p******e
发帖数: 897 | 1 Of the thousands of complaints that have saturated NPR in the wake of Juan
Williams’s firing earlier this week, some of the most telling have been
from callers describing themselves as long-time “viewers” of NPR who warn
that they are going to “stop watching.”
NPR, of course, does not have viewers, it has listeners. But the public
radio organization has come under severe criticism — largely from people
who are not listeners, it believes — for having fired Mr. Williams, an
analyst who was employed by both NPR and Fox News when he said on Fox that
he felt fearful when he saw people in “Muslim garb” on an airplane.
Some have said his comment was bigoted, but others have rallied to Mr.
Williams’s defense, and many conservatives have seized on his firing to
resurrect their war against public broadcasting.
In an interview on Friday, Vivian Schiller, NPR’s chief executive, defended
the decision to dismiss Mr. Williams and said it was not the product of
political or financial pressures.
His contract was terminated, she said, because “he had several times in the
past violated our news code of ethics with things that he had said on other
people’s air.”
On one such occasion last year, Mr. Williams said on Fox that Michelle Obama
has “got this ‘Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress’ thing going,” an
allusion to a leader of the black power movement of the 1960s.
In each instance, Ms. Schiller said, “We called him on it, we had a
discussion, we asked him not to do it again.” NPR’s ethics code states
that journalists “should not express views” in other outlets, like TV
shows, that “they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist.”
People deserve second chances, Ms. Schiller said, but “we made the decision
here because, at a certain point, if someone keeps not following your
guidance, you have to make a break. And that’s what we did.”
“And that is the sole reason,” she added. “This is not a First Amendment
issue.”
Many supporters of Mr. Williams have sought to frame his firing as a First
Amendment issue, especially those appearing on Fox, which reportedly gave Mr
. Williams a new three-year contract on Thursday.
Fox has been something of a home base for the anti-NPR campaign, with hourly
reports about the controversy on both its news and opinion programs. Mr.
Williams hosted “The O’Reilly Factor” on Friday night, the same venue
where, on Monday, he made the comments that led to his firing on Wednesday.
Ms. Schiller said she perceived a media “overreaction” to Mr. Williams’s
firing, one that had even set off threats against her children. A camera
crew from Fox News followed her from her home on Friday, she added.
Before joining NPR in January 2009, Ms. Schiller was the senior vice
president and general manager of NYTimes.com.
There was a palpable sense of unease within NPR on Friday about whether
there would be more fallout from Mr. Williams’s firing. But Ms. Schiller
said the board that governed NPR had expressed its “full support” of the
action. And Dave Edwards, the director and general manager of WUWM in
Milwaukee, and vice chairman of the NPR board, said that “every board
member I spoke to today is supportive of Vivian and the decision that was
made by the management team.”
Mr. Edwards said the board would want to discuss with her “at the
appropriate time the facts that led up to the decision,” but that no
meeting had been set.
Ms. Schiller said she regretted that the firing had become a “distraction”
for local stations during a preplanned pledge drive week. The timing has
been a source of concern for stations, but there were no indications on
Friday that it was influencing fund-raising.
Jennifer Houlihan, a spokeswoman for New York Public Radio, said the issue
“was not hurting” pledges. “We’re hitting or surpassing our goal at this
point,” she said.
Another source of financing for stations — the federal government — was a
talking point among conservatives on Thursday and Friday. Commentators on
television and in columns argued that the government should not be in the
business of financing what they consider to be radio and television
programming skewed toward the left.
Invoking the deficit, some Republican congressmen said on Friday that they
would be introducing legislation to revoke NPR’s federal funding. Mr.
Williams himself said on Fox News’ morning show that since 1999, NPR had
not needed “public funds.”
Some said the complaints about NPR’s funding were reminiscent of a similar
movement after Republicans took control of Congress in 1994. The effort, led
by Newt Gingrich, failed.
“These things tend to come in cycles,” said Steve Bass, president and
chief executive of Oregon Public Broadcasting and a member of the NPR board.
Ms. Schiller said that the “public” in NPR’s former name, National Public
Radio, referred more to the contributions of listeners than to the
contributions of taxpayer dollars. Taxpayer money goes to the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, which apportions money for local radio and
television stations across the country.
NPR gets no direct money from the federal government for its $161.8 million
annual budget. It does receive some dedicated grants from Corporation for
Public Broadcasting for projects like covering the country’s economic
crisis; in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 combined, those grants totaled just
over $5.2 million. NPR also gets occasional grants from from sources
financed by the federal government. In all, NPR said those grants accounted
for 1 to 2 percent of its income on average.
The biggest portion — about 41 percent in recent years — of NPR’s revenue
comes from member station programming fees and dues. Those stations
themselves receive $90 million in federal funds each year. On average, that
accounts for about 10 percent of the stations’ income, according to NPR.
The remainder of NPR’s revenue comes from sponsors and, to a lesser extent,
foundations, non-federal grants and investments.
Mr. Bass said he sensed that “there have been people who for a long while
have wanted to have a discussion about the ongoing funding of public
broadcasting and something like this gives them an excuse to bring that
forward.” But, he said, “People still derive tremendous value” from the
“small investment” of their federal funds, and if people want to have the
conversation, “I’m not afraid of that.”
“At the end of the day,” he added, “we can prove our worth, that the
investment is worthwhile and of benefit to society.”
At WUWM, Mr. Edwards said, some of the dozens of callers and e-mail writers
were upset, but others were supportive of NPR’s decision. A number of those
who complained weren’t contributors — but one now is.
After the situation was explained to one man, Mr. Edwards said, “he ended
up making a pledge.” | y****t
发帖数: 10233 | 2 啧啧,瞧这NYT春秋笔法写的...
革命后进同志朱大春,对党有了想法,和党产生了矛盾,最后在毛泽东思想的指引下,指导
员的思想工作下,继续成为了一个服从党的领导,听党话的好同志.
After the situation was explained to one man, Mr. Edwards said, “he ended
up making a pledge.”
lol...
warn
【在 p******e 的大作中提到】
: Of the thousands of complaints that have saturated NPR in the wake of Juan
: Williams’s firing earlier this week, some of the most telling have been
: from callers describing themselves as long-time “viewers” of NPR who warn
: that they are going to “stop watching.”
: NPR, of course, does not have viewers, it has listeners. But the public
: radio organization has come under severe criticism — largely from people
: who are not listeners, it believes — for having fired Mr. Williams, an
: analyst who was employed by both NPR and Fox News when he said on Fox that
: he felt fearful when he saw people in “Muslim garb” on an airplane.
: Some have said his comment was bigoted, but others have rallied to Mr.
| m****h
发帖数: 574 | 3 defund NPR
warn
【在 p******e 的大作中提到】
: Of the thousands of complaints that have saturated NPR in the wake of Juan
: Williams’s firing earlier this week, some of the most telling have been
: from callers describing themselves as long-time “viewers” of NPR who warn
: that they are going to “stop watching.”
: NPR, of course, does not have viewers, it has listeners. But the public
: radio organization has come under severe criticism — largely from people
: who are not listeners, it believes — for having fired Mr. Williams, an
: analyst who was employed by both NPR and Fox News when he said on Fox that
: he felt fearful when he saw people in “Muslim garb” on an airplane.
: Some have said his comment was bigoted, but others have rallied to Mr.
|
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