McCaskill criticizes NPR amid Dem silence

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said on Friday that if the controvsersy did not relate to Fox News, Democrats might be more vocal. Fox News has received positive press throughout the controversy for seeming to tolerate a wider swath of free speech than NPR. Fox offered Williams a larger analyst role after he was fired. 

“The silence of the left is stunning — if Fox was not involved, Speaker Pelosi and Henry Waxman would be in an uproar, preaching the sanctity of the First Amendment,” Upton said.

NPR explained Williams’s firing in a statement, saying his comments were “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

Also referenced in McCaskill’s tweet, NPR has asked its reporters not to attend a rally planned by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. That’s because NPR reporters, according to the outlet’s guidelines, are not supposed to participate in marches and rallies that NPR covers.