The Juan Williams treatment: five other ousted media personalities

Source: Christian Science Monitor

As NPR's Juan Williams learned when he was fired Thursday for comments that were taken to be anti-Muslim, the axe is swift to fall when media personalities speak out on controversial topics. Here is his story and those of five others recently ousted for voicing unpopular views.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/1021/The-Juan-Williams-treatment-five-other-ousted-media-personalities/Juan-Williams

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Excellent review of journalists and commentators (Helen Thomas, Don Imus, etc.) recently fired for exercising their first amendment freedoms.

(And don't forget Randi Rhodes.)

If we sit back and allow journalists and talk show commentators to be fired for politically-incorrect speech, none of us is safe.

Free speech for everyone!

..... As an organization, they're free to disassociate themselves with someone. If he wants to keep spewing, he's free to write a blog or work for an outlet that doesn't mind his views (ala Fox News), n'est-ce pas?

free to suffer the consequences if the things you say identify you as a babbling idiot.

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"If we sit back and allow journalists and talk show commentators to be fired for politically-incorrect speech, none of us is safe."

The 1st amendment doesn't guarantee one won't be fired for what one says.

No one is denying anyone their right to free-speech. People are allowed to say anything they want, providing it brings no physical harm to another person. On the flip side of the coin, corporations, for profit or not-for-profit, have the right to terminate the employment of people who do not agree with their business philosophy.

This is not a case of government overstepping the bounds of the right to free speech, this is a case of NPR terminating someone who does not fit in with their corporate philosophy.

:thumbsup:

Now I think Juan Williams situation may be in a different if indeed his contract with NPR prohibited expressing of opinion. But I become very concerned when personalities who are supposed to provide opinion and commentary (Randi Rhodes, Dr. Laura) are fired for expressing a distasteful opinion. NO, it is not a violation of their First Amendment rights but that doesn't mean a wrong wasn't done. I mean, it's basically saying, "we're hiring you for your insightful views, but if you express one that is controversial, we're going to fire you." Huh?

I also fear that these commentators are being fired not because what they did or said was so outrageous to society as a whole. Rather, it is a loud but vocal minority demanding it because they are offended and want to drown out any opposition to their view. I don't like what Helen Thomas said (or what Dr. Laura said) but, whatever. I don't have to listen to or read them, yet why should I make a big stink so that you can't listen if you so choose?

It is not a First Amendment issue, but we should be alarmed when society starts sanitizing itself and scrubbing away controversial opinions because some might be offended. Instead, when a public figure makes a non-PC statement, we should take that opportunity to tell society why many feel offended. They should be opportunities for informative debate.

that Juan Williams was a little different because of his situation with NPR and then finding a new venue. But it doesn't always work out that well for most media personalities who are fired for sharing a controversial view.

I guess it's a fine line though, when you have folks like the ones on Fox News spewing hate day after day and it does damage our society.

expressing opinions on other news outlets that do not coincide with the opinions of NPR.

http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/ethics/ethics_code.html#outside

'The man signed a contract, he violated it. End of story.

simply apply at Fox News. There you can make all the bigotted, inane comments you please.

for saying anything that could be construed as critical
of GWB and the War.

to even be in the same room with her.

This is a RW Hit Piece put out there by the RW Think Tanks that supported Williams and gave Imus his fame and claim to his Tax Deduction "Ranch for Kids" that he and his wife profited from.

Williams said he feels uneasy about Muslims on planes. Imus called approximately 12 women 'nappy-headed hoes.' Helen Thomas called for millions to leave their homes and country solely on the basis of their ethnic/religious identity. To make it worse, Thomas didn't seem to care or notice that plenty of the people she urged to go 'back' to Europe came from families that never lived there, not to mention the fact that many other Israelis of European Jewish descent never lived in 'Germany or Poland' (Germany had only a tiny Jewish minority, even before Hitler) . And oh yeah, there's that pesky reason why those that did come from Europe left in the first place. So I guess I agree with you on one of your points -- they are not fit to be in the same room with her -- at least not gaffe-wise.

Are you going to add anything constructive or tell me why you disapprove of my post? I stated my opinion and why I hold it so I expect at least as much from you if you are going to the trouble of making sure I know you don't like it.

It has nothing to do with the right of free speech.
There are many things a person can't do when out in public as a company representative, especially when it is specifically stated in a signed contract.

but Juan Williams shilled for Right while appearing on the only PUBLIC to the LEFT RADIO we have in this Country after everything was Gutted by FCC and RIGHT WING for DECADES.. Even under Clinton the budget for NPR/PBS was cut and cut and cut.

If You Believe Juan Williams Shouldn’t Have Been Fired, Where Were You About Imus? Sanchez? Ward Churchill?
http://www.alan.com/2010/10/21/if-you-believe-juan-williams-shouldnt-have-been-fired-where-were-you-about-imus-sanchez-ward-churchill/

...but maybe a little more nuanced than Juan was.

That's why I don't rejoice when someone is fired for his/her words, even if I disagree with them.

:shrug: And how were they so fast to do it?

Whatever that means.

to be on the air more and to write a column for their website.

Remember this clip?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6eIeuOfmo

A nationally known figure espousing certain views is akin to shouting "FIRE" in a crowded movie theater.
A private entity not obliged to tolerate it. Regardless of your teabagger interpretation of "Free Speech."

Besides, Williams is and always has been the liberal strawman, and good riddance.

I don't remember the conservatives and teabaggers running around with their hair on fire when Rick Sanchez got booted from CNN for his anti-semitic remarks on Jews when he did "Stand Up with Pete Dominik" either. But I guess their agenda is only in defending people who propagate fear and loathing against Muslims.

Fact is, both Rick Sanchez and Juan Williams are tools who used their platforms as broadcasters while also on the dole of two companies that didn't take kindly to them expressing their OPINIONS as representatives of their respective employers because both could be misconstrued as reflecting positions of their companies because of the association. It happens all the time. Perhaps both should have considered that before shooting their mouths off and subsequently shooting themselves in their feet and landing on unemployment.

Consequently, both companies firing them and making them martyrs to the bigoted and anti-semitic causes that buzz around them like flies to shit probably wasn't very smart either, you'd think big companies might think about the ramifications of such dumb P.R. moves and instead just release statements that the opinions of their two douchebag employees don't reflect those of the company and leave it there.

Because now it's escalating into de-funding (and thereby censoring) a public media outlet, because some conservative hate-mongering douchebags who are afraid of their own shadows as much as they are afraid of seeing some women walking around in burkas had their delicate sensibilities offended because one of their own lost his job because he didn't use his brains before opening his mouth and inserting his foot while on the job. And here I thought that these teabaggers were all anti-government and all about protecting businesses except when they want the government to cut funding to a business because it doesn't reflect their worldview.

RAW