Bill and Juan

Everyone is ranting about Bill O'Reilly and Juan Williams (video). I want to add to the bunch.

I don't watch Fox News. It angers me and I don't like to hear everything I feel is not objective news. That said, I listen to NPR, watch CNN, and read The New York Times. I got to wondering, am I hearing unobjective news? Do I just think it's objective because I generally agree with it?

NPR recently fired Juan Williams for his remarks about Muslims on the O'Reilly Factor. He said, "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. 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."No this is not a good thing to say as it generalizes a race and religion, however, it is a view that a lot of people in the US have. NPR fired him because he was inconsistent with their editorial standards and practices. 


This seems unproductive. Why would a station that is all about communication and getting the truth out there not use this as a stepping ground for opening conversation about the subject? Since so much of the world feels this way about Muslims in general, why was it hushed? My only conclusion is that NPR has more bias than I thought. 


My next step was to watch the entire segment of the O'Reilly Factor that caused the uproar to see what else Williams said. Williams seemed to not really step out of bounds compared to O'Reilly. O'Reilly made extreme generalizations, compared things that shouldn't be compared, and fueled misconceptions. O'Reilly made a comment about the German/Turkish problems. To someone who doesn't know what he is talking about, he made it sound like terrorists were in Germany. He never specified they were Turkish immigrants. He said that most people never assimilate into German culture. While this is somewhat true, as conservative Muslims don't assimilate into German culture, it is no where near "most." I talked with German journalists who said only about 20 percent at most were causing the cultural problems. These are not the same problems as the US is having, and O'Reilly implies that they are. Meanwhile, Williams kept trying to put O'Reilly in his place, which needed to happen.


My conclusion is that news is biased and you can't be totally objective. This means that viewers must be extremely educated in what they are viewing.