Ms. Schiller, your disgraceful decision to fire Juan Williams this week shows your complete failure to understand the journalistic ethics you touted as a reason for firing Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams is a news analyst, a term which implies that, in the course of analysis, he would be expressing an opinion. Nina Totenberg claims she is a journalist, which means she is supposed to report the news in an unbiased way, without injecting her opinion.
You took one sentence Mr. Williams uttered (on another network) out of context and failed to listen to the rest of his comments for the full meaning of his comments. Presumably, Mr. Williams is entitled to express his feelings freely, just like any other American.
Yet, you fired Mr. Williams for an honest expression of his feelings, and Nina Totenberg still works at NPR. Nina Totenberg, who opined, on July 8, 1995, that God would give Jesse Helms or his grandchildren AIDS. http://www.wikio.com/video/nina-totenberg-god-giving-jesse-aids-4361443 Explain how that upholds NPR's journalistic ethics? Explain why she is still working at NPR for such a disgusting statement. Explain why you are still working at NPR for making the comment that Juan's feelings are between him and his psychiatrist (an apology issued in the press is no apology at all - you need to apologize to Juan for it to have any meaning).
So, Ms. Schiller, I call on you to earn some integrity here - if you believe in the reason you cite for firing Juan, then fire Nina. If you don't fire Nina, then we know you do not believe in the "journalistic ethics" you cited. In which case you should resign from your position in light of the hypocrisy and the "foot in mouth disease" you exhibited. In any case, you owe Juan an apology.
And you can feel personally responsible for federal cuts to NPR and CPB, as well as a drop in donations from Americans. And 1.8 million from Soros isn't going to make up for what you personally caused NPR and CPB to lose.
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