Opinion> Joseph Farah> Juan Williams First Amendment Rights

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Juan Williams' First Amendment Rights

National Public Radio, which gets significant funding from taxpayers through the federal government, fired Juan Williams last Wednesday because of the content of his commentaries on another network. This is an illustration of why NPR and PBS need to be defunded completely by taxpayers.

The First Amendment protects our inherent, unalienable rights to express ourselves — especially insofar as political speech goes. That's what Juan Williams was doing Oct. 18 on "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox News Network when he made perfectly reasonable and honest comments about his views.

"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot," said Williams. "You know the kind of books I've written about the civil-rights movement in this country. But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Williams also commented on remarks by Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad warning Americans that the fight is coming to the United States.

"He said the war with Muslims, America's war, is just beginning, first drop of blood," Williams said. "I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts."

Welcome to the world of free speech in America circa 2010. This is what you get when government is paying the freight for your media. Juan Williams is simply explaining on national television how he feels based on completely understandable circumstances — and he is fired!

By the way, not that it should matter, but Juan Williams is a bona fide liberal, as he points out. This is an outrage. NPR concedes Williams was fired only for this comment.

"Tonight we gave Juan Williams notice that we are terminating his contract as a senior news analyst for NPR News," Chief Executive Officer Vivian Schiller and Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss said in a statement. "Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years and we did not make this decision lightly or without regret.

"However, his remarks on 'The O'Reilly Factor' this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.

We regret these circumstances and thank Juan Williams for his many years of service to NPR and public radio."

What does that mean? His remarks were "inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR," they said.

But he didn't make these comments on NPR. He made them on Fox. And what exactly is it about his statement that undermines his credibility? Should he not reveal what he really believes? Should he hide his opinions and feelings based on the facts he observes? Is that the standard at NPR? Should he pretend that he doesn't feel threatened by Islamic terrorism? Is that what taxpayers are subsidizing at NPR — propaganda?

Now, I don't know Juan Williams personally, but I have always respected him as a thoughtful liberal commentator. I disagree with him on most issues. On this one, as an American of Arabic heritage, I couldn't agree more. Obviously, his statement is one that represents the sentiment of the vast majority of Americans. NPR, which exists only because of forcibly extracted taxpayer money, is not only "censoring," in the truest sense of the word, what its commentators say on its programs, but also what they say on other programs.

This is a very big deal and suggests a totalitarian mindset is very much in control of NPR — not surprising given the additional support it receives from George Soros.

This isn't just about Juan Williams, who can take care of himself and fight his own battles. This is literally about free speech in America.

A private media entity that accepts no government subsidy has every right in the world to set its own standards and practices — even firing those who don't toe the party line. Not so with a government media source. It has an absolute obligation not to promote one viewpoint, which, of course, we all know NPR does. What happened in the case of Juan Williams caused NPR to make that fact official. Its top executives admitted they will have no tolerance for "politically incorrect" thinkers on their shows.

Please join me in lobbying your members of Congress next year to terminate all funding for NPR and PBS. It's time to end state-sponsored, taxpayer-supported media propaganda in America.

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.