NPR - THE LAST OR A LOST HOPE?

NPR - THE LAST HOPE

National Public Radio has been known for many years as the beacon of hope in a sea of sensationalism and onesidedness.  To this end NPR has carefully and painstakingly painted itself as an independent, unbiased, balanced, comprehensive, non - xenophobic, investigative, society - oriented entity, free of commercial influence and the very epitome of what the First Amendment is all about - freedom of speech. Implicit in all of this is the perception of non authoritianism and of a free and of open exchange of ideas.

NPR, (together with less powerful Public Television), are the only media entities that could argue they are not about ratings, and therefore they are not dependent on whether they are able to sell soap or anything else but rather they are about "news and the public interest". Thus to  it's increasing number of faithful listeners NPR purports to provide a sanctuary from the biased and commercially saturated 24 hour news media. .

So what is the problem ?

JUAN WILLIAMS

Juan Williams had two jobs - one with NPR and the other with the unashamedly pro Republican Fox News.  The high profile and highly independent Williams is a seasoned veteran, who as an African American, has written much on the Civil Rights struggle. It was on the Fox network that the interchange took place that created the current crises. The context was in the wake of the bohaai Fox commentator, Bill O'Reilly, had created by saying that it was the Muslims that were responsible for 9/11, Williams  berated O'Reilly for this all encompassing assertion and stereotyping. In the heated debate Williams admitted that he felt scared when he travelled on an airplane when there were passengers that were in Muslim garb. He felt this need to be said if we were ever going to resolve the biases that this emotional subject evoked .

NPR AND THE AFTERMATH

In a lightening response to Williams "politically incorrect" statement on Fox, NPR summarily dismissed him from NPR. This action being effected on the phone by an Administrative Assistant. The mess was further compounded when the arrogant NPR CEO Vivian Schiller on being called to explain the arbitrary action maintained that this type of statement was contrary to NPR policy and should be between Williams and his psychiatrist. The CEO opined that no employee of NPR should make a statment like that. The more this controversy continued the more the NPR hierarchy portrayed itself as autocratic, judgemental and the arbiters of what should or not be part of the public debate.

As the outcry increased the CEO then belatedly offered a half apology - not for the dismissal itself - but rather the way it was executed. Needless to say this fueled the fires further. Critisicm included the fact that this was insane political correctness and  led to accusations that NPR were openly leftist.Then, if, as a gesture to the right, what immediately followed was a NPR ban on any of it's employees to attend the Stewart and Colbert Washington rally! This bringing NPR more and more into the loony limelight.

While NPR's supporters winced it's detractors rubbed their hands with glee. This was always what they had maintained about NPR - that they geared their investigations, programs and even news reportage to their ideological left slant. They were no more democratic than a Public Company arbitrarily firing an employee without even a hint of due process.

WILLIAM'S RESPONSE

Williams in an extensive interview with his old friend and colleague Diane Reeme on her popular NPR talk show maintained that his statement came in the context of him "going after O'Reilly". He was deeply pained at the way he had been treated. He maintained that if you don't toe the party, (NPR), line you are not only tossed, humiliated but had your mental stablity publically questioned. He said he was asked whether he would have made the same statement on NPR and he responded in the affirmative. This was a matter of integrety and he exhibited the same professionalism regardless of where he was.

The interview between the two colleagues, after the initial pleasantries, was always a bit strained. When Reeme congratulated him on his new $2,000,000 contract with Fox, who were loving every minute of this, he responded almost pathetically that he hadn't begun to get over what has happened to him to think about that.

To add insult to injury he alleged that NPR were biased as to whom they invited as guests. Reeme was palpably taken aback by this statement and challenged him but Williams stuck to his guns. One thing for sure if this interview was designed to "smooth matters over", it did anything but. When Reeme queried whether he would respond to the belated offer from CEO Schiller to meet, he countered, "What for?".

More significantly this ugly incident has created a wide credibility gap between what NPR claims it stands for and it's manifest behavior. How it will all end is uncertain at this stage. NPR can only hope that it will go away and the whole incident will be regarded as an aberration. Had it not come at the time of the election it would have certainly become the issue "de jour" of all the networks. The fact that it did may well provide NPR with damage control it could not effect itself.