Jeff's Commentary - 10/26 - Grounds for Dismissal?

Juan Williams was fired last week from NPR for stating on a different talk show/network that when he boards a plane and sees “people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Juan has been an analyst for NPR (National Public Radio) for over ten years. In firing him, NPR stated that “his views regarding Muslims were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

Seems to me he stated a politically incorrect opinion that most of us agree with quietly and for that he was fired. I struggle with an analyst losing his tenured job over stating an opinion. That’s what they do. Anytime someone on a talk show asks the analyst “what do you think about that?” we at home expect them to answer. Opinions are what they do these days. And frankly, I like that Juan answered the question that day realistically.

At AZ-TV, Pat McMahon has been doing commentaries and analysis daily since the station went on-air in 2002. Everyday he comes up with a commentary that stops to make you think. I don’t always agree with Pat but his insight and “throwing his thoughts out” make him unique and relevant. NPR executives should put their heads in the sand for firing Juan Williams. He simply stated what most of us think as we travel. Is it right for us to think that way? No. But the dialogue he creates by bringing up difficult topics is what makes his opinion relevant.
Same with Pat McMahon’s daily commentaries.

NPR is supposed to be an unbiased news organization and takes pride in their version of fair and balanced news. On the firing of Juan Williams, they lost part of their integrity as a news organization. The Juan Williams' and Pat McMahon’s of journalism are badly needed in today’s fragmented news media. They bring reasonableness to unreasonable life circumstances.

NPR showed their true colors of what they are becoming. Be careful because if you lose your relevance as a company financed by tax payers and relevance to fair and balanced news on both sides of the spectrum, we tax payers may tell you to take a hike some day.

Jeff

Jeff's Commentary - 10/12 - Lisa's Race for the Cure

I was privileged to walk in Sunday’s Race for the Cure as a part of Lisa Schneider-Cipriano’s "Team Lisa-TNT." As many who follow the station know, Lisa has battled breast cancer throughout most of 2010. She is not your normal patient. In her early 40s, she was not supposed to get this awful disease so early in life. Lisa's mother had breast cancer as well so Lisa knew early on the odds were against her. And so it was in early 2010, she discovered lumps that indeed were cancerous. A young mother with eight year old triplets and having recession issues like many of us...she faced yet another challenge in life. Cancer.

But those friends that know and love Lisa knew that this young woman is positive and a fighter. She rarely gives up on anything she goes after. I like that spirit in her. She makes good TV. Her interviewing style and ease of giving Pat McMahon grief and company is what makes her special. And we love her for that.

While I have known a few women that have had breast cancer, it became more personal to all of us at AZ-TV with Lisa. We saw the emotional pain of deciding whether to take one or both breasts. She chose to take both. We saw the anticipation of the surgery grow as the calendar moved. We respect that she chose to open her story up both on air and online and the overwhelming response we have received from other woman who had the courage to go get checked as a result of Lisa’s message. Then the surgery and the pain that followed.

I never knew about “extenders” or “chemo pumps” that get inserted inside your skin. And now the path that chemo takes on one’s body. Loss of hair, loss of identity. But through it all Lisa fights and survives and lives every day like it’s the best day of her life. How can you not like that? She even brought coffee and donuts to those who came to race for the cause, her cause and others like her. So much to think about and Lisa remembers donuts! Only a mom would think like that...concerned for others first.

So going down to the Race for the Cure was a no-brainer for me. For the first time as I looked out into the sea of pink shirts who are the woman and families of those impacted by this terrible cancer, you are stunned at the vastness of both the disease and the fight of those inflicted.

Powerful stuff in a time where so much is negative and uncivil around the country. Here were 30,000+ people all participating for a cause that consists of hope among pain. I am blessed to have been allowed to know Lisa. Her story is an inspiration to me and others that when bad things happen, you can give up or you can fight the fight to live another day. What a great experience seeing the faces of those still in the game on Sunday. I saw life...and for a small moment in time, the political nonsense of the world took a time out for hope. It’s a great life lesson for all of us.

Jeff

(Check out Lisa's Blog on AZTV.com here:
http://www.aztv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12835440)

Jeff's Commentary - 10/5 - Our Choices for Political Office Dwindle

I was watching a talk show this morning and they showed the new Christine O’Donnell political ad. She is running for the Senate seat in Delaware. Pretty big job since there are only 100 of these people in the Big House.

It begins with her in front of a camera and states “I am not a witch.” Really.

I had to stop as I was dressing and was stunned at the ad. Have we fallen so low in our ability to attract good candidates to run for high public office that we are left with people running that start their campaign ads by denying their affiliation with the girls of Salem?

The country is a mess. But what’s sad is that there are many competent wonderful leaders in public and private sector that simply would not go through the media attacks that running for office is all about today.

So we are left with candidates who have to disarm the public first about whether or not they are witches or masturbate.

In Arizona we already have our share of knuckleheads. We have politicians in office who talk about headless bodies in the desert and scare off our tourism business. We have folks running for office who don’t run on their own merits and skill but use ads that attack the President as being the “worst President in history”. I’d like to get Ben Quayle on and see if he even can recite the Presidents we have had in office. I bet he can’t.

I don’t know if Mr. Quayle would be a good politician or not but I wouldn’t know because his ads don’t tell me about how he would work with others to find solutions.

And then we have a complete lack of understanding what the Arizona and American public want. Jobs, a safe neighborhood to live in and helping out those that need a hand. People working together for the common good. Seems pretty simple.

But we have to find folks to do that job that aren’t starting their political ads with, “I am not a witch.”

Jeff