Wrongheaded: NPR Fires Juan Williams After O'Reilly Appearance | FoxNews.com

Entire article for your reference here.

Now, let’s deconstruct this thing, shall we?

Here’s what Mr. Williams said:

Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. 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.

This is what got him fired. He got fired for telling how he feels as a result of an attack by admittedly-extremist Muslims on American soil. There is absolutely nothing wrong with expressing how he feels.

But NPR disagrees.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller says that NPR expects news analysts and reporters alike “to behave like journalists.”

OK, let’s assume for just a moment that a partially-publically-funded news outlet has the right to decide whether or not they want someone in their employ who agrees or disagrees with their opinions. If they fire everybody who disagrees, then it’s their loss—and ours. Certainly, things that Mr. Williams says in a public venue help them decide whether or not to keep him or not.

But… What about what he said was not journalistic in nature? In fact, he was documenting for posterity how he feels when he encounters Muslims in their religious garb. He could have said, “I feel worried when I encounter a teenager wearing a black trench coat.” Or even, “I feel threatened when I encounter a rancher toting a six-shooter by his side.” Whether or not he has reason to believe that he is or is not, should or shouldn’t be threatened, it is a simple statement of how he feels.

How much more journalistic can you get? Isn’t original/primary source OK? Or does Mr. Williams have to interview another person who expresses the same opinion as he does before he’s allowed to report how a person might feel around Muslims on an airplane in traditional garb?

Or… would it have been OK if it had been on NPR where he could he censored? No, NPR is fair and balanced; that would never happen.

So apparently, NPR thinks its reporters are not entitled to express their own feelings or opinions. Doing so is non-journalistic.

Anyway, the next time you’re listening to Daniel Schorr reruns, remember that he was on NPR, expressing his opinion, and therefore was not a journalist.