture-war fight over public radio (the last 'war on Big Bird' was a disaster for the GOP)."
NPR says Congress funds only 2 percent of its $166 million budget. Mark Browning of American Thinker magazine estimates the taxpayer subsidy actually is as much as 25 percent, when taxpayer funding of affiliate stations that pay dues and fees to NPR, and tax deductions claimed by individual, corporate and foundation donors, are taken into account. So NPR's piece of the federal action may be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Mr. Goldberg's warning is well taken. But as a larger campaign to relieve taxpayers of obligations the government has no authority to impose on them, NPR deserves a prominent place among the cuts Republicans should demand, should they get a chance after Tuesday to get it right this time.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this ping list, let me know.
The Left is well aware of what happens to commie lib radio stations that try to survive without government funding. Air America failed. Without government funding, NPR would be history. Americans just don’t want to listen to communist propagandists.
No we need to stop funding NPR!
I never liked NPR’s smarmy, opinionated news readers. I suspect that 80% of their listeners, other than for music, are lefties. They will go the way of Air america once federal funding gets pulled.
The GOP will control the purse strings come January. All they need domis refuse to appropriate a single nickel for NPR.
This was hardly a “career calamity” for Williams. I don’t agree with him, but he has always seemed thoughtful and honest. This matter, on the contrary, is a boon to his career.
If they stuck to classical music and left politics out, I would contribute a little for them to stay on the air. I enjoy listening to classical music, especially on long trips. It seems to make the trip shorter and more enjoyable.
Agree we need to get rid of any and all Public Broadcasting systems the Leftist’s have caused us.
Not just the costs, but cleaning the Leftist scum from the airwaves will help to correct the course by eliminating a resource for Leftist spewage.
As far as “Big Bird”, and that whole CTW thing, they are of stand alone capability if not to the majors, the local broadcaster’s, and should do well with their sales of associated products, Dolls, and the like. CTW has to be making out quite well with their licensing etc., so I would not worry to much about pulling the maraschino cherry from the top of their pile of whipped cream.
Hardly! Whatever he may have lost in terms of an audience of Never, Never Land hard left politics and Garrison Keillor homilies he will more than make up with a nice fat contract and broader exposure via FNC. Granted, he will no longer be an "insider" and will lose some invitations to DC, NYC, and LA parties thrown by "all the right people", and to him that may represent a "calamity", but his career is in no trouble.
Most places I go on the east coast, you can pick up two, three, sometimes four NPR outlets on a car radio. There are so many of them, they compete with each other for the same listeners.
Defund all of public broadcasting.
Defund the entire Endowment for the Arts
Shut down the Kennedy Center
Defund the Dept of Education
Defund the EPA
Defund all bioengeneering funds from the Dept of Agriculature
Defund the Dept of Energy
Defund most of HUD
Blow up Fannie and Freddie Mac
Abolish the FED
Put Obama on a vacation budget
Put Michelle on a diet and take away her credit cards.
Then I would take a day off and come up with some more.
All government funded media is agitprop. All government funded education is agitprop.
Ideas matter and determine worldviews. The worldview of our current government and previous politicians and “intellectuals” is that of Hegel, Marx, Gramsci and Marcuse so we will get that biased PC-thinking in everything that is presented.
Ideas have consequences. For those who don’t understand this, look to see what all these fascist ideas created....all the deaths in Germany, China, Russia and other Asian, African, South American countries, etc.
In other words, tax payer funded universities.
I'll take that bait.
There need to be hearings in the new congress with heads of every agency called to them to explain one thing. How is the work their agency doing constitutional? If they can't justify it, cut it.
Interesting read from their own website rationalizing SCott Simon’s - an overrated reporter - salary and his laughing when interviewing an author about plunging a knife into Karl Rove.
Cut the funds now.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2009/09/scott_simons_salary_and_steak_1.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.