Sunday, October 24, 2010

Good riddance, Juan Williams


NPR finally got rid of an "earsore" in Juan Williams for his bigoted comments about Muslims.

The problem is that they should have done this years ago when he compromised journalistic ethics by working for Fox News.

Fox News is to news what the People's Daily is to freedom of the press.

Also, Fox News parent, News Corp., donates millions to Republican candidates.

Fair and balanced?

Not a chance.

There is no news on Fox, just commentary. That's fine, but journalism, and the word is stretched here to apply to commercial television, is more about reporting the news than bloviating about it.

Was it censorship as Williams claims? No. Can an entity that receives government funding fire someone for their opinions? Yes. Read this short piece at Salon for an explanation.

Williams' other main problem is that he's a bi-analyst. He swings both ways. On NPR, he'll give opinions that he thinks a liberal audience wants to hear and on Fox he says stuff that ultra-conservatives love.

In essence, has no moral compass. He has few principles that money can easily buy.

Finally, Williams is totally overrated as a political analyst.

When Ray Suarez left NPR's "Talk of the Nation" to work on the News Hour on PBS, Williams came in and he wasn't very good. He was no Ray Suarez, who is the best interviewer on radio or television.

Williams found out that words matter.

The sad thing is that he is whining all the way to the bank.

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