STAFF EDIT: Controversial commentary

NPR sparked debate on Thursday after firing long time news analyst Juan Williams for a controversial comment Williams made regarding his feelings toward Muslims. In an appearance on Fox News’s The O’Reilly Factor last Monday, Williams said, “Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot . . . 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.”

NPR jumped on Williams for his comment, firing him immediately without giving him a chance to defend himself and claiming that this incident was just the latest in a series of questionable comments Williams has made. While Williams’ word choice was poor, his comments were taken out of context and should not have been a fire-able offense. The entire point of his appearance on Fox News was to debate Bill O’Reilly about why it is wrong to generalize and place blame on Muslim people for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And while this one comment was blown out of proportion, Williams’ other remarks about acceptance and equality were quickly forgotten.

William’s firing also calls into question where the line should be drawn between objective reporter and commentator in today’s media. NPR’s justification for terminating William’s contract was that his comments violated their ethics policy and contradicted their goal of journalistic integrity. But by giving Williams the title of “news analyst” instead of reporter, NPR was blurring the lines of where exactly the division occurs, allowing Williams to express certain views, but not others. Situations like this are an inevitable result of the news media’s attempt to voice opinions on every issue, instead of presenting the facts and allowing news consumers to think for themselves.

However, unfair though the firing was, the major complaints from angry listeners demanding retribution on NPR are completely unfounded. Demands that the government stop funding NPR should not be heeded, as this would be far more detrimental to local NPR affiliates, which are highly dependent on federal funding, than it would to the national organization, which garners only about two percent of its budget from the federal government. Additionally, assertions that NPR violated Williams’ right to freedom of speech are completely false. The first amendment protects individuals’ rights to say what they want, not their rights to keep their jobs for saying it.

But at the end of the day, after Williams lost one job, he gained another, signing a $2 million contract with Fox News, proving that the American news media is often more about attracting attention than it is about journalistic integrity.