WASHINGTON — As National Public Radio weathered a storm of criticism Thursday for its decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams for his comments about Muslims, Fox News moved to turn the controversy to its advantage by signing Williams to an expanded role at the cable news network.
Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary. The Fox News contributor will now appear exclusively and more frequently on the cable news network and have a regular column on .
“Juan has been a staunch defender of liberal viewpoints since his tenure began at Fox News in 1997,” Ailes said in a statement, adding a jab at NPR: “He’s an honest man whose freedom of speech is protected by Fox News on a daily basis.”
Meanwhile, conservative leaders lambasted NPR for firing Williams and called for cutting public funding for the media organization. By midafternoon Thursday, more than 4,900 comments had been posted on , including many from people who said NPR was bowing to political correctness and unfairly punishing Williams for expressing his personal opinions.
“In one arrogant move the NPR exposed itself for the leftist thought police they really are,” read one typical post. “After this November elections I hope one of the first things the new Congress does is to defund this poor excuse for public radio.”
The controversy kicked off Monday night when Williams made an appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Speaking with host Bill O’Reilly about how fear of terrorism affects perceptions of Muslims, Williams noted that he harbored some anxieties, even as an author of books about the civil rights movement.
“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. . . . 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 said.
He also noted it was not fair to cast all Muslims as extremists.
On Wednesday, NPR told Williams it was terminating his contract, saying his remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
Dana Davis Rehm, NPR’s senior vice president for communications, said Williams’ comments violated internal ethics policies that prohibit NPR journalists from going on other media and expressing “views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist.”
The guidelines also prohibit NPR journalists from participating in programs “that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis.”
