Academic

READER ALLEN S. THORPE EMAILS: Does the Juan Williams ? NPR story have legs? It?s been a week ?

By Glenn Reynolds

READER ALLEN S. THORPE EMAILS:

Does the Juan Williams – NPR story have legs?

It’s been a week and I’m still seeing commentary on it. I don’t think that Bill O’Reilly is going to forget it anytime soon. Tonight Fox reported on reactions from the heads of member stations around the country to Vivian Schiller’s handling of it.

And it has given new life to the demand to cut off funding for government supported news. I still like NPR’s way of giving depth to stories that you don’t hear on the nightly news, but I just got sick of their business model of pretending that they’re too pure to run commercials and aiming their pledge drives at “thinking people,” i.e. elites and elite wannabes. They keep saying that their reports wouldn’t be feasible with a commercial operation, but Special Report on Fox and long news programs on the other cable news networks, can trace their existence back to The News Hour, and before that, All Things Considered and Morning Edition. With CNN, MSNBC and FOX, who really needs NPR?

Well, I think that NPR does a great job in many ways. It’s just too bad that they see themselves — and the Juan Williams business makes that clear — as Stuff White People Like Radio. That limits their value.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on October 26, 2010 (boomark / email).