Ellen Weiss' first comments on her NPR resignation

Ellen Weiss called her decision to step down Thursday as the top news executive at National Public Radio "extremely hard" but declined to criticize NPR or back away from her decision to fire Juan Williams, the action that led to her downfall.

Weiss, 51, would have hit her 29th anniversary at NPR next month, but she agreed to leave her post under pressure after an internal investigation found that Williams' firing had been hasty and not well executed.

Weiss stressed that she did not make the decision to fire Williams alone. She acted after the comentator went on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" and described his occasional discomfort flying with people in "Muslim garb." NPR Chief Executive Vivian Schiller, who remains in her job, approved the firing.

"What I would say is that the decision to terminate the Juan Williams contract by NPR, of which I was a participant, was based on the highest journalistic standards," Weiss said Thursday.

The NPR ethics code requires employees to withhold their personal opinions both on the radio network and in other public apperances. But critics have noted that Williams, and other NPR personalities, were routinely asked to give opinions as guest commentators on cable television.

Speaking haltingly and with obvious emotion, Weiss said she was proud of her long tenure, which included 12 years as executive producer of the news magazine "All Things Considered." She said she thought she had prepared NPR well for the future.

Meeting with a small group of confidantes inside the network Thursday, Weiss said she previously had advised others that any organization had to prepare for the loss of the boss.

"If you get hit by a bus, you want to make sure you have the right people in place, you want to make sure it doesn't end," Weiss said. "I feel I have an incredible newsroom in place, with fantastic leadership and unbelievably courageous reporters. I am glad I followed my own advice. Because the bus came, and I am gone.”

Weiss said she had no plans yet for the future but that she would continue to "love and admire NPR." She added: "It's an incredible institution that is way bigger than one individual."

Weiss said she could not say whether her departure would help clear the air and deflate political pressure to cut NPR's government funding, but she hoped it would.

"It was extremely hard," she said of her decision, finalized with NPR chief Schiller on Thursday. "It was not the hardest decision I ever made in my life but certainly one of the hardest."

-- James Rainey

twitter.com/latimesrainey

 

Comments

[movalfire]

Don't worry, you did the right thing in my opinion. And I'm sure you'll hit the ground running...

[nicejob]

Jim Rainey is proof the LA Times still has some mojo.

[Ace]

She was thrown under the bus and it was the right thing to do.

[trajan]

If you fire someone and that results in yourself losing your job then you made a terrible decision. Juan Williams deserved to keep his job and I sense that NPR lost a lot of respect from listeners like me who now dont look at NPR in the same way.

[Joseph L Cooke]

I hope her next job involves wearing a paper hat.
However, she is the sacrificial lamb in this case. Normal people are calling for NPR to be de-funded and this gal is being tossed under the bus to quell their demands. She'll still be fired and NPR will still be defunded. A win-win for the good guys.

2012. No liberals. No exceptions.

[Jose]

We demanded that she resign. Mission accomplished.

[Willem Scholten]

Another example of corporate interest over ruling what is clearly was the right journalistic decision. While it may publicly look like she resigned, bet assured she was presented with one of two options, resign with 'dignity' and severance or be fired. Shame on NPR to throw someone with that much experience under the bus. Juan WIlliams should not only be fired but publicly shunt for event uttering the remarks as he did. NPR is getting close and closer to the other babbling 'news' outlets, thank god we got BBC World Service or CBC Radio 1 the listen to.

[Manuel]

National Pentagon Radio

[trophoblast]

Juan Williams was, and is, a total hack. The sole sad thing about this is that a competent executive has been thrown under the bus by cowards because she rightfully fired a useless hack..who should have been cut loose long before.

And as for NPR...it moves ever further to the right, and engages in ever more false equivalencies in its political reporting. NPR is increasingly useless as a truly objective news source. The whole place has been moving right for 30 years, forever trying to keep out of the sights of the crazy right. It's too bad. NPR was once one of the great news sources. Not quite so much, now. Like so much else in this country, NPR has been slowly ruined by our crazy, fascist right.

[CJ]

Wouldn't it be refreshing and honest if this woman would just admit her mistake? She worked for NPR. NPR canned her for what she did. It's clear that she did not do what her employer wanted, so what she did was wrong. What some may think is stoic is really a warning shot to any future employer to avoid this woman. A simple apology to Mr. Williams is all that is necessary, which of course she does not have the manners to do, but how clueless does someone appear when she defends the thing that got her fired.

BTW, a voluntary resignation wouldn't have taken this long, nor happened as the report was being made public. NPR is incapable of getting the facts right when it's their own organization that's the story. What a farce this once great news organization has become.