NPR firing a PR crisis?

Ok, so I'm going to bring it up because I love controversy. What do you all think about NPR's firing of Juan Williams over his comments on The O'Reilly Factor show on Fox's cable news channel?

So far, think that NPR has done little to address it. I've mainly heard criticism directed toward it for this action, but some people applauded it as well. I read the statement they released about why they fired Williams, but haven't seen many other PR measures. I didn't even see anything about it on their Twitter page (compared to other news outlets I follow who tweeted articles addressing it). The NPR ombudsman did publish a report noting that NPR handled the firing poorly (does this count as PR? It was a very good report, but longer than most people have the stamina/perseverance to read online I think).

It seems that major media outlets seem to use a strategy of ignoring PR issues when they arise (i.e. my group's case study of The New York Times) instead of addressing them. Is this a good strategy?

I think that strategy has its pros and cons. It could help the issue not become a bigger deal by keeping quiet about it, but it also means that other people have the opportunity to frame it and speak for it when the media outlet chooses to keep quiet about it.

This issue is really messy. It involves deeper layers of nationalism, identity, history, etc. But how could NPR have addressed this better?

It was also interesting to note that NPR cited its decision as based on its code of ethics. Perhaps this shows the importance of an organizational code of ethics. In times of controversy or questionable procedures, turning to the code of ethics may help a company chart a principled course it can stand on amid criticism.