NPR fires Juan Williams for saying he feels Nervous?

[liveonearth]

Here you can see the offending clip in which Williams admitted that he feels nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane. I hadn't seen it until just now. Williams has a long history of working for human rights, and he is black. After he made this admission, NPR fired him, and he promptly got hired by FOX to the tune of a $2 million contract.

What happened here is in a way a repeat of something I observed in church a few Sundays ago. The pastor said that homophobia is a sin. Fear is a sin? Now NPR is saying the same thing. Nervousness around strangers in clothing representing so much = sin. This is ridiculous. This is a trap that liberals have fallen into. This is the disaster of PCism taken so far that people cannot even express their unbidden and unacted emotions. It's not even an opinion, it's an EMOTION. The opinion, being something concocted of reason in a quality man such as Williams, will not be bigoted. But emotions? I suspect that any reasonable person in Arab dress would understand that Williams is not a hater, he is simply human. We would all get along better if we allow each other to be human.

Comments

[lgsunshine.livejournal.com]

My starting point is actually that I think your challenge is generally shared with others. That’s the conversation that I would like to see explored. The news coverage that I’ve seen seems more about a drama with two sides and viewers can root for one side or the other. I see it as a horse race – with multiple participants including O’Reilly’s appearance on the View.
For me a more productive conversation would be to ask the questions we’re struggling with – is objectivity possible? I believe it’s not – so for me the following question is when and how is it appropriate to be subjective? Should reporters be allowed to be commentators? To me it’s strange given the code – Williams does regularly appear in situations that demand that he comment on events. Why did NPR give him permission to appear on talk news shows? What was he supposed to say? Does commenting on news stories jeopardize a reporter’s ability to be perceived as fair and objective reporters? I think your challenge is shared.
Although I will confess – I’m confused when you say: And why is it important for a reporter not to express emotions when they are on stage but not in the process of reporting. As I understand it, reporters are not supposed to be overtly emotional or subjective when reporting the news.
On a local level – there’s a highly regarded reporter whose beat is education. In my opinion he has made too many positive comments about a particular school. In my eyes, there are potential concerns about this school. His over the top glowing positive comments color my view of all his reporting. I can’t help it. He’s lost creditability with me. In comparison, I can see how I William’s comments caused him to lose creditability as a reporter but that doesn’t seem to be the thrust of the story as reported in the news. Maybe I’m being stubborn here.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

My point is that when Williams was expressing his emotion, he was not reporting the news. He was at his other job, where being a "reporter" was not the job title. He was moonlighting, if you will, like the congresswoman who sings in bars. Of course a reporter is supposed to refrain from subjectivity as much as it possible when they are reporting. But what about when they are NOT reporting? They aren't reporting 24 hours a day. Aren't they allowed to have emotion and be subjective when they are not reporting? Or is the job title of reporter a forfeiture of first amendment rights, else one be canned?

As for your idea that it is impossible for humans to be totally objective, I agree. I also see however that some are better and some are worse at being objective, and at keeping bias out of the presentation. And it seems that people who are better at presenting uncolored facts might be the ones we'd like to report to us.

As for the reporter who glows about a particular school and doesn't address the concerns that you see, if he is a true reporter, he would gladly take your issues and address them with neutrality if he were a good reporter. If he did that, perhaps he could regain your trust. If he really is biased, he won't do it. It's a simple test, and I'd be interested to hear the response if you put the issues to him. Until you give him that opportunity, I don't see how you can completely write him off. He may have very good reasons for his lofty opinion of that school.