Journalist Juan Williams firing from NPR this week is really no shocker. Living in western Nebraska for several years NPR and Nebraska Public Radio was one of the few "news sources" available...local Scottsbluff/Gering television was laughable at best...KDUH lived to it's call-sign and you relied heavily on radio for your touch to the world. Western Nebraska was news starved. I guess when you're living the good life though it doesn't matter. I bet Smith and Meister traded copies of Doc Savage growing up. Well maybe Meister did.
NPR was a common stop late in the afternoon and Juan Williams was one of their few commentator's that I took time out for when he came on the air. I surmised him to be a moderate liberal that appeared to do a little research for his reports. His move...and Mara Liasson's move...to Fox were a bit of a surprise when it first happened but they have both settled in nicely and seem a good fit for the touted "fair and balanced" bunch...although I choose to believe they have both "seen the light" and were evolving...shedding their liberal leaning views.
Getting back to the gist of things...despite what some would say is "political-in-correct speak" on Williams' part...even though the majority of us agree with what he said...the crowner to me is that NPR has been after Williams since his alignment with Fox and since Fox is the Progressive's favorite news source to bash...what better week to can him than during NPR's fund raising week. "Keep those checks coming in folks...we had to eat one of our own...but that's ok...we're NPR...we're publicly funded and it seems we are going to have to devour Mara too." Williams won't even look back over his shoulder...he'll write another book...make even more money...and be happy at Fox.
Since moving to central Nebraska and Al Gore's invention of the internet...news and commentary travels at the speed of light...no more 28 WPM teletypes to rip and read from...NPR has fallen by the wayside. News comes so fast today that what's read in the local foot-wide newspaper (local foot-wide newspaper = smaller than a Jimmy John's...much slower and much less enjoyable) is two days...sometimes two weeks old before it reaches your door step. The only thing keeping our local foot-wide alive is the obituaries (how's that for irony?)...if the local mortician could only afford a good server and web designer.
No comments:
Post a Comment