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The uproar surrounding National Public Radio's decision to terminate Juan Williams' contract is partly a reflection of changing standards in journalism and an evolving understanding of the line between news analysis and commentary, according to one former media insider.

"This is the problem that we've got now," former CNN Washington Bureau Chief Frank Sesno said Friday on CNN's "American Morning."

"The coin of the realm -- what television and radio and the blogs are all about is opinion. And there's this quaint notion that reporters can be detached and separate, and they have no opinion and they're not going to express it. ... But that's not the way the world works anymore."

Sesno said there is a "gigantic collision between what NPR is trying to hold up and what is actually happening out there, and Juan's a victim of it."

NPR, he said, is trying to make a distinction between analysis and news commentary, and "the line is getting harder and harder to identify."

"I gotta be careful; I have to qualify everything 50 times," O'Reilly said. "You know what, Juan? I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not doing it anymore. I will say Muslim terrorists, but I'm not going to say -- oooh! -- it's only a few, it's only a tiny bit. It's not, Juan. It's whole nations -- Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, whole nations."

An article on NPR's website said Williams' job as an analyst on the "largely conservative and often contentious prime time talk shows of Fox News has long been a sore point with NPR News executives."

Williams responded with a comment posted on FoxNews.com that called his dismissal "a chilling assault on free speech."

Schiller asserted Williams' "integrity as a news analyst has been undermined by the fact that he has expressed these very divisive views and those two things are not compatible.

"This is not a reflection on his comments, this is not a debate," she said. "Juan feels the way he feels. That is not for me to pass judgment on.

Schiller claimed the move does not mean NPR is averse to airing controversial opinions.

"Nonsense," she said. "We have people taking controversial opinions on our air all the time. ... The difference is those words generally come out of the mouths of the people we are interviewing; they don't come out of the mouths of our reporters or our news analysts."

Ailes said in a written statement. "He's an honest man whose freedom of speech is protected by Fox News on a daily basis."

Williams said NPR had insisted that he not identify himself there as an NPR journalist.

"This is an outrageous violation of journalistic standards and ethics by management that has no use for a diversity of opinion, ideas or a diversity of staff. This is evidence of one-party rule and one-sided thinking at NPR that leads to enforced ideology, speech and writing. It leads to people, especially journalists, being sent to the gulag for raising the wrong questions and displaying independence of thought."

"If NPR is unable to tolerate an honest debate about an issue as important as Islamic terrorism, then it's time for 'National Public Radio' to become 'National Private Radio,' " Palin said in a Facebook posting Thursday. "It's time for Congress to defund this organization."

Palin, Huckabee and Gingrich are all paid Fox contributors.

Schiller noted that federal funding makes up only 1 percent to 2 percent of its budget, with most of its financial support coming from station fees, sponsorships and grants.

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