Did NPR Do The Right Thing?

NPR terminated the contract of Juan Williams after remarks on Fox News yesterday. To paraphrase, Williams said that he becomes nervous when he is at an airport and sees Muslims dressed in traditional garb.

Apparently, there is a lot of outrage at NPR canning Williams. Am I just missing something? I don’t get it.

I don’t have the time or desire to read every opinion on this, but what I get from everything, NPR did not wish to continue associating with Williams after his remarks because those remarks undermined his credibility as a journalist. I’m happy with this.

The reason I listen to NPR while in the car is because it still appears, if nothing else, to be balanced and fair. I’ve heard plenty of news that makes the Obama administration look great and plenty that make his administration look horrible. NPR’s anchors and correspondents seem to me to strike a good balance while interviewing folks who sometimes do have strong opinions.

Cable news–Fox, MSNBC, etc–is just a joke. There are moments of actual news broadcasting, but more and more of it is just talking heads ranting the extreme position without actually conveying anything that may lead to progress, compromise or civil discourse. I want news to inform me of the events of the world, not inform me of what one person thinks about the news.

I’m falling asleep as I type, but in closing, I don’t understand why this seems to be a big deal. NPR ended a contract with someone that they felt could no longer be objective, seemingly or actually. Case closed. Time to move on to real news.