NPR Shutdown

In the news in the last few weeks has been the non-story about Juan Williams being fired from NPR for saying on Fox News that he can't help but be afraid of Muslims when he sees them in their headgear on an airplane.

I wondered how he would have felt if someone said that every time they see a black man in public, they clutch their purse a little tighter or keep an eye on them because they figure they are going to rob them.

Sure, there are Muslim terrorists, and sure there are black criminals, but we generally shouldn't suspect an entire group based on the actions of a few. When we do, we are sure to experience misunderstandings.

The incident has Fox News viewers crowing in mock indignation at the unjust and biased, overly politically correct NPR operating with a heavy hand. My first thought was that if Juan Williams wants to go on Fox News and stir up fear or hatred of Muslims, he's perfect for Fox News and he should go over there permanently. Make no mistake, stating that you are afraid of Muslims has the effect of making it all the more OK for others to express this way of thinking. Being part of a team with an agenda that attacks all things Muslim is no different that campaigning against them, trying to encourage fear and mistrust of all Muslims.

After the Republican victory at the polls, they tried to pass a bill to cut off funding for NPR. This was in direct response to Juan William's firing. I believe that the firing was not done well. You don't always immediately fire someone just for speaking their mind. Helen Thomas was made to retire abruptly when she made anti-Semitic remarks. There are times when an organization has to consider what an individual is saying and if those ideas contradict the official policy of the company, they have to decide what to do. Sometimes, a bargain is struck where the person is allowed to stay if they retract the statement or apologize for saying it. Given Fox News' belligerent stance toward anything they deem "liberal media", Juan Williams' act of going on Fox News and making anti-Muslim statements was a direct attack on NPR's reputation. I can see them deciding that someone with a stated prejudice against an entire religion might be someone to consider limiting access to your airwaves. NPR didn't try to tell him he couldn't express himself, they just said he needed to do it apart from NPR.

Of course, Fox News snatched him right up and put him to work. This proves in my mind that he didn't have any journalistic integrity in the first place. I wonder if he'll have much of a problem getting the talking points memo every morning and figuring out how to work his corporate overlord's propaganda into whatever segment or segments he delivers that day. Talk about the opposite of being able to say what you believe, Fox News reminds me of Communist Party members back in the old Soviet days. You have to tote that party line.

The Republican response to shut down NPR seems just like too much totalitarian mind control from the very people screaming that big government is to be feared. What about big brother? They don't like being told what to say and yet that's exactly what they want to do with NPR. They feel the intense need to suppress any opinion that is not their own. What's next? burning books?

What makes me sad about this incident is that NPR is the only objective news source left. The big networks have long since sold out to corporate interests and dumbed us down to watch the equivalent of a reality show or America's Funniest Home Videos. The other networks have adopted formats similar to Fox News in order to try to compete with their ratings. They have less people doing actual investigative reporting and foreign correspondence than they need to do an adequate job. They have spent 8 years under George W. Bush being cowed into submission under the false accusation that questioning the government is equal to treason. What if our government was out of control and corrupt? How would we even know it? It's not like the news media are out there uncovering real scandals and digging up inside stories on the great struggles of the day.

The other thing that I would truly miss if NPR were taken off the air is that they are the only program that takes time to go into depth on most subjects. They try to have reporters and correspondents everywhere, so you often get a first hand view of most major national and international events. NPR correspondents and announcers don't scream and yell at you. They treat you as if they assume you have some intelligence. They check their facts. They do not peddle fear.

Juan Williams was fired because he went onto Fox News and started acting like someone from Fox News. FEAR THE MUSLIMS! I DO! Is that news? How can we solve any problem by dividing up America and taking sides? This is the tactic of Fox News taken from their political affiliation with the Republican Party. The tactic of changing the subject or throwing out divisive issues to distract the public has been going on for a long time. Most recently, it's been the mosque at ground zero and NPR's liberal bias, but it has also been Immigration, Gay Marriage, Gays in the Military, and an endless stream of unimportant distractions.

When you compare and contrast Fox News and NPR, it is amazing. It's scary how often Fox News can't even get their facts right, as evidenced by the recent criticism of the cost of Obama's trip overseas. They overestimated the trip's cost by a factor of 100 and then harped it on every program that day. An organization as big as Fox News with as many people as they have hired can't even check a fact as easily verifiable as the cost of a Presidential trip? That's bad enough, but what is really irritating is that the average Fox News viewer can't quickly distinguish that it doesn't even pass the simplest sniff test for veracity?

If you listen to the Conservatives since they have been in the minority in Washington for the last two years, you will hear them shouting about how Big Government is bad. But give them half a chance and they would love to use the heavy hand of Big Government to close NPR and silence the voices of reason that contradict their increasingly imaginative take on reality.