Liberal bias exposed, NPR must take notes on neutrality
National Public Radio has been under fire after a former senior editor exposed its liberal bias in a recent online essay. NPR could benefit by emulating C-SPAN’s practice of neutrality and non-partisanship.
It’s not so much that NPR tells listeners what to think about the issues; it’s that it so often tells listeners which issues to think about — especially controversial ones such as global warming or gender dysphoria, on which leftists seem to believe that their viewpoints are the only acceptable viewpoints.
A good example of CSPAN’s style of coverage that should inspire NPR: last Saturday’s coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives’ deliberations on a package of foreign aid bills.
For four tense hours, C-SPAN simply aimed its cameras at the scene and let the participants speak for themselves. There were helpful graphics informing viewers of what was under consideration and what would come next, but there was no anchor or panel of experts telling viewers what they should think.
COVERAGE STYLE
At stake were bills providing billions in emergency funds, including military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Proponents and opponents had their say on the bills and several proposed amendments.
For instance, an amendment added the Philippines to the list of eligible recipients in the aid package promoting the security of Taiwan and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region, where China has been aggressively expanding its influence.
Later, a defeated amendment, offered by MAGA Republicans taking their cues from Donald Trump, would have zeroed out all the funding in the bill to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. In the final vote on Ukraine aid, more Republicans voted against the amendment than for it.
Several House members from South Florida had their moments in front of C-SPAN’s cameras. Rep.
Mario Diaz-Balart, warning that appeasing Putin doesn’t work, shepherded the Ukraine aid bill through with solid support from Democrats.
When the House adjourned, C-SPAN wrapped up by interviewing House Speaker Mike Johnson and several other key participants, not with the “gotcha” attitude frequently evident on cable news but politely so as to hear what they had to say.
NPR EXPOSED
NPR needs to emulate C-SPAN’s steadfast neutrality in reporting on public affairs. Obviously, radio is a different medium, so NPR would not be expected to preempt its regular programming to cover a four-hour hearing that was punctuated with long periods of silence as senators and staffers milled about.
Granted, NPR did find time a few years ago to air long portions of the House’s attempts to impeach President Trump, but those hearings moved along at a faster pacer better suited for radio.
We conservatives noted that some of the comments that NPR personnel interjected during the impeachment hearings seemed to reflect the network’s liberal bias. That bias was recently thrust into the spotlight by a whistleblower, Uri Berliner. A 25-year employee at NPR, he wrote a column for an online website, The Free Press, citing research showing that NPR has been losing listeners, especially conservatives and independents.
Berliner also checked the party affiliations of NPR’s Washington D.C. editors and reporters and found that 87 of them are registered Democrats.
There were no Republicans. None. Despite Berliner’s efforts to help NPR be more evenhanded, the network suspended him for a week, and he subsequently resigned.
Of course, NPR’s listeners didn’t need a whistleblower to expose the network’s obvious liberal bias any more than a whistleblower was needed to expose the quality-control problems plaguing Boeing.
Meanwhile, NPR’s “listener supported” affiliates in Florida better hope that Gov. Ron DeSantis never discovers that a smattering of taxpayer support also helps expose Floridians to NPR bias that’s far more “woke” than Disney’s ever was.
Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point. It’s weekly, and it’s free. To subscribe, go to miamiherald .com/righttothepoint.