10/27

My local NPR station had yet another show about the Tea Party this morning. An hour wasted discussing the various angry, crazy, racist, homophobic nitwits that make up what they think is a new wave of Angry Americans. What they don't seem to do is ever look more deeply and question the coded rhetoric of these various people. That the vast majority of them are white and are 'angry' at our black president never comes up. That many of them continue to spout hideous racist sentiments about minorities or immigrants is never questioned, that often what they say is factually incorrect or blatant lies is never challenged. If someone says it, then it must be true. That much of this 'anger' from 'regular people' is, in fact, funded by wealthy Americans (the Koch brothers among others) and foreigners looking to increase their political influence by having other people do their bidding for them is conveniently ignored.

What NPR needs to do is to stop patting themselves on the back with one hand and asking for 'listener support' with the other and get back to being a news organization. There are far too many opinion pieces and columnists and editorials and news analysts and not nearly enough actual reporting. What people need are facts, not another windbag's opinion or analysis about something they can't be bothered to get out of the office and report about.

When NPR's Juan Williams was fired last week there was an uproar about this 'respected journalist' being fired for expressing his opinion. What wasn't discussed was that Mr Williams hasn't been a serious journalist for years, he's an analyst. He simply comes on the air and talks. He's one of the increasing number of people who make a (very good) living giving their opinion on various news outlets. Everybody's got an opinion, even if they haven't done any fact finding. We're a nation of pundits. You know the expression, 'Everyone's got an opinion...' Well, in my opinion (ha ha ha) if Juan Williams was a real journalist, he wouldn't been playing the clown in Bill O'Reilly's circus. Anyone with a level of self respect wouldn't do 'Ol Bill's bidding. He'd also be embarrassed to play the fool on the same network that brings us O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.

But maybe I'm the fool, because the day after Williams got fired he signed a contract with Fox News for 2 million dollars. So no more pity or outrage for Juan Williams (and no more discussion of racism), because he got what he wanted. A fat check and a chance to play the fool on a regular basis.

P.S. Where was the outrage recently when a gubernatorial candidate in Rhode Island said President Obama "Can take his endorsement and really shove it"? If a candidate had told President Bush to "really shove it" there would have been tons of outrage for being disrespectful towards the sitting president. But with president Obama, the media is noticeably silent; more concerned about Juan '2 Million' Williams.