"We need to have a conversation about NPR"

[Torvald Von Mansee]

I hope I got the right condescending "my way or the highway" vibe correct in the thread title. I should have found a way to add the word "problematic," too.

I think we can all agree I'm "left-of-center," though I would actually argue I'm more a la carte in my political and social views than anything, but even I find NPR very obviously liberal, and "problematic" (there I go!!). The only people I know who argue NPR is neutral are people I know for a fact to be liberal, sometimes flamingly so.

Here are some of my general impressions of NPR:

Coverage of "racial justice" 24/7. I'm not sure I really have to provide specific examples of this. You turn on your local NPR station, and you'll constantly hear about this. One thing you won't hear about, though: that poor white Appalachian kid who worked really, really hard and got rejected from every single Ivy or Ivy level college/university he applied to even though he may have been his high school valedictorian (and even if he was accepted, he didn't get a full ride on the basis of skin color).

Condescension - I remember listening to one segment where a correspondent goes into a house somewhere in Detroit to talk to the owner about her problems with her mortgage. She has some kind of gathering going on when he does this, and he says: "It's a party in here." Could you imagine him acting identically if it were an alumni meeting of an institution of which he was an alumnus? Another example I remember is when either PowerBall or MegaMillions had a huge jackpot, there was a story about it and the hosts wanted to make damn sure you knew THEY didn't play PB/MM.

Oh, I'm sure I could find more examples, but I think that's enough to get the ball rolling.

[Platapus]

If you don't like NPR, no one is forcing you to use that service.



Lots of other media choices out there.

[August]

I haven't supported or listened to them since they railroaded Garrison Keeler.

[Rockstar]

I sometimes still try to listen to their news and business broadcasts up until the point where it gets so lopsided my stereo looks like it might tip over. But I attribute much of that because most NPR big donations are from guilty rich white people. :D:03:

But I still enjoy the variety of music, comedies and those old time radio shows.

[mapuc]

A question from one outside USA, what is NPR, I can understand from reading the comments that it is a radiostation but what kind of station is it.

Markus

[Buddahaid]

National Public Radio.

[Rockstar]

A question from one outside USA, what is NPR, I can understand from reading the comments that it is a radiostation but what kind of station is it.

Markus


Its a publicly funded, non-profit radio broadcast organization that came about by an Act of Congress. I think for the most part it has some pretty good programs. Its biggest claim to fame however is when at one time or another it gets accused by liberals and conservatives of biased reporting.

[Onkel Neal]

I hope I got the right condescending "my way or the highway" vibe correct in the thread title. I should have found a way to add the word "problematic," too.

I think we can all agree I'm "left-of-center," though I would actually argue I'm more a la carte in my political and social views than anything, but even I find NPR very obviously liberal, and "problematic" (there I go!!). The only people I know who argue NPR is neutral are people I know for a fact to be liberal, sometimes flamingly so.

Here are some of my general impressions of NPR:

Coverage of "racial justice" 24/7. I'm not sure I really have to provide specific examples of this. You turn on your local NPR station, and you'll constantly hear about this. One thing you won't hear about, though: that poor white Appalachian kid who worked really, really hard and got rejected from every single Ivy or Ivy level college/university he applied to even though he may have been his high school valedictorian (and even if he was accepted, he didn't get a full ride on the basis of skin color).

Condescension - I remember listening to one segment where a correspondent goes into a house somewhere in Detroit to talk to the owner about her problems with her mortgage. She has some kind of gathering going on when he does this, and he says: "It's a party in here." Could you imagine him acting identically if it were an alumni meeting of an institution of which he was an alumnus? Another example I remember is when either PowerBall or MegaMillions had a huge jackpot, there was a story about it and the hosts wanted to make damn sure you knew THEY didn't play PB/MM.

Oh, I'm sure I could find more examples, but I think that's enough to get the ball rolling.

Thank you, sir. I share your observation. I have listened to NPR for years but they have gone down the toilet. They patronize the hell out of the left now, it's sickening. I can tune in and in the first 20 seconds, I can tell you exactly what their take on a story is. Those people are screwed up in the head.

[HW3]

The biggest problem with NPR is it is funded in part by the taxpayers of the U.S. Every time one party in congress tries to cut the funding of NPR, the other party screams that they are trying to cut the funds of a national treasure. So like it or not, you're paying for it.

[Platapus]

A question from one outside USA, what is NPR, I can understand from reading the comments that it is a radiostation but what kind of station is it.

Markus


Sorry that you don't have access to Wikipedia in your country.

[mapuc]

Sorry that you don't have access to Wikipedia in your country.

I have fully access to wiki. But sometimes I like to read it from an ordinary person living in the country where it is.
Sometimes it gives me more than just read info on wiki.

NPR has also their own homepage.

Markus

[3catcircus]

The biggest problem with NPR is it is funded in part by the taxpayers of the U.S. Every time one party in congress tries to cut the funding of NPR, the other party screams that they are trying to cut the funds of a national treasure. So like it or not, you're paying for it.


I don't necessarily have a problem with taxpayer funded radio. I don't have a problem with radio with a particular political bent.



I think many of us have a problem with our taxes paying for radio with a strongly liberal bent when they refuse to acknowledge that they have a strongly liberal bent.


But - it is to be expected since many many US media organizations that have a strong liberal bias aren't able to recognize that they do.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

People were talking about NPR's public funding. From what I've seen, it would seem it's about 11 percent a year or so from the federal government. Up until 1983, it was mostly federally funded, but Reagan cut off most of its funding.

Reagan failed to kill it :D

[Platapus]

"NPR has been accused of displaying both liberal bias, as alleged in work such as a UCLA and University of Missouri study of Morning Edition, and conservative bias, including criticism of alleged reliance on conservative think-tanks."


From the wiki site. I guess if both sides are claiming biases, it not too bad. :)

[Onkel Neal]

I don't necessarily have a problem with taxpayer funded radio. I don't have a problem with radio with a particular political bent.


I think many of us have a problem with our taxes paying for radio with a strongly liberal bent when they refuse to acknowledge that they have a strongly liberal bent.

.

Thank you. I admire how effortlessly you cut through the BS. :up:

Every time they have a fundraiser and they try to win me over by saying "unbiased news you can trust" I throw up.

[3catcircus]

Thank you. I admire how effortlessly you cut through the BS. :up:

Every time they have a fundraiser and they try to win me over by saying "unbiased news you can trust" I throw up.

I'll have to see if I can dig it up - someone did an animated infographic that illustrated that the average amount that the center-right moved further right is a lot less than the average amount that the center-left moved further left, so when the left claims they're not biased, they genuinely believe they're center-left.

No good way to convince them that their far left positions really are far left when they've been conditioned to believe in their own righteousness...

I suspect that many of those across the pond would consider our far left to be moderate, which only further encourages them.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Thank you. I admire how effortlessly you cut through the BS. :up:

Every time they have a fundraiser and they try to win me over by saying "unbiased news you can trust" I throw up.

As someone who would be qualified as liberal by most of you, I agree.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Thread rez!!


Comment: NPR thought it was important to have a reporter "on the scene" in Paris when abortion was guaranteed in the French constitution on the Day of the Woman. Her triumphal tone of reporting was absolutely inappropriate for an ostensibly neutral news source.

[Sean C]

I've been saying for a while now that actual news is pretty much dead. All that remains are editorials and opinion pieces. Most of it is barely factual. Some of it is outright lies.


These days I have to consult multiple news broadcasts, try to discern what is consistent between them and then try to filter from that what is actual fact and what is speculation.


Hell, sometimes I get better reporting from comedy talk shows. That's what we've come to.


Idiocracy.

[Otto Harkaman]

^ so true