Posted on 10/24/2010 9:45:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
When asked by reporters, immediately after she had insinuated that Juan Williams was in need of psychiatric help-presumably because since 9.11 he sometimes feel anxious around muslims who appear dangerous, the President of NPR Vivian Schiller stated:
"The only thing that matters to me in this case is how Juan as a news analyst conducts himself, and whether it's in violation of our journalistic ethics. It's really that straight forward. Now I don't need to get into a debate about is this show news, is this show opinion. That's... Let's... Let somebody else talk about that. My only interest here... This action was not anti-Fox(News)... This action was pro-journalistic standards. And a news analyst cannot continue, credibly to... to... to analyze the news, if they are expressing opinions about divisive issues. It's really that simple." (Emphasis added)
Ms. Schiller of course is trying to stem the flood of response that as of Friday, had even the NPR ombudsman admitting, was unnecessary and brought on in large measure by the poor handling of the matter.
More importantly and more intriguing to me however is the outright lies that Ms. Schiller told the reporters taking her statement.
It was deception on several levels.
The first deception was that she gave the quote after directly insinuating that Juan Williams should speak to his psychiatrist. If Mr. Williams even has a psychiatrist on retainer certainly such a fact should be treated with more respect.
Secondly Ms. Schiller attempted by her response as quoted above to pretend to keep her involvement in the matter, "all business." But this quote came after aggressive questioning by reporters at the very event where she mocked Juan Williams in her limited remarks addressing the issue.
Thirdly Ms. Schiller ended that comment with a blatantly untrue assertion. News analysts are asked to give their analysis of the news specifically from their unique opinion. Generally speaking news analysts are asked to be so after years of expertise in journalism, observing decades of news events, and understanding the long term implications that were a result. Juan's background was suitable for such an assignment, and had faithfully carried out those duties for more than a decade with NPR.
Fourthly Ms. Schiller knows that the news of the day almost always consists of divisive issues, and the very thing she was paying Juan to do was to express opinions about those issues. (Ironically the original issue Juan's comments were a result of, had to do with the Mosque that has been proposed to be located near ground zero. Divisive, but also one of the largest news stories of the year, perhaps decade.)
Finally Ms. Schiller is dishonest, but she is also hypocritical in that NPR continues to employ such abusers of their roles as journalists as Nina Totenberg, who once actually opined on a major outlet her desire to see a Senator with whom she disagreed be stricken with AIDS, or even better that Senator's grandchild.
If journalism is about anything it should be about telling the truth, as best one knows it, to the best of their ability, and to do so transparently. Based on this standard there should be much flexibility as to the biases that come out in analysis because ever analyst will be seeing life through their own set of eyes and circumstances. As long as they do so with grace and an admission of transparency - this does not violate ANY journalism ethic.
The matter before NPR is that they pretend to hold no views whatsoever, when they are reliably representative of the views of the left--time and again. The problem for Schiller in particular is that she is that she practices double standards (firing Juan WIlliams, while keeping Nina Totenberg employed), or downright dishonest in her stated reasons for firing Williams.
Most people in America believe it to be the latter.
In other words, Vivian Schiller, the President and Chief Executive of National Public Radio, and whose salary is paid via donations from the public and tax dollars requisitioned against our approval, is a bigot whose views cannot be violated even slightly without repercussion.
Ironically Juan Williams' comments to Bill OReilly were a gentle chiding to be more tolerant. And for the record Juan Williams is someone I personally disagree with about 70-80% of the time.
Nonetheless he has the right to not be misrepresented, nor to be mistreated, and Vivian Schiller has done both.
NPR should replace Schiller, that is, if they truly care about being seen as an on-going important journalistic outlet where genuine ethics of truth in reporting are respected.
For as of now Schiller has made a mockery of that which she claimed to be practicing.
And for now Senators and House members should be taking a cold hard look at future funding for NPR and--being totally transparent here--unplug the supply.
NPR really stepped in it on this one. They’ve managed to target that rare political figure who gets at least some respect on both sides of the aisle. Gonna need a lot more popcorn while I watch how this plays out.
His vacation trips such as the one he is about to undertake need to bee DEFUNDED.
I am very angry about this.
These commie elites (Soros and stooges) running things (media, news..hollyweird)in high places are playing for keeps...they are going to lie us right into economic (socialist) destruction.
bee = be
sorry.
I took a quick review of the financial statements of Corporation For Public Broadcasting (CPB), NPR and one local station, WOSU.
My quick review (info. subject to change) is that the CPB received most all of its $484 million in revenue from the Feds in 2009.
CPB paid all of the $484 million to local stations or for programming seen on local stations such as WOSU.
WOSU received approximately $1.9 million in 2009 from CBC (mostly) and other Federal grants (much smaller amount). State and local governments contributed $1.1 million and I assume this is mostly from OSU. NPR received $65 million from member stations, such as WOSU, in 2009. Also, NPR received about $15 million from CPB and may have received more from the local stations, but I cannot immediately tell from the financial statements.
So, what does this mean:
Even though money is fungible and cannot be traced directly, it is clear that money from the Feds flows through CPB, money flows to local stations and NPR from CPB, and money flows from local stations to NPR.
It is an incestuous relationship and any claim by NPR that they do not receive Federal money is trumped by the fact that they receive the benefit of money from the Feds that flows through CPB and the local stations. Further, NPR would not exist but for the money pumped into these organizations by the government.
Start the defunding of NPR by contacting their sponsors IMMEDIATELY.
They need to be defunded by taxpayers as well as sponsors.
This is their most recently released sponsor list.
$1 million+
Angie’s List
General Motors Corporation
Lumber Liquidators
Northwestern Mutual Foundation
Novo Nordisk
Progressive Casualty Insurance
Company
Prudential Financial
State Farm Mutual Automobile
Insurance Company
$500,000 - $999,999
Cargill
Citibank
Constant Contact
Constellation Energy Group
Focus Features
iShares
LendingTree
Lenovo
Lionsgate Entertainment Corporation
NetApp
Pajamagram Company
Saturn
Sit4Less.com
Subaru of America
T. Rowe Price
UPS
Vanguard Group
$250,000 – $499,999
Alliance for Climate Protection
American Public Transportation
Association
CITGO Petroleum Corporation
CSX Corporation
Feeding America
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Kashi Company
MasterCard
National Association of Realtors
Netflix
Overture Films
Pabst Brewing Company
PBS
Raymond James Financial Services
Travel Guard
Universal Pictures
Visa
Warner Home Video
$100,000 - $249,999
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
ABC
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
Bantam Dell Publishing Group
Better World Club
CarFax
Caterpillar
Civic Ventures
Dogpile.com
Economist
Enterprise Florida
FIJI Water Company
FX Networks
Gary Group
HBO
HoMedics
Hyatt Corporation
Institute for Supply Management
Intel Corporation
Johnson Controls
Lindamood-Bell Learning Systems
MGM
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Pictures
Philips Healthcare
POM Wonderful
REI
Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
U.S. Bank
Vestas Wind Systems
Walden University
Yahoo!
$50,000 - $99,999
American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association
Anheuser-Busch Companies
Apple
Bank of America
BP
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Clorox Company
CNN
Columbia University
Concord Records
Consumer Reports
Discovery Networks
Disney Channel
Dow Chemical Company
Earth Share
Ethanol Promotion and
Information Council
FOX Broadcasting Company
Gynecologic Cancer Foundation
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
New Line Cinema
Random House Audio
Sony Pictures
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Summit Entertainment
Toyota Motor Corporation
Union of Concerned Scientists
Universal Music Group
University of Michigan School
of Social Work
University of South Carolina
VH1
VisitBritain
Weight Watchers International
Under $49,999
AARP
Air Products
Alaska Airlines
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Wind Energy Association
ATO Records
Bear Mountain Master Partnership
Blue Note Records
Bose Corporation
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
CBS
Charles Schwab & Co.
ConocoPhillips Company
CSK Auto Corporation
Dominican University
Elsevier
Epson
FirstLook Studios Home Entertainment
Freestyle Releasing
Global Giving
Harvard University Press
Hatchette Book Group USA
History
History International
Kroger Co.
Liberated Arts
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
MassMutual Financial Group
Miramax Films
National Association of Professional
Organizers
Nettwerk Music Group
New York Times
Ovation TV
Peace Music
Picturehouse
Plume
Premise Media
RED Music
Roadside Attractions
Showtime Networks
Sony BMG
Strand Releasing
Thomas Nelson
Trend Micro
Unity Productions Foundation
University of Chicago
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Music Group
WaterPartners International
WGBH
Wild Birds Unlimited
Zale Corporation
The viewer funded television fairy has been shot dead.
“Black man”
For whatever it is worth, Juan was born in the Republic of Panama and is of West Indian descent. Two different cultures between the U.S. and Panama. No matter the shade of skin, we all get along as one in Panama. The West Indian descents are not one of these nasty black folks who blame everything on the whities.
If I recall correctly, he and his mother moved to N.Y. when he was about 2 years old.
His father followed and was a boxing coach.
The point is Juan can rearrange anyone’s face if he gets sufficiently angry since he came from a boxing family.
GO JUAN!!!!!
Wondering if Juan Williams is Christian. The liberal elites feel quite empowered to persecute Christians of late. Any Christian who sides with the current liberal mob has a death wish.
Yep...I saw that on the Weekend Update segment, and wanted to wring that little smug puke’s neck when he said that. Insinuating that Fox is full of racists...they are dreadful people at SNL, as leftists are everywhere.
Is it really any wonder that NPR consistently tows a corporatist/socialist line?
I believe he is a born again Christian, albeit misguided about politics.
The educated-class chablis and brie crowd at NPR might want to go to Panama sometime and see how a multicultural society actually functions. On the other hand, such a society doesn't really lend itself to their patronizing attitues. Their "inclusiveness" always feels so embarrasingly forced.
Thank you for your reply.
Panama is an extremely comfortable place to live in terms of getting along with folks.
I hope you enjoyed your stay.
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