Every media outlet has been shrieking about the dismissal/firing of Juan Williams regarding some poorly worded comments he made during his moonlighting job at FOX.
Especially, and apocryphally, FOX.
I just don't care.
This is not a First Amendment offense perpetrated by the extreme left wing, as it's framed by the likes of Murdoch-based media (see above) and others. Would that it were. I'd be among the first in line defending Williams for it. But it's simply not a First Amendment issue, no matter how much Sarah Palin wants you to believe. (Check her Twitter feed; that's her argument. Then again, that's always her argument.)
No, Juan Williams violated clearly stated guidelines by his employer. (Note sections nine and ten of Section V.) Mara Liasson is under the same guidelines, but has come under no controversy due to her appearances on FOX.
I agree with NPR's ombudsman, who reportedly stated that NPR should have offered Williams a choice: stay employed by NPR and drop his FOX gig, where he violated NPR's guidelines; or, leave. Since Williams got a $2M / 3 year deal from FOX immediately after his firing... Well, if NPR had let Williams make the choice, they would have been far better off.
Truth is, Williams was hurting NPR's brand. ("She's got this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going." he noted of Michelle Obama.) He needed to go (and has so for a long time--notwithstanding his great early analysis, which has been MIA for over a decade.)
Now, NPR being what it is, it will doubtless swing to compensate. For years, it's been hell bent on being "balanced". I remember one segment about the Holocaust that gave equal time to a Holocaust denier, all in the name of being "balanced". I have no doubt that they'll compensate their poor management of this incident with similar atrocities.
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