Journalists’ Roundtable

Posted Friday, October 22, 2010

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New polls in the Governor's race are poles apart. The Quinnipiac poll shows Republican John Kasich with a big lead over Governor Ted Strickland. But a CNN poll shows the race virtually deadlocked. President Obama made an Ohio campaign stop and Republican Sarah Palin might in hopes of swaying voters in key races. Will it work? Commissioner Jimmy Dimora asks a judge for help paying his legal bills. And an Akron priest must pay a fine and repay money he took from a Catholic charity. Join us for discussion of the week's top regional stories Friday at 9:00 on 90.3.

Guests

Bill Cohen, Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau
M.L. Schultze, member station WKSU
Chris Quinn, Metro Editor, The Plain Dealer

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Michael Manning 9:18 AM 10/22/10

I’m not really sure why the Juan Williams issue has spun so out of control. Where people on the right screaming as loudly when NPR prohibited its staff from participating in the decidedly left leaning Rally to Restore Sanity? This isn’t the first time Willaims has said something out of character for his role on NPR, and it’s not like his 1st ammendment rights were violated.

Jamey Christoph 9:33 AM 10/22/10

Call it political correctness or borderline racism, if I wanted to hear that brand of “entertainment journalism” I’d tune into the Fox News shows Juan Williams appears on. I’m thankful to NPR for terminating Juan William’s contract, keep the air as objective as possible!

Susanna de Sorgo 9:40 AM 10/22/10

I am proud of NPR for firing Juan Williams. We need to get back to “just the facts” type of reporting—and if we have a personal opinion—we need to keep that to ourselves. NPR has built its reputation on bringing facts to its audience not opinions—if Juan Williams wanted to express an opinion he could have said I have an opinion which I will reserve for a commentary at a later time. Since the FCC changed the laws regulating News and combining News with Entertainment—as a seasoned journalist Juan Williams crossed the line and being fired is appropriate.

Michael Manning 9:46 AM 10/22/10

People keep calling out Diane Rehm’s various comments in a comparison to the Williams firing. There is no comparison. Diane Rehm is a commentator, where she has the freedom to insert here opinion, Juan Williams was not. He was a news analyst. Very different thing

Molly 9:50 AM 10/22/10

It was not the time nor the place to view his opinion!! we know what O’Reilly said on “The View”.. “muslim’s killed us on 9/11”.. Juan was a representative of NPR and I dont think NPR wants to be associated with O’Reilly or Muslim Hate. I dont blame NPR!

kris harsh 9:56 AM 10/22/10

Rupert Murdoch himself has said that FOX is almost entirely “news entertainment”. The American public is being bombarded by outlandish opinion masquerading as news. I support the decision to fire Juan Williams (though I am very sympathetic to him - 2 million contract not withstanding) and think the only proof we need that it was the right decision are the calls to defund NPR. Ever notice that FOX always wants to defund organizations it doesn’t like? Objectivity may not be possible in life, but in reporting the news, it is still the best aim.