The Modern Independent

Explaining the Juan Williams Backlash Against NPR

Posted by Ryan Dawkins

I wasn’t going to right about Juan Williams ouster from NPR. My general thought was that he was a massive tool who didn’t add much to the network, and I was constantly frustrated by the fact that FOX News made him the token defender of the left.  That said, I questioned NPR’s judgment in terminating his contract.

Conservative blogger and former Republican primary candidate for Congress from Texas, Mike Kueber, has a great analysis of the controversy:

Some liberals have defended Juan’s firing by arguing that freedom of speech doesn’t guarantee a person’s job, but this is clearly a straw-man argument.  No one is arguing that a media company shouldn’t be able to fire someone for saying something controversial.  See my main man, Don Imus.  Most reasonable people (and the law) accept that an employment-at-will relationship can be severed by either party for whatever reason (except for illegal discrimination, etc.)  But just as an employee must be willing to accept the possibility of termination for exercising his free-speech rights, a media company must be willing to accept public disapproval for exercising its employment-at-will rights.