Jonathan Storm: On the air, it's still true: Hold your tongue to hold your job

A respected professional makes remarks on national television that are perceived as bigoted. Soon thereafter, he's fired.

It's 1987, not 2010. L.A. Dodgers general manager Al Campanis, lifelong friend of Jackie Robinson, and a man who for years championed black players in the Major Leagues, gets booted for saying on Nightline that African Americans "may not have some of the necessities" to be team managers. Pointing to his distinguished career, many people said he was a victim of political correctness.

Twenty-seven years later, shrill pronouncements dominate cable news and the Sunday network talk shows, but recent events demonstrate that you still should take care when you're talking on the airwaves.

Two national journalists, both minorities, were fired this month. On Oct. 1, CNN sacked Rick Sanchez, a Cuban American, for calling The Daily Show's Jon Stewart a bigot, and making disparaging insinuations about Jews, in a radio interview. On Wednesday, NPR dumped Juan Williams, an African American, for saying on the Fox News Channel that he was afraid of Muslims on airplanes. Fox promptly made him a $2 million man, signing him to a contract that relieves him of the dilemma faced by many contemporary journalists - trying to seem objective one minute and opinionated the next.

Both dismissals seem at least slightly expedient. NPR has been unhappy for years about Williams' relationship with Fox News, saying that network journalists should avoid expressing personal opinions. The evening edition of Sanchez's show, Rick's List, was scheduled to be replaced by the new Parker Spitzer four days after he was fired Oct. 1.

Because of their platforms, however, and the groups that their remarks seemed to disparage, the reaction to their dismissals was completely different.

Liberal commentators on MSNBC chastised Sanchez halfheartedly, and Stewart, who had frequently lampooned Sanchez's breathless style, fired a final volley on his show at the reporter/anchor before going on CNN's Larry King Live and calling Sanchez's firing "absolute insanity."

But Williams' firing ignited a firestorm from the intensely loyal Fox News fan base, urged on by such Fox stalwarts as Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and the Fox and Friends morning cast. O'Reilly Monday sent a producer to collar NPR head Vivian Schiller for an interview as she walked down the street, a tactic he frequently uses for people who refuse to appear on his show.