NPR once again provides an unchallenged pulpit for GOP propaganda

[Orrex]

During this afternoon's All Things Considered, Senator Judd Gregg referred to the forthcoming expiration of the Bush tax cuts as a "tax hike," and he used the phrase "an NPR way of looking at it" when co-host Robert Siegel described the GOP's "we ain't gonna do shit" ultimatum as "holding a gun to the head" of Harry Reid et al. (I apologize because these two quotes are in fact paraphrases that I believe to be accurate. No misrepresentation of the underlying sentiment of either is intended.)

Despite having his journalistic credibility explicitly and directly challenged on-air, Siegel didn't respond to the characterization, nor did he point out the the "tax hike" is in fact the restoration of a scandalously low tax rate for the wealthiest Americans.

This is a common theme on NPR in general lately: let the GOP say anything at all, and don't dare to take issue with any of it.

In the run-up to the midterm elections, NPR gave Mitch McConnell plenty of unchallenged airtime during which the minority leader blasted the barely center-left policies of President Obama as extreme Liberal ideals out of touch with the mainstream. This hands-off policy by NPR contributed to the public perception that Obama is a dangerous Socialist in spite of demonstrable reality.

Way to go, NPR. I know that you're terrified of being saddled with the dreaded "Liberal Media" moniker, but since the GOP is going to make that accusation in any case, you might as well try to live up to it.

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131721684/revised-debt-cutting-plan-gets-first-nods-of-support">Link to story.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. I instantly reject as defective anything coming from anybody with the first name

judd.

[Orrex]

2. Say it ain't so!

[BulletproofLandshark]

3. Hey, Judd Hirsch isn't so bad.

[hughee99]

9. Yes, but Judd Nelson is.

[Orrex]

12. Indisputably.

[PVnRT]

22. Figures, that's what a neo-maxie zoom dweebie would say

[SpiralHawk]

19. Jugghead Gregg (R - Arrogant)

Did the Republicon Thing one cold NH morning and threw a sick widow from her home so he could jack the rent up on the property. Sooooo republicon.

[crim son]

4. Indeed. NPR has been going out of its way lately to figuratively kiss as many

GOP asses as possible. I quit donating years ago and in the last two years have limited my listening to a few minutes a weekday and A Prairie Home Companion on the weekend. It's full of propoganda and what alarms me is that many left-leaning listeners might not be aware of this, the same way that Glenn Beck's viewers believe every word out of his pouty little mouth.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

16. I quit donating as well a couple years ago - same reason

Before the "shellacking", they had some dumbass on their telling everyone (during 'Marketplace' in the afternoon) why he was gonna vote straight Republican. That was it. They did not counter the report with another person telling why they would vote straight Democratic. They just had the Republican on - no counter, no comments, no disagreement. Nothing. Just the straight "R" Republican.

NPR is increasingly as much a part of the propaganda arm of the Republican Party as the rest of the lame$tream media.

[crim son]

27. Agreed. The only difference between regular MSM and NPR

is that the MSM reports in sound bites and NPR drags the issue out to give it's slant more legitimacy.

[sfwriter]

5. This is why I quit donating...

...and then quit listening.

[Hardrada]

6. I haven't listened to NPR since 1983 or so.

[mrs_p]

7. It's been this way before the lead-up to the Iraq war

Or at least that is when I first noticed it.

[Chorophyll]

8. "All Things Considered" is NPR's worst culprit.

Remember this http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/01/29-8 ?

[Orrex]

10. Yes, sadly.

I heard that program, and I heard NPR's tepid apology/explanation for it after being criticized in email responses.

If memory serves, their basic position was "Zinn was a polarizing figure, so it was appropriate to hear from his supporters and his detractors."

But, as the CommonDreams piece correctly points out, no such "balance" was evident in NPR's fawning eulogies for William F. Buckley.

[Chorophyll]

23. Exactly.

And more and more, I find NPR falling into the corporate-news habit of just putting things out there uncritically (e.g. playing a tape of Mitch McConnell yammering with no context.) Gah.

[Orrex]

26. Au contraire! They're intensely critical of *Democrats*

In an interview today with outgoing Democratic Congressman Jim Oberstar, Robert Siegel asked very sharp questions and a series of pointed and on-target follow-ups. Oberstar handled it with grace and skill, but this is the same Robert Siegel who--just yesterday--couldn't come up with even the most tepid rejoinder, no matter how crazy and obviously false Judd Gregg's assertions were.

I don't object to hard questions posed to Democrats, but it would be nice to see that same journalistic alacrity focused on a Republican now and then.


In addition, after reporting today's House vote on extending the middle-class tax cuts--a statement of strength by House Democrats--NPR went directly to GOP Representative David Dreier for commentary.

When has NPR ever given a Democrat the first (and unchallenged) response to any Republican law or proposal? At most, they'll air a soundbyte from a Dem and then bookend it with half a dozen long statements by Repubs.


Again, way to go NPR.

[WCGreen]

11. I heard that and it was that conversation that made me feel despair...

[Hissyspit]

13. I heard it and instantly turned the radio off.

When I heard him say "NPR way of putting it," I said outloud "shut up, asshole," and turned on some music.

[glinda]

14. Welcome to the world of "donors rule" because the public has less $ and the Chamber steps in.

[StarsInHerHair]

15. make NPR hurt for siding with the NeoCons, that's the only

way open now. I notice the GOP is acting the same as any bully, the disturbing facts of the Smithsonian backing down because of GOP nonsense is a terrible mistake.

The GOP is testing the limits of society, seeing what they can get away with-using people's shock, surprise, disbelief that someone in power would be so uncouth.


Bill Donohue:"On Child Molestation

* In response to then-Congressman Mark Foley’s efforts to defend his abusive conduct as having been molested by his priest as a child, he said “Most 15-year-old teenage boys wouldn’t allow themselves to be molested” and asked then-Congressman Mark Foley, “So why did you?”

“Why did this young man not object earlier? Why did he allow the ‘abuse’ to continue until he was 18? The use of the quotes is deliberate: the charge against the former priest is not rape, but rubbing. While still objectionable, there is a glacial difference between being rubbed and raped.”
“No institution, religious or secular, has less of a problem with the issue of sexual abuse today than the Catholic Church.”"....
On “Jokes”

"* “I dealt with him earlier today on an MSNBC show, and I said we could hypothesize that there’d be a Columbia University pingpong team made of Asians, and somebody goes out there and says, ‘All gooks go home’….What about the gook jokes? I want to know, why don't you have a sense of humor about gook jokes?”"....


"Rick Santorum is going to give another "JFK was wrong" speech."

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/blog <---from here

Ane when they've finished testing those limits, the last 10 years have shown that the GOP will shatter & destroy those limits of polite society. Their culture war is destroying America, they're a nasty bunch of Archie Bunkers & they need to get boxed in & neutralized. Fast.

[hfojvt]

17. Do you think we should cut off their funding then?

To help balance the budget?

I don't think tax hike is inaccurate. I would just ask the question "for whom?" Because it is not a tax hike for most Americans, only those who make lots of money.

[Orrex]

20. It's not a "tax hike" at all

It's the removal of a reduction, restoring the tax rate to a prior level. It would be a hike if it imposed new taxes or raised taxes beyond that prior level.

To call it a tax hike is to use the GOP's propaganda terminology.

[Kablooie]

18. Actually, if they are to be truly unbiased they have to let both sides have their say.

Even if one side is totally reprehensible.

I also hate that the Fox new heroes also get a platform on NPR but they have a right to do so and NPR,
if they are not taking sides, has to allow them.

It's the same as allowing Nazis to have a parade.
It's horrible but it must be allowed if we are to keep our freedoms.

( I'm not saying that we ARE keeping our freedoms, mind. I'm just saying that it has to be allowed
IF we are to do so. In reality our freedoms are being gnawed to the bone by ignorant cretins like the
Republicans that are allowed to express opinions on NPR. )

[Orrex]

21. Obviously you're correct, but I've never heard them give Democrats an open mic in the same way

I've been listening since 1999, and in all that time I've never heard NPR sit back and let a parade of Democrats portray the issues of the day in whatever manner suited them; there is always either a(n overwhelmingly) counter-balancing GOP presence, or else NPR itself steps up to the plate and offers a real-time refutation of an asserted claim.

Sure, occasionally, they'll let some Left-leaning figure speak unchallenged, but these instances are truly rare.

It would be great if they were unbiased. However, every inch they pull themselves away from the Conservative propaganda mechanism earns them a mile's worth of condemnation for being "too Liberal."

[Kablooie]

24. On KPCC today the topic of NPR neutrality is being discussed.

http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2010/12/02/got-a-question-or-criticism-on-npr-policies-ask-aw/

Larry Mantle interviews Alicia Shepard, NPR ombudsman

A lot of talk about NPR bias.

[4_TN_TITANS]

25. The R's have already fired a shot across the bow of NPR...

by forcing a vote to defund it. Why wouldn't NPR be kissing their asses when they will be taking control of the House soon?

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/11/18/fox_ailes_npr