Her's part of an interview from this mornings Atlanta Journal Constitution with Vivian Schiller the chief executive officer of PBS. Maybe it will shead some light on the situation.

Link to the full story here.


Here is part of the Q&A:

Q: Okay. What happened?

A: Let's state a couple of facts. Juan is not an employee of NPR. He's an independent contractor. He's not NPR staff. He's an NPR analyst. We have a contract with him for analyst opinions to provide news analysis. He is not a columnist or commentator. He also has an on-going relationship with Fox News. Mara Liasson is also on Fox News and is a full-time staffer. We accept that's a whole other issue. However, we expect our journalists, whether they are news analysts or reporters to behave like journalists.

Q: So did Juan really get fired over just those Muslim comments? [He said he was uncomfortable with Muslims dressed in traditional garb on airplanes during a Fox News telecast yesterday.]

A: There have been several instances over the last couple of years where we have felt Juan has stepped over the line. He famously said last year something about Michelle Obama and Stokely Carmichael. [The quote on Fox News early last year: "Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going" and that she'll be an "albatross" for President Obama.]. This isn't a case of one strike and you're out.

Q: So this is obviously not an isolated incident.

A: There's so much misinformation on the blogosphere, it's nuts. This has been an on-going issue. [Here's NPR's ombudsman's piece on him last year after the Obama comment.] When he does that, when anybody does that, it undermines their credibility as a journalist or in Juan's case, a news analyst for NPR. Those two things cannot go together.

Q: Have you done this before with other analysts or reporters?

A: It's impossible to answer that. Every circumstance is different and would create false parallels.

Q: As you mentioned, Mara Liasson appears on Fox News. Is there an issue with Fox News?

A: No. She behaves on Fox as a journalists. I have no issues with anything she has said on Fox. This is not about Fox News. It's not about a political agenda. This is not about even validating or invalidating [Williams'] feelings.

Q: Mike Huckabee is now saying NPR has discredited itself and should have federal funding revoked.

A: Yes, I heard that. This has become a political issue. My God, I'm shocked!