And National Public Radio is drawing controversy after apparently forcing the dismissal of an independent radio journalist over her participation in the protest at Washington, D.C.'s Freedom Plaza. The journalist, Lisa Simeone, hosts the show “World of Opera” and contributed to the show “Soundprint,” which are produced independently but air on NPR stations. But after learning that Simeone had attended the D.C. “Occupy” protest, NPR released a statement saying: “We of course take this issue very seriously.” Hours later, Simeone was fired from her job at “Soundprint.” In a statement, Simeone said: “I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen — the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly — on my own time in my own life. I'm not an NPR employee. I’m a freelancer. NPR doesn’t pay me… I’ve never brought a whiff of my political activities into the work I’ve done.”