Why NPR Should Never Have Even Hired Juan Williams

Juan Williams is catching plenty of flak for what he said on Wednesday. But it's what he said nearly two decades ago that has Bonnie Erbé chiming in—and arguing not about whether or not he should have been fired, but protesting the fact that NPR hired him in the first place. Erbé, who worked with Williams when the two were regular commentators on a weekly news program in DC, explains that the Washington Post disciplined Williams in 1991 for what Williams himself called "wrong" and "inappropriate" verbal conduct toward women.

Erbé says the Post remained tight-lipped about the details, as well as why he ultimately left the paper. (She points out that a Dallas Morning News article says Williams was forced "to sit in an isolated part of the newsroom where he could be watched at all times.") "Given the serious allegations against him ... I was saddened when NPR resurrected his reputation as a serious, credentialed journalist. It sent to me and many others the message that sexual harassment is not taken seriously by the so-called boys on the bus." Click here for more from Erbé's Politics Daily column.
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