Me and public radio part 2

Having been persuaded to donate to public radio after all, I now find myself rushing to its defense in the controversy du jour in conservative circles at least, Juan Williams' firing.  Williams, it seems, was fired from NPR due to comments he made on Fox News.  He is considered a liberal by some, but his mere appearance on Fox News  indicates that he is more conservative than some liberals.  Fox News and the conservative right are trying to make this issue about free speech.  But please note, this is not some government edict, nor is it an abridgment of Juan Williams' right to say whatever he wants.  He has a $2 million contract with Fox News to do just that.  The issue is whether Mr. Williams should be free from consequences for remarks that were made on air on another network.  Free speech does not mean that people in the U.S. are completely free to say whatever they want without consequences.  Mr. Williams may feel justifiably angry for being fired for something like this, but it simply is not a free speech issue.  The war on public radio that is now being launched from the right is not justified by any free speech mantra that they may spew out.  It is an attempt by one media organization to influence a news organization in a competitive marketplace.  Public radio does not have the same audience numbers as Fox News, and Fox News knows it.  They are trying to squeeze out the competition on the "left," so to speak.  As I said before, NPR may lean left due to its focus on issues, but this structural bias is NOT THE SAME as Fox News' INTENTIONAL, IDEOLOGICAL bias.  Let's look at Mr. Williams' firing from a less ideological standpoint -- it doesn't even matter what Mr. Williams said that got him fired.  If you focus on the substance of his remarks, they do reflect a bias against Muslims.  But those remarks may have just been the final straw.  NPR is fully within its rights as a news organization to fire Mr. Williams, whose opinions may be biased but who also contributes to a competitor in the media marketplace.