Posts Tagged ‘Williams’
Williams: NPR Firing Over Muslim Remark ‘Amounts to Censorship’ – Fox News
Last Updated on Sunday, 24 October 2010 08:04 Written by admin Sunday, 24 October 2010 08:04
Ex-NPR analyst Juan Williams said Sunday that his firing over a comment about Muslims amounts to “censorship,” adding that it was “despicable” for an NPR executive to later suggest he was “unstable.”
Williams was fired as a news analyst for the public radio network after saying on Fox News that he gets nervous when he sees passengers in Muslim clothing on a plane. The incident sparked a national controversy over free speech and political correctness.
Williams, who has since joined Fox News as a full-time contributor, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the debate over his treatment by NPR marks an “important moment” in American public life.
“Americans feel, you know, that there’s nothing wrong in telling someone how you feel. And then to be punished for that is unfair and it amounts to censorship,” Williams said. “It’s important that people be able to talk to each other across political lines.”
Williams said NPR did not like the fact that he frequently appeared on Fox News and used the Muslim remark as a “pretext to get rid of me.” But he said he was also troubled by the network’s handling of the affair after he was fired.
“The innuendo that I’m somehow unstable was, I thought, despicable,” Williams said.
He was referring to a comment from NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, who said Thursday that Williams’ beliefs should stay between him and “his psychiatrist or his publicist.” She later apologized for the remark.
Williams said his critics were engaged in “character assassination,” but expressed thanks to those on both sides of the aisle who have defended him. Williams has already explained that, in the Fox News interview that touched off the controversy, he was trying to make the point that personal fears should not lead to a violation of anyone’s constitutional rights.
“I didn’t advocate discriminating against Muslims,” Williams said Sunday.
NPR has become a target of congressional Republicans since the firing, with some calling for the organization to be de-funded by Congress. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said Friday he’s going to include NPR’s federal funding into a contest that lets Americans vote on top programs for Republicans to cut from the budget.
So far, Republicans have had little success in cutting government programs chosen by voters in the program called YouCut. Since they do not have the majority in the House, Republicans are effectively prohibited from bringing legislation to the floor, though they are hoping to gain the majority after the Nov. 2 election.
Tags: Censorship', Firing, Muslim, news, Over, Remark, Williams | Posted under U.S. News | No Comments
NPR vs. Fox News: Juan Williams firing reveals deeper media fight – Christian Science Monitor
Last Updated on Saturday, 23 October 2010 02:08 Written by admin Saturday, 23 October 2010 02:08
NPR’s firing Juan Williams comes just as controversial figures connected to NPR and Fox News – philanthropist George Soros and commentator Glenn Beck– are in a harsh rhetorical fight.
NPR’s firing of news analyst Juan Williams couldn’t come at a worse time for public radio.
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Not only did it occur in the midst of on-air fund-raising by many public radio stations, it also happened just as controversial figures connected to NPR and Fox News – liberal philanthropist George Soros and conservative commentator Glenn Beck– are engaged in a harsh rhetorical fight.
Fox News is Mr. Williams’ other employer and the place where he made his controversial statement about Muslims. Mr. Soros recently donated $ 1.8 to NPR, seen by conservative critics (and certainly by Mr. Beck) as proof (a) that NPR is a liberal mouthpiece and (b) that billionaire Soros pressured NPR to get rid of Williams.
“Up until then, opinions by NPR correspondents and analysts had been expressed in abundance, but Williams’ statement on Fox, because it was expressed on Fox, amounted to apostasy,” editorializes Investor’s Business Daily. “The firing sends a message that Fox is beyond the pale and must be silenced.”
The fall-out from William’s dismissal has been sharp and swift, and it’s likely to continue.
On NPR’s web site, ombudsman Alicia Shepard reported that thousands of comments had caused the organization’s “Contact Us” form to crash.
“The overwhelming majority are angry, furious, outraged,” she wrote. “They want NPR to hire him back immediately. If NPR doesn’t, they want all public funding of public radio to stop. They promise to never donate again. They are as mad as hell, and want everyone to know it. It was daunting to answer the phone and hear so much unrestrained anger.”
In addition to his gift to NPR, Soros also recently gave $ 1 million to Media Matters “to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast.” Media Matters is the progressive media watchdog which has been pressuring advertisers to drop their business with Fox News because of Beck’s “hate speech leading to violence.”
Specifically, Beck’s dozens of comments attacking the Tides Foundation are being linked to the attempt by a heavily-armed man to assassinate employees at the San Francisco-based foundation, which funds environmental, human rights, and other progressive projects. The attack in July was thwarted in a shoot-out with police in which two officers were wounded.
Beck and his supporters insist that he does not promote violence. On his highly-popular Fox News show, Beck has turned around the accusation of violence, charging that Soros’ $ 1 million contribution to Media Matters is a “wanted dead or alive poster” and a “million dollar bounty” on himself.
In the midst of all this comes the Juan Williams controversy.
Williams is an accomplished journalist and an expert on the civil rights era. But his on-air comments had become more openly opinionated in recent years, and this was why in 2008 his job title was changed from “news correspondent” to “news analyst.” On Fox, however, he was expected to be a pundit, performing alongside such provocative figures as Bill O’Reilly. There, the format is more likely to be shoot-from-the-lip.
NPR’s reaction to the current episode is likely to prolong the controversy, certainly among fans of Fox and its most successful personality, Glenn Beck.
Writes NPR ombudsman Shephard: “This latest incident with Williams centers around a collision of values: NPR’s values emphasizing fact-based, objective journalism versus the tendency in some parts of the news media, notably Fox News, to promote only one side of the ideological spectrum.”
Williams Fires Back at NPR Over Firing – ABC News
Last Updated on Saturday, 23 October 2010 01:05 Written by admin Saturday, 23 October 2010 01:05
By KEVIN DOLAK and RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Oct. 23, 2010
Juan Williams, who was fired from his job at NPR after comments he made on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” this week regarding Muslims, fired back at the radio station on Friday while guest hosting “The O’Reilly Factor.”
“My comments about my feelings supposedly crossed this line, some line, somewhere. That crossed the line?” Williams said. “Let me tell you what you can say on National Public Radio without losing your job.”
He then mentioned Nina Totenberg’s comments on NPR in 1995, when she stated that if there were “retributive justice,” former Republican North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms or one of his grandchildren will get AIDS from a transfusion.
An NPR spokeswoman said Totenberg has repeatedly apologized for her comments.
Conservative leaders including Sarah Palin have called to cut off NPR’s funding in the wake of the controversy. According to NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm, NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller has stated that management was standing by its decision to fire Williams. Since his termination, Williams has been hired full-time at Fox News in a reported $ 2 million, three year deal.
Williams told “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview Friday that his firing, for saying Muslims on planes make him “nervous,” was the result of a personal and politically motivated vendetta which the veteran newsman described as “vindictive.”
Williams pointed to a flip comment by Schiller who said Williams’ comment should have been shared with his “psychiatrist or publicist,” and not the public.
“It’s personal. I don’t know why she has to get low,” Williams said.
Schiller later apologized for her crack, and Williams said he does not have a psychiatrist.
“She has an argument to make that I somehow violated journalistic ethics or values of NPR. Make the case. I think it’s a very weak case,” Williams told “GMA.”
“NPR and especially this last group of managers became vindictive,” said Williams who has worked at the network for 10 years. “As you can see, personal in terms of their antagonism toward me.”
Williams made his comment about being nervous when he sees Muslims at airports or on planes was made Monday on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor.”
NPR said the comment conflicted with their commitment to unbiased reporting. But Williams, who is paid to give his opinion, told “GMA” he had long been in the cross-hairs of NPR management who are upset that he also worked for right-leaning Fox News.
“This is one of the things in my life that’s shocking. I grew up on the left. I grew up here in New York City and I’ve always thought the right wing was the ones who were inflexible and intolerant. Now, I’m coming to realize that the orthodoxy at NPR, as it’s representing the left, is just unbelievable,” he said.
“And especially for me as a black man, to somehow, you know, say something that’s out of the box. They find it very difficult… I think they were looking for a reason to get rid of me. They were uncomfortable with the idea that I was talking to the likes of Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity,” he told “GMA”‘s George Stephanopoulos.
“I knew about their antagonism towards Fox. And I knew that they really didn’t like it, and as I said I have been there more than 10 years and I have seen managers come and go and who dealt with this issue. This current crew was really getting vicious,” Williams said.
Hank Williams Jr. apologizes for Obama-Hitler comment (Reuters)
Last Updated on Wednesday, 5 October 2011 04:44 Written by admin Wednesday, 5 October 2011 04:44
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country new music singer Hank Williams Jr. canceled a Fox Information Channel job interview on Tuesday and mentioned he was sorry for any offense provided by his modern declaration evaluating President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.
The apology of sorts was posted on his site a day soon after the Disney-owned cable jeu channel ESPN pulled Williams’ concept song from its newest “Monday Night Football” broadcast in a rebuke to the region star for his Hitler remark.
Appearing on the Fox News morning software “Fox & Pals” on Monday, Williams said he imagined that a June 18 golf summit pairing Obama with Republican Residence speaker John Boehner in the midst of the congressional price range crisis had “turned a whole lot of folks off.”
Asked what he did not like about the friendly bipartisan golf match, Williams replied, “Appear on! It’d be like Hitler enjoying golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.” He went on to refer to Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as “the enemy.”
Soon after his “All My Rowdy Buddies” song was yanked from the “Monday Night time Football” opening by ESPN later on that day in protest, Williams issued a statement acknowledging that his “analogy was intense” but insisting it was meant to illustrate how ludicrous he believed it was for Obama and Boehner to staff up at golf.
“They’re roman policier opposites and it manufactured no sensation. They will not see eye-to-eye and in no way will,” the bearded singer explained.
Williams, sixty two, was scheduled to return to the Fox Information Channel with an interview on Tuesday on the “Hannity” present, but the network advised Reuters that the singer made a decision to cancel.
Hours later on, he posted but an additional, fairly far more contrite statement, stating: “I have constantly been extremely passionate about politics and sports, and this time it received the greatest or worst of me.
“The imagined of the leaders of each events jukin and substantial fiven on a golf training course, whilst so numerous households are struggling to get by merely created me boil over and make a dumb declaration, and I am very sorry if it offended anyone,” he wrote.
He concluded, “I would like to thank all my supporters. This was not authored by some publicist.”
The declaration was posted just below a link to a video clip from the ABC daytime discuss show “The Look at,” in which host Whoopi Goldberg suggested Williams was judged as well harshly.
“Hank is a musician, and he’s constantly been provocative,” Goldberg said on the demonstrate. “He could have picked his phrases far more properly, but as someone who actions in it quite often, we all do it. Those between us who are without having sin, cast the initial stone.”
Reporting on Williams’ apology on its personal web site Tuesday night time, ESPN said it had no remark on regardless of whether his song would be employed on foreseeable future telecasts.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
Yahoo! Information: U.S. Information
Tags: Apologizes, comment, Hank, ObamaHitler, Reuters, Williams | Posted under U.S. News | No Comments