FOX News contributor Juan Williams was suspended from NPR's “Politics” shortly after NPR's longtime editor-in-chief, Uli Berliner, spoke out against the station's liberal bias. He warned that the “burdens of the pandemic” were becoming “visible.”
Mr. Williams, who was fired from the station in 2010, was fired on “America's Newsroom” after Mr. Berliner wrote an explosive whistleblower article for the Free Press criticizing NPR's reporting on a variety of topics. The publicly funded broadcaster insisted it was “sensitive to criticism”.
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“We live in a very polarized media environment, Bill, and my feeling about Uli Berliner is, I think he's been there 25 years. This guy won a Peabody Award. He's a man who did…He's a seasoned journalist, but now he's pissing off his internal colleagues.''People who don't like them, who want to cancel funding, Those who see themselves as under attack from those who see…in the case of my firing, cannot deal with people who think differently, and especially in my case… is a black person who thinks differently,” Williams said Tuesday.
“They're very sensitive to criticism, but…they say, 'Oh, it's all because they're open-minded.' I think what Uli Berliner was pointing out is that they're not that open-minded. “And I think… maybe he wants to move on,” he continued.
“I don’t know if people in other organizations would feel good about people who… go outside of the organization without permission… and attack the organization itself… if that’s why you’re being suspended. I understand. “
Berliner questioned the network's ability to fairly cover topics such as Russiagate, the coronavirus lab leak theory, Hunter Biden's scandalous laptop, and support for the theory of systemic racism. Since October 7, he has written an article accusing the network of downplaying anti-Semitism.
“The political baggage in this case is very clear. I don't see how you can get away from the fact that Uli Berliner told the truth about NPR and its political bias,” Williams said.
Berliner also said the 2021 registration records show an alarming disparity between Democrats and Republicans in the NPR newsroom, with staffers saying, among other things, that former President Trump said “the open-minded spirit no longer exists.” He said he did not want to cooperate in showing that. NPR.
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NPR Media reporter David Folkenflik broke the news that Berliner was suspended without pay for five days starting last Friday.
Williams pointed to the “interesting dynamic” of Folkenflick working with Berliner to break the story about his colleague's suspension.
“NPR has not spoken to Folkenflick at all about this matter, and Berliner provided Folkenflick with a letter announcing his release and suspension,” Williams said.
Mr. Folkenflik spoke directly to Mr. Berliner about the suspension, saying that Katherine Maher, who was appointed the network's CEO and president last month, should not be running the broadcast company.
FOX News contributor Juan Williams spoke about the news that NPR had suspended longtime editor-in-chief Uli Berliner.
“There are a lot of strange things going on, but one of them is that Mr. Berliner and others who criticize NPR are saying that NPR's new head, Katharine Maher, is someone she has tweeted critical of in the past. “Donald Trump,'' and the problem is, given that she's been outspoken about her political views, she came in and became a unifier and was a fair voice on NPR. “It's about being able to become that person,” Williams said.
Maher made headlines for her far-left social media posts, which she has defended despite widespread scrutiny.
“We are now looking for a leader who will unite and bring more people into the tent and who will have a broader vision of what America is,” Berliner told Folkenflik.
And this seems to be the opposite.
Fox News' Brian Flood, Hanna Panreck and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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Bailee Hill is an associate editor at Fox News Digital. Story ideas can be sent to bailee.hill@fox.com.