Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a phone call made today by NPR media relations manager Anna Christopher to Jeff Field, the Catholic League’s director of communications:
Earlier today, I wrote a news release calling into question NPR’s double standard: Juan Williams gets fired for making an allegedly anti-Muslim remark, but no one has ever gotten fired from NPR for its anti-Catholic fare. I listed several explicit examples, and at the end of the release, I asked those on our e-mail list to contact Anna Christopher.
Christopher called Jeff Field to complain about our news release. She accused us of “cherry-picking” instances of NPR’s anti-Catholic programming, adding that our “heated” news release resulted in a large amount of “mean-spirited” e-mails.
We didn’t “cherry-pick” anything: I simply went to our files and cited a few examples of NPR’s intolerance of Catholicism. The news release, as anyone can see [click here], was hardly “heated.” Moreover, I am not responsible for any allegedly “mean-spirited” e-mails she received.
Talk about thin-skinned. Why is it that NPR can dish it out, but can’t take it? If it doesn’t want Catholics complaining, then lay off us. And while they’re at it, they might think about leveling the playing field when it comes to employee “misconduct.”
Contact Anna Christopher: achristopher@npr.org
