When he made the offending remark he was on fox being a commentator. Is it part of the reporter's code of ethics that he may not express his feelings publicly? The drama isn't staged, it is NPR attempting to uphold a standard of PCness that is biting it in the ass. As for why you should care, you should care that across the board our media is nigh worthless and people can barely hold a civil conversation anymore. We need to be able to talk to each other even when we disagree. That Williams was on O'Reilley's show doesn't mean that he buys into O'R's ideas, but rather that he is willing to talk to him and see if they can find common ground, build trust, begin a real conversation. I have a lot of respect for this approach.

I'm an idiot - confused Juan Gonzalez with Juan Williams...
the other stuff is right on

I wanted to follow up on why I thought this was staged drama.
First, Williams has been through this before with NPR.
NPR changed his position from staff correspondent to news analyst as a consultant because of opinions he made public.
In this way, Williams knew he was moving away from NPR’s journalist standards and had received a warning of sorts.
The following exchange between Vivian Schiller and Williams was personal and struck me as particularly unprofessional.
You can read more hear: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2611931/posts

If other news sources wanted to give the back and forth a positive framework, I believe there would be more discussion on what exactly journalist standards are and why we should hold journalists to this standard. It’s actually a great teachable moment about media and its role. Instead the argument focused on the personal. That’s what turns me off from it and makes me feel it might have been staged (and I use that word very loosely). Maybe I'm too suspicious but what great drama to immediately receive a position from Fox.

My starting point is actually that I think your challenge is generally shared with others. That’s the conversation that I would like to see explored. The news coverage that I’ve seen seems more about a drama with two sides and viewers can root for one side or the other. I see it as a horse race – with multiple participants including O’Reilly’s appearance on the View.
For me a more productive conversation would be to ask the questions we’re struggling with – is objectivity possible? I believe it’s not – so for me the following question is when and how is it appropriate to be subjective? Should reporters be allowed to be commentators? To me it’s strange given the code – Williams does regularly appear in situations that demand that he comment on events. Why did NPR give him permission to appear on talk news shows? What was he supposed to say? Does commenting on news stories jeopardize a reporter’s ability to be perceived as fair and objective reporters? I think your challenge is shared.
Although I will confess – I’m confused when you say: And why is it important for a reporter not to express emotions when they are on stage but not in the process of reporting. As I understand it, reporters are not supposed to be overtly emotional or subjective when reporting the news.
On a local level – there’s a highly regarded reporter whose beat is education. In my opinion he has made too many positive comments about a particular school. In my eyes, there are potential concerns about this school. His over the top glowing positive comments color my view of all his reporting. I can’t help it. He’s lost creditability with me. In comparison, I can see how I William’s comments caused him to lose creditability as a reporter but that doesn’t seem to be the thrust of the story as reported in the news. Maybe I’m being stubborn here.