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Flap’s Links and Comments for March 9th on 09:02

March 9, 2011 /

These are my links for March 9th from 09:02 to 09:16:

  • Poll Watch: 64% of Americans see U.S. on wrong track – Americans, who are suffering from high gasoline prices, believe the United States is on the wrong track by a large margin, presenting a fresh challenge for President Barack Obama, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday.
    The proportion of Americans who believe the country is on the right track dropped 7 points in the past month to 31 percent, and 64 percent think the country is on the wrong track.

    It was the highest number of people in an Ipsos poll who believe the country is going in the wrong direction since Obama took office in January 2009.

  • NPR exec Ron Schiller leaving immediately; will not join Aspen Institute – NPR executive Ron Schiller already accepted another job and was expected to leave the network in May. But Schiller's incendiary comments caught on a hidden camera, and released Tuesday morning, will speed up that departure. [See update]

    Schiller–who was both president of the NPR foundation and a senior vice president for development–announced Tuesday night that he's leaving NPR immediately and reflected on his controversial comments directed at Republicans and the Tea Party movement.

    "While the meeting I participated in turned out to be a ruse, I made statements during the course of the meeting that are counter to NPR's values and also not reflective of my own beliefs," Schiller said in a statement. "I offer my sincere apology to those I offended. I resigned from NPR, previously effective May 6th, to accept another job. In an effort to put this unfortunate matter behind us, NPR and I have agreed that my resignation is effective today."

    NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller—who's not related to the outgoing executive—said in a statement that "Ron Schiller's remarks are contrary to what NPR stands for and deeply distressing to reporters, editors and others who bring fairness, civility and respect for a wide variety of viewpoints to their work everyday." (Vivian Schiller also resigned shortly after this post went up).

    Update: Ron Schiller will not be joining the Aspen Institute as planned, according to a spokesman for the organization. "Ron Schiller has informed us that, in light of the controversy surrounding his recent statements, he does not feel that it's in the best interests of the Aspen Institute for him to come work here," the spokesman said in a statement to The Cutline.

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    He can kiss his fundraising career good bye.

  • NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Resigns After Board Decides She Should Go – NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned, NPR just announced.

    This follows yesterday's news that then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was videotaped slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding during a lunch with men posing as members of a Muslim organization (they were working with political activist James O'Keefe on a "sting.")

    Vivian Schiller quickly condemned Ron Schiller's comments, and he moved up an already-announced decision to leave NPR and resigned effective immediately. But Ron Schiller's gaffe followed last fall's dismissal of NPR political analyst Juan Williams, for which Vivian Schiller came under harsh criticism and NPR's top news executive, Ellen Weiss, resigned.

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    Not going to have to worry about that federal funding now because there will be NONE.