The Noise About Public Radio

[Commentary] National Public Radio's ham-handed firing of Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made foolish and hurtful remarks about Muslims on the Fox News Channel has emboldened conservative Republican leaders in Congress to demand -- once again -- an end to federal support for all public broadcasting. This would be the worst possible outcome of a clumsy contretemps.

NPR radio and PBS television -- a separate entity that had nothing to do with this controversy but was still flooded with misguided complaints about unfairness -- are vitally important sources of information in the nation's healthily cacophonous democracy. Federal grants account for no more than 2 percent of NPR's $161.8 million annual budget. Member stations, which played no role in the firing, rely on federal support for about 10 percent of their annual budgets, $90 million in all. When all is said and done -- no small challenge for modern media -- anyone who listens regularly to NPR news and its local stations can hear the due diligence to fairness in its reports. Any cutback in federal support would hurt the American public.