SocraticGadfly: Juan Williams, NPR "token"?

October 24, 2010

Juan Williams, NPR "token"?

The missing part of the Juan Williams story, perhaps?

Did NPR keep him on so long because he's black, and it has limited ethnic diversity? Quite possibly. When NPR makes Faux News look semi-colorblind, it's sad.

Not surprising, though. Behind the stereotype of NPR listeners/PBS viewers as West Coast/Madison, Wisc./New England-based Volvo-drinking, latte-drinking white liberals, there's a certain amount of generalization truth.

Part of it is what it is.

Part of it is bad marketing by the two public entities as to their own programming that might be of interest to minorities.

Part of it is hiring issues.

Maybe NPR will learn and grow.

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