An Old Media Panic Always Results in a Ceremonial Firing

The “whole world” (read: not the whole world) is abuzz regarding this morning’s forced resignation of short-term NPR head Vivian Schiller, over an expose video of an employee there acting dumb at a fundraising lunch, which, maybe I should care more about the operational management of nonprofit radio? I do not! In any event, let it just be repeated that NPR is not your radio station, it is not America’s radio station, and it is almost entirely endowment- and sponsorship-supported. (Member stations, which pay NPR for syndication and membership, in essence, also overall have a very small budgetary percentage of public grant-taking.) That means it’s pretty easy to make NPR less of a target to wingnuts, but you know what’s even easier? Not panicking under some ANGRY BLOGS and FOX NEWS BREAKING UPDATES and firing people. Jesus Christ, people who run NPR, wait it out, there’ll be a new outrage by Thursday. Liberals really are wusses.