Anna Christopher, a senior manager of media relations at National Public Radio, tells National Review Online that the company has been displeased with Juan Williams’s commentary before. “This isn’t the first time that we have had serious concerns about some of Juan’s public comments,” Christopher says. “Despite many warnings over the years, Juan has continued to violate some of our principles and ethics. We aren’t going to go into details about specific instances. This wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction.”
When asked which principles Williams violated, Christopher responds, “The language says that when appearing on TV, they should not express views that they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist. If you wouldn’t say it on our air, you shouldn’t say it. Everyone’s comments are open to interpretation. But we felt that in this case and in perhaps in past cases, [some of his] comments violated the ethics and the role that we hold our journalists to.”
In a follow-up e-mail, NRO asks Christopher what exactly Williams said that was inappropriate. Christopher writes, “We aren’t going to get into a back and forth over semantics. The comment violated our ethics guidelines, and offended many in doing so.”