I don’t believe NPR’s action to fire Juan Williams is justified. Juan Williams wasn’t acting as a journalist; he wasn’t reporting on a specific news story instead he was having an open discussion with television host Bill O’Reilly. After watching the video of Juan Williams on the O’Reilly Factor I did not feel that what Williams said was from a bigoted or unethical place. Instead, Williams was describing how he felt and later in the conversation even defended that Muslims shouldn’t be condemned to such stereotypes. Williams was acting as a commentator, he was simply expressing his opinion and feeling. NPR claims that he violated their “standards as well as values” but, he wasn’t acting as an NPR journalist- he was simply being himself –candid, blunt, and to the point.
I think the lines of journalism have been blurred. It has become extremely difficult to differentiate between a news journalist and a commentator because; most news organizations are not objective and many sway to one side or another when reporting the news. Even in the case of a news analyst and a news commentator it can be confusing to differentiate between the two. A news analyst is supposed to gather, examine, and then report on facts about a news story whereas, a commentator is suppose to give their opinions about the facts. But, it seems to be more common that the two have blended into one. I think news organizations need to make more of an effort to distinguish what is a news “entertainment” program and what is a hard news program.
written by Christina Ferrante
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