Remember, NPR's Mara Liasson thinks Fox News is a legitimate news outlet and doesn't see anything wrong with getting paid to appear on its programs.
Keep that in mind as you read this crazy outburst from Fox News chief, Roger Ailes:
They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don't want any other point of view. They don't even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive.
The question for Liasson, an NPR national political correspondent, is a simple one. Yes, Liasson continues to contribute on-air to Fox News despite the fact her appearances seem to run afoul of NPR's ethical standards. But on a more personal level, does she want to continue to be associated with Fox News when its chief is lobbing hateful attacks against Liasson's longtime employer?
As I noted last month [emphasis added]:
[W]hen the Juan Williams controversy broke, Fox News unleashed a nasty attack campaign against Liasson's employer, spreading all kinds of smears and misinformation about NPR and its staff in an effort to defund and destroy a jewel of public broadcasting. (Fox News' Brit Hume basically called NPR racist for firing Williams.)
Given Fox News' current crusade, I don't see why Liasson, who's been cashing NPR paycheck for two decades, would want to continue to work with a media outlet that now seems bent on discrediting and destroying her employer; and destroying it with a vicious smear campaign. From a professional or personal point of view, why would Liasson want to have anything to do with Fox News and its band of NPR haters who now relentlessly ambush NPR's chief on the street?
With his unhinged interview this week, Ailes has now raised the bar on NPR hating. Will Liasson now finally step forward and defend her colleagues from these insane attacks? And if not, should we conclude that Liasson agrees with Ailes' description of NPR as being home to Nazis and government hacks?
In other words, is there anything Fox News can do to demean and destroy NPR that Liasson will publicly object to?
Crossposted at County Fair, a Media Matters for America blog.