NPR CEO Resigns. What Am I Missing?
Hot (nearly almost, actually) non story of the day, NPR's (beleaguered) CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned.
Some people out there in medialand are blaming the latest (is it really a) scandal on this turn of events. That would be this weird, new James O'Keefe tape, where some NPR executive says accurately (arguably) critical things about wing nuts and tea baggers. Let's call that his personal opinions, instead of the institutional opinion, as, well that is all it seems. Oh. And he also delivers his personal opinion about gvt. funding of NPR. He thinks the org. would be better off with out it.
So what am I missing here? Viewed all by itself, that really is stuff beyond the CEO. Employees have opinions. Firing the CEO for the expressed opinions of the employees is stupid and unfair. Fire the employee for going off the grid, particularly when that occurs during work hours/course of business, or if they are so scandalous they bring the org into ridicule and disrepute, or are otherwise insubordinate.
But fire the CEO for that? And even adding this to the Juan Williams thing? Has the board lost all sense of irony? Williams was fired for saying what he himself said, and did. Now they are going to fire the CEO for what one of the minions said? That action makes what Vivian Schiller did to Williams, even more logical, and rational, and fair. And from an employment lawyer's POV, that was perfectly logical, and rational, and fair.
This move by NPR's board either is an opportunistic shove, likely greatly based on several reasons, this videotape incident likely being the least of the causes, or the board has adopted a semi-bunker mentality. The could be feeling beleaguered, attacked on all sides, and even if for the most part, they are for hunkering down, they are willing to scapegoat Vivian Schiller. And I do state the obvious. It could be a mix of both.
Anyway, I am just going to make a general Ombudsmanly slap at all media who report the story including the speculative, one cause, it's the videotape, explanation. That's some weak assed, punk assed, Fox Newsy, unjustified reporting of speculation for fact, bad reporting. Cut that shit. Leave that to the fake newsies at FNC, will ya?
Just to make this thing even weirder and stranger, somebody show me how I am wrong in thinking that in the following clip, Juan Williams is saying that the management of NPR are the racists?
http://www.mediaite.com/online/juan-williams-on-npr-execs-these-people-are-so-rude-and-condescending/
Reminder, kids. The management of NPR is white. The people at NPR mentioned in this story at least, are white. And they think the tea baggers (mostly white) are racists. How the hell does that make them racists? Elitist liberals, ya sure (in my case I am damn proud of it.) But how do you get racism out of calling out people on your own side of the race divide but not on the political divide out, for being racists?
I mean I get it, that Juan got his hate on for NPR, and even as he makes the big bucks from FNC, now, he still feels aggrieved. But dude? Give it a rest. You are starting to sound like a tea bagger. Shit. Somewhere in his rant he takes the tea bagger POV, seems to me.
Oh. And correction for Juan. You could not be more wrong. If you say exactly what you think, and what you think is something bigoted, you are a bigot. The fact you really believe that shit does not make it less bigoted. That makes it more bigoted. The deeper you believe your bigoted thoughts, the more of a bigot you are.
Anyway . . .
Some people out there in medialand are blaming the latest (is it really a) scandal on this turn of events. That would be this weird, new James O'Keefe tape, where some NPR executive says accurately (arguably) critical things about wing nuts and tea baggers. Let's call that his personal opinions, instead of the institutional opinion, as, well that is all it seems. Oh. And he also delivers his personal opinion about gvt. funding of NPR. He thinks the org. would be better off with out it.
So what am I missing here? Viewed all by itself, that really is stuff beyond the CEO. Employees have opinions. Firing the CEO for the expressed opinions of the employees is stupid and unfair. Fire the employee for going off the grid, particularly when that occurs during work hours/course of business, or if they are so scandalous they bring the org into ridicule and disrepute, or are otherwise insubordinate.
But fire the CEO for that? And even adding this to the Juan Williams thing? Has the board lost all sense of irony? Williams was fired for saying what he himself said, and did. Now they are going to fire the CEO for what one of the minions said? That action makes what Vivian Schiller did to Williams, even more logical, and rational, and fair. And from an employment lawyer's POV, that was perfectly logical, and rational, and fair.
This move by NPR's board either is an opportunistic shove, likely greatly based on several reasons, this videotape incident likely being the least of the causes, or the board has adopted a semi-bunker mentality. The could be feeling beleaguered, attacked on all sides, and even if for the most part, they are for hunkering down, they are willing to scapegoat Vivian Schiller. And I do state the obvious. It could be a mix of both.
Anyway, I am just going to make a general Ombudsmanly slap at all media who report the story including the speculative, one cause, it's the videotape, explanation. That's some weak assed, punk assed, Fox Newsy, unjustified reporting of speculation for fact, bad reporting. Cut that shit. Leave that to the fake newsies at FNC, will ya?
Just to make this thing even weirder and stranger, somebody show me how I am wrong in thinking that in the following clip, Juan Williams is saying that the management of NPR are the racists?
http://www.mediaite.com/online/juan-williams-on-npr-execs-these-people-are-so-rude-and-condescending/
Reminder, kids. The management of NPR is white. The people at NPR mentioned in this story at least, are white. And they think the tea baggers (mostly white) are racists. How the hell does that make them racists? Elitist liberals, ya sure (in my case I am damn proud of it.) But how do you get racism out of calling out people on your own side of the race divide but not on the political divide out, for being racists?
I mean I get it, that Juan got his hate on for NPR, and even as he makes the big bucks from FNC, now, he still feels aggrieved. But dude? Give it a rest. You are starting to sound like a tea bagger. Shit. Somewhere in his rant he takes the tea bagger POV, seems to me.
Oh. And correction for Juan. You could not be more wrong. If you say exactly what you think, and what you think is something bigoted, you are a bigot. The fact you really believe that shit does not make it less bigoted. That makes it more bigoted. The deeper you believe your bigoted thoughts, the more of a bigot you are.
Anyway . . .
posted by Abstentus at 10:34 AM
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