DC Law Firm Hired By NPR For Internal Probe Of Juan Williams Firing

Juan Williams

WASHINGTON law firm WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES has been hired by NPR to handle the active internal review of the firing of JUAN WILLIAMS, NPR Board Chairman DAVE EDWARDS of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC RADIO told a public meeting on THURSDAY.  EDWARDS said that the outside firm has no deadline to complete to the review.

On FRIDAY, NPR Pres./CEO VIVIAN SCHILLER added, "For all of us, who rightfully take enormous pride in presenting comprehensive and fair and nuanced stories to the public, this has been a difficult time -- made more difficult by recognition of the mistakes we made. The merits of the decision to terminate JUAN WILLIAMS’ contract notwithstanding -- and I do believe we were right to part ways -- the matter was handled badly. It also came at a hard time for stations who were fundraising. Our staff and stations were unprepared for the questions that came up.

"I’m promising you -- NPR’s staff, stations, the millions of our listeners who care deeply about us, and the general public -- that we are learning from those mistakes. We are conducting a review of our process for handling the JUAN WILLIAMS matter, and ... we are also undertaking a review of our ethics guidelines to ensure they are clear, consistent and understood by all."

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