How Bob Edwards’ removal as host of Morning Edition led to the firing of the head of Georgia Public Radio.
Fired for posting on a listserv, the radio head sued GPB for violating his first amendment rights.
Bob Edwards, the host of NPR’s Morning Edition for almost 25 years, has passed away at age 76, according to the network.
NPR removed him as anchor in favor of two younger co-hosts in 2004 sparking extensive listener complaints that reverberated to the affiliate level.
Charles Miller, the then head of Georgia Public Radio criticized NPR’s handling of the situation on a listserv for public radio station managers and was forced to resign the next day, according to a lawsuit filed in 2006.
Miller sued GPB for violating his first amendment rights. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount and without GPB filing any Answer and Defenses to Miller’s complaint.
Spiral of Silence
“Public radio professionals posted numerous e-mails on PUBRADIO regarding Mr. Edwards’ termination, most of which were critical of or expressed frustration with same.”
Miller’s comments, posted on April 13th evoked the communication theory Spiral of Silence.
“A communication theory, The Spiral of Silence — one way top down managing a message — certainly applies.”
“There’s concern about the level of Edwards’ engagement with the product and press comments. Fair enough. But what about the steam rolling of the Spiral of Silence. Obviously most stations that make investments in fees and dues are low on the totem pole. Embedded in theory: the NPR board and upper management remail silent. Where’s the creativity? They missed a wonderful opportunity to celebrate 25 years of ME. An interconnect aimed at clarifying muddy issues, answering questions, preparing our spin lines…. might help us along.”
The next day Miller was called into GPB Executive Director Jim Lyle’s office.
“Mr. Lyle was holding a copy of Plaintiff’s e-mail posting on PUBRADIO, and he told Plaintiff that he was troubled by Plaintiff’s participation in PUBRADIO.
“Mr. Lyle gave Plaintiff two choices — resign or be fired.”
The 2004 internet was slower and legacy media, like radio, was still dominant over new forms of communication. They protected their gatekeeping function extensively.
GPB Executive Director Jim Lyle first arrived at the agency in 1999 as deputy to its new head, state auditor Claude Vickers. The new team was appointed after Gov. Roy Barnes demanded the resignations of the network’s head and state board following a damaging audit and deficit at the network.
The previous head of its board noted that the cost overruns were state leaders’ own doing, “We moved from a double-wide to a mansion, but the state didn’t want to increase our operating budget. Worse yet, two powerful legislators dinged GPTV at the clip of $250,000 each because they didn’t like the way the ‘Georgia Lawmakers’ program was being produced.”
Lyle retired in the summer of 2004 and was succeeded by Nancy Hall, the network’s Director of External Affairs. In 2010 Teya Ryan was appointed CEO on the urging of Gov. Sonny Perdue. Her tenure included an expansion into Atlanta radio that sparked its own public backlash, one GPB managed with strict, top-down messaging.
Ryan’s efforts to please lawmakers and business leaders were extensive, but controversy and political interference continued, including another budget cut last year.
Georgia’s leaders always seem to aspire to have a public broadcaster on par with those in New York or Boston but without any muckraking or challenges to their power.
The state settled with Miller and never disputed his complaint.
Bob Edwards went on to host a show on satellite radio. Today he’d probably start a podcast.
