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My email to NPR over firing of Juan Williams and their response

I recently fired off a short email to NPR(national philistine radio)over the firing of Juan Williams. NPR sent me their oh so politically correct reply and I thought it was worth posting here. In my email I minced no words nor did I soften my approach. NPR was seldom listened to in my car and is not allowed in our home, period. I called a spade a spade and NPR answered with pablum and Kool-Aid. No one will be surprised. I really get a kick out of the sentence" this was a difficult and principled decisions." How many times has NPR violated their own ethics guidelines in the last ten years?




NPR responds to the firing of Juan Williams

Here is my email that I sent to NPR:

Original Message: How sad that NPR caved into the PC position that was mandated by Cair, an organization that has been linked to terrorism. Juan Williams did nothing wrong and poll after poll shows that what Williams stated, most Americans agree with. 20 years ago NPR was worth listening to for certain programs. Sadly, that is not the case today. NPR has fallen victim to the three toxic stews of the west, PCness, diversity and mutliculturalism. You are now a one sided organization that is nothing more than a mouth piece for the far left and what I call the demosocialistacrats. NPR is about as useless as the NAACP. Both spout off with racist remarks and are home to many who spew rabid anti-Semtism and support everything islamic, muslim or that is minority driven. Way to go, way to go. Of course NPR is beholding to the hands that feed it and we know who that is. Now you can cozy up with your fellow kool aid junkies and toast what a grand thing it was to fire Williams who BTW, is not even a moderate conservative individual. Around here you are now called national philistine radio. You earned it. Now wear it with pride on the butt of your clothing. NPR will never be heard in my car or home again.

And here is NPR's predictable response:

Response to Message #158004:

Late Wednesday evening we gave Juan Williams notice that we’ve terminated his contract as a Senior News Analyst for NPR News. We didn’t make this decision lightly or without regret. Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years.

However, his remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday violated our ethics guidelines. Unfortunately, this has occurred several times in other media. Our decision to end our contractual relationship with Juan has come after repeated conversations and warnings about some of his public comments. This was a difficult, but principled decision.

We’ve been contacted by listeners who have passionately agreed with our decision, as well as those who have disagreed with it, with equal conviction. We hear you both and respect your perspectives. At the same time, we believe that the public is better served by NPR holding firm to the values and standards that have guided us for many years.

As some listeners have also asked for more details about our funding, you can find a detailed overview of our funding on our website in our “About” section:  Of note, and as is explained in that site, NPR, Inc. has received no direct operating support from the federal government since 1983.

I recognize that this decision has sparked a strong debate in the blogosphere and elsewhere, and that you have a firm position on the matter. While we stand by our policy, we also regret that we were compelled to take the actions that we did.

Sincerely,

Dana Davis Rehm

Senior Vice President, Marketing, Communications, and External Relations

3 Comments - Share Yours!:

HermitLion said...

Sounds like an automated response, no?
According to their website, NPR does receive some funding through the federal government (less than 2%, they claim, so it's probably a little higher, and either way more than 0).
While they have a right to be a political station, it should stop getting any money from the American tax-payers, even if it's just 2%.

And on the good side, Juan's career might actually receive a healthy boost due to all this attention.
Let's wait and see.

PatriotUSA said...

Juan's career already has. He
has gotten a contract with Fox
News which I like but they are
only so so when it comes to
all thing about islam.

Automated response? Ya think?

HermitLion said...

It's just not very personal. First, the title: "Response to Message #158004"

Then the copy-paste sort of generic paragraphs, which represent the station's official line towards the issue, without directly answering your grievances.

I understand this may come out of necessity, if the station is swamped with hundreds, or thousands of messages, and doesn't have the manpower to deal with them.
But then, not allocating enough manpower to deal with the bad publicity is perhaps an indication that they are content with satisfying only one side of the political spectrum.

Wanna hear a more ridiculous story? A feminist broadcaster in the IDF radio channel has called mothers not to send their children to the army, and nobody said a word, because of her celebrity status.