This
self-critical view from the inside is going around today. It's always good to see people reflecting on themselves in this way, and I hesitate to criticize it. Plenty of people will do that. I am just glad to see an attempt at honest self-reflection here.
I read this article this morning, and was pleased to see it. I thought of you when I read it, wondering what you and the rest of the Hall would think of it.
ReplyDeleteI also kept expecting to come to the paragraph where he explained his departure from NPR, and for whom he’s working now.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying the "Well, I never" response from his (soon to be ex-) colleagues.
ReplyDeleteIt must be 15 years or so since I last called up and donated a little money to a local NPR station, which had just run some kind of worthwhile show I've now forgotten. I rather gently told the callow young person on the line that I was deliberately and temporarily overlooking the station's leftist bias. She was surprised and concerned, convinced her station was neutral. I could only chuckle. People who've not only never heard an opposing viewpoint, but probably barely know anyone else who has, are wearing an effective set of blinders.
It’s carefully worded to give his boss an out if she doesn’t want to fire him, but it does read somewhat like a combined public letter of resignation and exit interview.
ReplyDeleteFrom the article:
ReplyDeleteIt’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding.
The first inkling I had of NPR bias came in its reporting of the 1984 election results, which is generally viewed as a Reagan landslide. I voted Third Party that year, so I had no bias tilting towards Republican or Democrat. In my judgement, there was not one iota of neutrality in NPR's reporting of the Regan victory. I detected a decided condescending sneer in the tone of the announcers reporting the Reagan victory. "Scolding" was not that far off as a description of the announcers' tone.
Scolding? Recall how Garrison Keillor became more and more scolding towards George W. Bush.
I stopped listening to NPR news decades ago. The author reports an increased leftward tilt in NPR news beginning with the Trump era. That may well be. His recounting the multiple bias errors of NPR reporting from 2016 on give a good summary of why many of us view MSM reporting with extreme skepticism. It is reassuring that even a "liberal" can see what is going on. I am reminded of Bari Weiss at the NYT.
I once contributed to the local NPR station, but no more. It used to have a lot of idiosyncratic programs and announcers that originated with the local station. Such as an Easter live performance of Willie Nelson and friends doing a Western Swing program with appropriate gospel songs. Still have the tape. Over the years, the local programs have been replaced with canned national programs.