and robert zelnick, a former correspondent for abc news. he's now a professor of journalism at boston university's college of communication. and a research fellow at the hoover institution. callie crossley, start with npr's position here. do they have a case to make in separating themselves from one of their own news analysts like this? how do you weigh it out? >> well, they do have a case to make but let's be clear. this latest incident was really not the reason for the firing. i mean i think they expressed it by saying there was a pattern. he had gotten in trouble about a year ago and there was a great public hue and cry then about language used and opinion expressed. and so i think this was just a last straw for npr. and this was their response. and of course they have the right to fire him for that they have a set of standards and rules. i have to say that, you know, he's been himself for quite some time so he has been pressing up against those rules and standards for some time as well. i think it just got to the point of being unbearab