Fired NPR CEO Rips Sting Artists, Admits Rest of Establishment is 'Terrified'

Fired NPR CEO Vivian Schiller spoke Tuesday at the Paley Center for Media in New York and lashed out at the videographers who exposed the bigotry in her organization, calling the undercover sting an "abomination." She admitted the rest of the establishment is "terrified" of being the next NPR, Planned Parenthood or ACORN...and speculated that the goal of these stings is to instill fear. "It's terrifying," Schiller said, that's their "objective."

PAT MITCHELL, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA: These hidden video cameras, I mean, how concerned are you about this, and in particular the way this one has gone down and continues to be?

VIVIAN SCHILLER, FIRED NPR CEO: Extremely concerned. I think it's an abomination. I mean, this kind of tactic -- for somebody to attach the word, some are calling this a form of journalism, this is not journalism. You don't ensnare people; you don't entrap people with hidden cameras; you don't pretend to be somebody who you're not. This is, I don't know what this is, but it's got nothing to do with anything that resembles the journalism that I know. And it's very troubling, it's very troubling and I think, I worry in particular about the impact it will have I think because of this latest ACORN and Planned Parenthood had come before this, I think with this NPR sting, I don't know what else to call it, uh, I think that now everybody that I have talked to in the media is on the lookout thinking, "Who's next? Are we next?" And I worry about how that will have an impact on people's behavior because they are in fear that every conversation, everything they do might be, you know, not what it appears to be. It's terrifying.

MITCHELL: Well is that part of the objective actually?

SCHILLER: Of course. I mean, I don't know. I can't possibly put myself in their heads. I don't really want to try. But I would speculate that that would be the case.