NPR Ends Juan Williams' Contract After Muslim Remarks, Fox offers $2 Million contract

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(Read William's retort below, scroll further for Fox offer details)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130712737&ps=cprs

by David Folkenflik

NPR News has terminated the contract of longtime news analyst Juan Williams after remarks he made on the Fox News Channel about Muslims.

Williams appeared Monday on The O'Reilly Factor, and host Bill O'Reilly asked him to comment on the idea that the U.S. is facing a dilemma with Muslims.

O'Reilly has been looking for support for his own remarks on a recent episode of ABC's The View in which he directly blamed Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in the middle of his appearance.

Williams responded: "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."

Williams also warned O'Reilly against blaming all Muslims for "extremists," saying Christians shouldn't be blamed for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

But strong criticism followed Williams' comments.

Late Wednesday night, NPR issued a statement praising Williams as a valuable contributor but saying it had given him notice that it is severing his contract. "His remarks on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR," the statement read.

Williams' presence on the largely conservative and often contentious prime-time talk shows of Fox News has long been a sore point with NPR News executives.

His status was earlier shifted from staff correspondent to analyst after he took clear-cut positions about public policy on television and in newspaper opinion pieces.

Reached late Wednesday night, Williams said he wasn't ready to comment and was conferring with his wife about the episode.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/21/130729461/npr-ombudsman-williams-should-have-been-given-choice

Juan Williams: NPR Went After Me Because 'I Appear On Fox'

by Mark Memmott and David Folkenflik

Saying that he thinks NPR terminated his contract because "I appear on Fox," news analyst Juan Williams tonight continued to protest the decision by NPR executives to cut the organization's ties with him.

"I don't fit in their box. I'm not a predictable, black liberal," he told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, however, told executives of NPR's member stations that Williams' contract was terminated Thursday because he had more than once expressed personal opinions on controversial issues while offering commentary on other media outlets' shows — most recently on Monday's edition of Fox's The O'Reilly Factor when Williams says he gets nervous when he sees people in "Muslim garb" on airplanes.

Williams, who Fox announced Thursday would be taking on an "expanded" role with that network and had signed a multi-year contract, joined NPR a decade ago as host of Talk of the Nation and later became a senior correspondent. But he rankled executives with outspoken remarks on Fox News, where he was also a paid commentator, and in newspaper opinion pieces. In the spring of 2008, NPR shifted him from a staff correspondent position, making him instead a senior news analyst on contract. In 2009, NPR also asked Fox News not to identify him as an NPR analyst on screen — most recently, after he described first lady Michelle Obama as being like the black militant Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress.

Schiller compared Williams' dismissal to NPR's recent decision to ban news staffers from attending the upcoming Washington rally of political satirist Jon Stewart - who frequently targets conservatives. She says it's important to maintain journalistic objectivity.

She also on Thursday said that Williams should have kept his feelings about Muslims between himself, "his psychiatrist or his publicist" — a comment she later said she regretted. "I spoke hastily and I apologize to Juan and others for my thoughtless remark," Schiller said in a statement released by NPR.

O'Reilly said NPR was wrong to terminate Williams and that Schiller was invited to appear on the Factor. Using a word his viewers have heard him say many times when talking about guests he has criticized who decline such invitations, O'Reilly said it was "cowardly" not to accept.

Listeners on Thursday deluged NPR with complaints, by e-mail and phone, while leading Republicans — many with close ties to Fox — called on Congress to withhold all funding for NPR.

NPR receives about one percent of its budget each year directly from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a similar amount from the National Endowment for the Arts —- but public radio stations that purchase NPR's programming receive more federal dollars and send some of that money back to NPR in fees.

Our original post from 7:55 p.m. ET, with updates added during Williams' appearance on The O'Reilly Factor:


The story of NPR's decision to terminate the contract of news analyst Juan Williams in the wake of comments he made Monday on Fox News Central about being nervous when he sees people in "Muslim garb" on airplanes takes another turn this evening. Williams will be on Fox's The O'Reilly Factor — the same show where he made the remarks that kicked off the controversy.

The Factor gets going at 8 p.m. ET. We'll update this post with news as it happens, so be sure to hit your "refresh" button. Afterward, we'll recap.

Update at 8:25 p.m. ET: Williams earlier today made the point that he was "the only black male on NPR." During his discussion with O'Reilly, he added this: "I don't fit in their box. I'm not a predictable, black liberal."

Update at 8:13 p.m. ET: Williams' time on the show appears to be over. While talking to Bill O'Reilly, he said he believes NPR was pressured to take action in part by an e-mail campaign "orchestrated by a Muslim-rights group."

For the record, at the top of his show O'Reilly did show NPR CEO Vivian Schiller saying today that "this action was not anti-Fox ... it was pro-journalism standards. We're not picking on Juan."

Update at 8:10 p.m. ET: "They were looking for a reason to get rid of me because I appear on Fox News," Williams says.

Update at 8:07 p.m. ET: Williams says NPR took "something totally out of context" because during Monday's edition of the Factor he also spoke out about the need to be tolerant of Muslims.

In wake of NPR controversy, Fox News gives Juan Williams an expanded role

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-juan-williams-20101022,0,4294425.story

The cable news network signs the analyst to a new three-year contract for nearly $2 million. Meanwhile, conservative figures blast the public radio network for its response to Williams' comments about Muslims.

Reporting from Washington —
As NPR weathered a storm of criticism Thursday for its decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams for his comments about Muslims, Fox News moved aggressively to turn the controversy to its advantage by signing Williams to an expanded role at the cable news network.

Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday morning, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary, the Tribune Washington Bureau has learned. The Fox News contributor will now appear exclusively and more frequently on the cable news network and have a regular column on FoxNews.com.

"Juan has been a staunch defender of liberal viewpoints since his tenure began at Fox News in 1997," Ailes said in a statement, adding a jab at NPR: “He’s an honest man whose freedom of speech is protected by Fox News on a daily basis.”

Meanwhile, conservative leaders lambasted NPR for firing Williams and called for cutting public funding for the media organization. By midafternoon Thursday, more than 4,900 comments had been posted on NPR.org, including many from people who said the media organization was bowing to political correctness and unfairly punishing Williams for expressing his personal opinions.

"In one arrogant move the NPR exposed itself for the leftist thought police they really are,” read one typical post. “After this November elections I hope one of the first things the new Congress does is to defund this poor excuse for public radio.”

The controversy kicked off Monday night when Williams, a Fox News contributor, made an appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor.” In a conversation with host Bill O’Reilly about how fear of terrorism affects perceptions of Muslims, Williams noted that he harbored some anxieties, even as an author of books about the civil rights movement.

"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot….But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous," Williams said.

He also noted that it was not fair to cast all Muslims as extremists.

On Wednesday, NPR told Williams it was terminating his contract, saying his remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

The abrupt break came after years in which Williams’ role at Fox News caused internal tension at the public radio organization. Many NPR listeners registered complaints about comments he made on the cable news channel, particularly remarks last year in which he described First Lady Michelle Obama as having “this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going” and saying she could become “an albatross."

In response, NPR executives asked Williams to request Fox News not identify him as an NPR analyst when he appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Dana Davis Rehm, NPR’s senior vice president for communications, said in an interview that Williams’ comments violated internal ethics policies that prohibit NPR journalists from going on other media and expressing “views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist.” The guidelines also prohibit NPR journalists from participating in programs “that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis.”

Rehm said Williams had been warned several times in the past about making personal comments that violated the policy.

“This wasn’t the first time where we felt Juan crossed the line in terms of what’s permitted for NPR analysts and journalists as a whole,” she said. “We felt we really didn’t have an alternative. And it was not without regret, and it was not a decision that was made lightly by any means. We do appreciate the work he has done.”

Williams told Fox News on Thursday that he was let go over the phone and taken aback that he wasn’t given a chance to defend himself.

"It's not a bigoted statement,” he told Fox News in an interview the cable news network ran throughout the day. “In fact, in the course of this conversation with Bill O'Reilly, I said we have an obligation as Americans to be careful to protect the constitutional rights of everyone in our country and to make sure that we don't have any outbreak of bigotry. But that there's a reality. You cannot ignore what happened on 9/11, and you cannot ignore the connection to Islamic radicalism, and you can't ignore the fact of what has even recently been said in court with regard to this is the first drop of blood in a Muslim war in America."

Fox News made the most of the incident, rerunning a package about the controversy throughout the day. Williams was scheduled to appear on “The O’Reilly Factor” Thursday night to further address the issue and will guest host the program Friday.

In the meantime, NPR was slammed by conservative leaders such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, who tweeted, “NPR defends 1st Amendment Right, but will fire u if u exercise it. Juan Williams: u got taste of Left's hypocrisy, they screwed up firing you."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who hosts a show on Fox News, said he now plans to boycott NPR and decline its interview requests.

"NPR has discredited itself as a forum for free speech and a protection of the First Amendment rights of all and has solidified itself as the purveyor of politically correct pabulum and protector of views that lean left,” Huckabee wrote on his blog, adding: "It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR."

NPR receives no direct federal funding for its operations, but between 1% and 3% of its $160-million budget comes from competitive grants awarded by publicly funded entities such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 2009, NPR has received $8 million in competitive grants from the CPB for technology development and journalism initiatives. It also received a one-time grant of $78 million between 2007 and 2009 to upgrade satellite technology.

Local NPR stations receive $90 million in annual appropriations from the CPB that amount to about 10% of their revenue, on average.

Rehm said it was inappropriate for politicians to interject the issue of federal funding into an editorial decision, adding that she hoped the controversy would not affect financial support for public radio. “Stations are in fund-raising season, so it is unfortunate that this occurred at this time,” she said.