NPR: Truly Public Radio?

Recently this week, National Public Radio has come under serious doubt after the firing of liberal analyst Juan Williams for his comments regarding Muslims on airplanes. Williams was recorded on Fox News saying that he gets nervous when he sees people with Muslim garb on commercial flights. NPR is now under much scrutiny from all political affiliations because they believe that Williams had the right to voice his opinion and that NPR is censoring some very important topics from the media.

From my standpoint, I have to completely agree with these claims. As a regular viewer of Fox News, I have grown extremely fond of Williams because of his passion for the political sciences and his unique background coming from Cuba. Because of this I am shocked about how NPR has decided to handle Williams over this controversial comment. Since National Public Radio is funded by hard-working Americans' capital, and each of these Americans has their own opinions, they should have to conform to certain guidelines to make sure that the our hard-earned money is going to represent all of us fully and completely. So when a highly-respected analyst voices his opinion on an extremely heated topic, a view that I believe many people share, it should be voiced without persecution since this, after all, is our First Amendment. I also strongly believe that Williams' contributions to Fox News, known to be a conservative-minded network, led to his firing. Secondly, I am quite frankly blown away on how National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller has handled the situation. Instead of doing something more civilized, like a suspension or a fine, she rushes to her judgement and fires the correspondent. To make matters worse, instead of doing it behind closed doors and in confidentiality, she decides to blast Williams for his opinion while insulting the mentally-ill. It is time for Schiller to be removed from her role, as this incident clearly shows that in the current state of National Public Radio, it truly is not public and the station does not present all viewpoints of controversial issues.