It would be interesting to know what Ellen Weiss was thinking when she decided to fire Juan Williams. Was NPR's top news editor really so concerned about what Williams said on O'Reilly that she failed to consider the political consequences? That would be the most charitable guess.
Was she craving revenge against Williams for daring to be a regular on Fox News? Perhaps she shared the Obama Administration's view that Fox News is the voice of the enemy. Perhaps she hated Williams for his willingness to take conservative views seriously. She thought she had a chance to get him and she went for it. That would be the least charitable guess.
Either way, one might ask what she was thinking about the outcome. Did she not consider that this would make Williams a hero among conservatives? Did she not consider that NPR is National Public Radio and that Republicans might soon be in a position to control funding for that institution? I'm guessing that she didn't consider any of these things because she spends every minute of her working day and probably every other minute around people who agree with about everything. No one she knows or works worked with has any sympathy for Juan Williams or ever watches Fox.
Ms. Weiss has now resigned her post after an internal review of the Williams affair, which is a charitable way of saying that she was sacked. Williams, meanwhile, has a fat new contract with Fox. He wins, she loses, big time both ways.
Fox News would like to have a few more like Juan Williams and more Mara Liasson. NPR brought pressure against both to tow the party line. That is the difference.
Fox News will survive in an open marketplace of ideas, NPR won't... NPR has applied the tourniquet but will ultimately fail to stop the bleeding.
Posted by: William | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 02:37 AM
Weiss did a knee jerk; I'd have done the same thing. NPR is here for the long haul.
Yer a dork, Willy.
Posted by: larry kurtz | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 08:44 AM
In fact, Mara Liasson should go, too. http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010210014
Posted by: larry kurtz | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 09:26 AM
NPR is irrevelent! Keep Juan....Fire Juan...Keep Ellen....Fire Ellen it just doesn't matter anymore. The Silent Majority is beginning to wake from its nap, and the Silent Majority is cranky.....NPR should be happy that it even exists, because really what this is about is funding. The NPR people know that in 2012 when it may be possible that Republicans will get the "Super Majority" in the House, Senate, and possibly the Executive branch...they are goners.
Posted by: Jimi | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Regarding "tow the line", here's a little help with your grammar, professor...
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toe_the_line
Posted by: Ted Pettyjohn | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 11:58 AM
Tanks Pettyjohn!
Posted by: KB | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 10:56 PM
Ellen Weiss hates Fox News. Ellen Weiss hated Williams for being on it.
Why? Because FOX News is not real journalism as she sees it.
And that's why it never occured to her to think twice.
These are the facts, sorry to disappoint if you think otherwise.
Posted by: NPR listener | Friday, January 07, 2011 at 11:23 PM
I owe NPR a debt for firing Juan Williams. His frequent appearances on Fox News have made the debates and discussions much richer and more interesting.
Posted by: Miranda | Monday, January 10, 2011 at 03:12 AM