NPR fired Juan Williams. Vivian Schiller (CEO of NPR) said about this later that he had been fired because he had stated an opinion about something and that such an action was incompatible with his job description as a "news analyst."
Well, pilgrims, I used to be the boss of a whole lot of analysts so I thought a lot about the nature of analytic work. In the end my opinion was that analysis is opinion with regard to the meaning of facts rather than "analysis of facts" whatever that means. This latter version is NPR's definition as stated by Schiller. Her definition implies a mathematically logical application of rules to arrive at an "objective" understanding of truth.
"News" people" now routinely express opinions with regard to the material that comes in over the internet or that flows across the teleprompter. News analysts are commentators, all of them. Their process of formulating an opinion (analysis) is no different than the process used by reporters in the field to choose the material they report and what sort of "write up" or spin to put on it.
In my opinion with regard to these facts, Williams was fired for associating with Fox News, the ideological enemy of NPR. All else in nonsense. pl
