June 11, 2006
NPR Lovefest
I listen to two NPR podcasts: Morning Stories and On The Media. The way I see it, we are all helping to pay their bills, so we might as well sample their products. I don't ever expect anything conservative to get a fair hearing on any NPR program. But when I hear something like I heard today, it really sickens me. I understand that most of the media are biased, but NPR's blatancy is staggering.
A segment of On The Media was devoted to the Yearly Kos, the first annual meeting of liberal bloggers organized by the man who runs Daily Kos, the most popular fever swapy lefty blog on the web. The announcer was nearly orgasmic in her description of the scene, which alone would've been a turn-off. Then came the main course: Howard Dean, who put in an appearance for his cult followers. What followed was a five minute interview that could've been written by the DNC front office. If you doubt my facts, go find the podcast. It's pretty clear where these people stand.
As I've said many times before, it's time for NPR to be cut from the government apron strings. I know that most of their money comes from private sources. If this is the case, then they can continue to thrive without taking a piece of our tax dollars. Let them compete in the marketplace and see how long they last.
It's easy to be liberal when you're supported by other people's hard work.
Posted by Matthew at June 11, 2006 09:44 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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I've tried listening to NPR and it's really hard to bear. I can't stand their elitist hushed tones. The music they play between breaks is terrible.
Give me Dennis Prager or any of hosts on the SRN anyday.
Posted by: David![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.opaquelucidity.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 12, 2006 06:13 AM
OK, I'll Bite.
We can argue Liberal vs Conservative media bias all day long. Most people's minds are made up before they start that debate and nothing changes their minds either way. The issue here that you brought up was our so called hard earned taxpayer money going to fund a "Liberal" biased program.
NPR is organized as a not for profit corporation. According to their website between one to two percent of their annual budget comes from COMPETITIVE grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Nothing in this world stops you from starting a " CPR - Conservative Public Radio" foundation and applying for those same grants.
With the Republicans in congress spending money hand over fist I am sure the fraction of my tax payer dollars going to fund moronic republican initiatives (I refuse to call them conservative) is FAR greater than the % of my tax money going to a grant for NPR.
Your statement of "It's easy to be liberal when you're supported by other people's hard work." is laughable in the face of a $ 8.4 Trillion debt that so called "conservatives" have rung up in the past decade.
I listen to NPR because they offer more than the "sound bite of the hour". They were reporting from places like Darfur years before it became "fashionable" to talk about it. Sensationalism sells conservative talk shows but there is more to my world than just liberal bashing.
Posted by: Hash at June 12, 2006 05:50 PM
Being a member of the scientific community, my work is funded by other people's hard work (aka NIH).
I agree with Hash that NPR brings up issues weeks to months before other media organizations. I remember a story they did about Russian oppression of gay men, then read a story in the San Diego paper three weeks later.
As a scientist, I know there's bias in most things (even scientific published works). I like listening to NPR because there aren't commercials. I also read websites from both right and left to try and find the truth in between both sides.
P.S. I'm sick of hearing about the Yearly Kos myself.
Posted by: Jenn at June 13, 2006 12:04 PM
Science is a different issue. I happy to have my tax dollars going to science. I don't think the NPR breaking the story of Russian oppression of gay men to be Earth shattering. Now if they could break a story claiming there are aliens about to invade earth you might have something.
Posted by: Sly at June 14, 2006 09:28 AM