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> Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultura
by smithkl42 1y ago
> Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said.
If that was true, losing the CPB would be a travesty. But as a loyal NPR listener for decades, I've found their stuff lately to be unlistenable. It's Fox, but for the Left, and with a bit more of an intellectual spin. What makes it most annoying is their utter blindness to their own bias. The Fox hosts know that they're taking one side of a story. I've never gotten the impression that any of the NPR hosts are even that self-aware.
- setsewerd 1y agoYeah I've been bummed by how far NPR has swerved leftward, especially since 2016. Even ten years ago I liked tuning in because it was quality journalism that still made an honest effort to cover multiple sides of an issue, even if the topics they chose were primarily "liberal" topics. But yeah, now they seem just as tribal as Fox.
- buerkle 1y agoNot every side deserves to be covered for each story. This is the problem with major media today, they give equal opportunity to people that have no idea what they are talking about. It's like one side says 2+2=4, the other 2+2=5, and media gives them equal air time.
- atonse 1y agoCan you point me to a good source that actually gives equal opportunity to multiple sides of a story? Because I rarely see that (regardless of which side), the whole reason why I subscribe to things like ground.news.
- colechristensen 1y agoAxios does a pretty solid job of covering point and counterpoint on their stories not bias towards "equality" for different perspectives, but actually covering fully the different angles of a story. See yourself in their article from a couple of weeks ago about the federal funding cut of CPB. https://www.axios.com/2025/07/18/npr-pbs-funding-senate https://www.axios.com/2025/07/18/npr-pbs-funding-senate
- marsupial 1y ago> Ahead of Trump's second term, Project 2025 wrote in a detailed memo foreshadowing the president's agenda ways the administration could pull funding for public broadcasters. The Trump administration started taking actions to scrutinize public broadcasters shortly thereafter. There's no mention of why they want to defund CPB beyond "Trump administration efforts to strip funding." Muh Project 2025 is referenced briefly, but the rationale isn't explored. They provide quotes from those opposed "unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions,... gutting" without the For Side saying anything e.g. that this is no longer necessary due to media landscape. It doesn't consider whether it's necessary and while saying it will be a loss to rural news never looks at the fact it's used less and less there, whether gap will be filled and in part has. It centers the negative consequences, it has very limited perspective by supporters and centrally frames Project 2025 despite questionable connection. There's clearly a tilt, but it performs neutrality that less critical might accept. "The choice of what to include and what to leave out, what to emphasize and what to downplay, inevitably reflects a point of view."
- spencerflem 1y agolol, I stopped caring about them because they weren’t willing to say anything about Gaza and bent over backwards to excuse what Trump was doing. If center-right NPR is too liberal I shudder to think of your politics
- setsewerd 1y agoMany major establishment news orgs are similarly guilty of a heavy pro-Israel bias (WSJ and NYT as other examples), but I would argue this is more on the establishment vs independent spectrum, rather than the left vs right spectrum. Equating a for-profit news corporation's politics with how they handle a singular topic like Gaza would be a bit reductive.
- spencerflem 1y agoThe one that gave up the game for me most re: mainstream liberal media was how often NYT ran the Claudine Gay story (front page ten consecutive days). The entire controversy was completely manufactured as a right wing cancel culture operation and the New York Times laundered it under their ‘liberal’ reputation. NPR is better than most as their are not owned privately by a billionaire or collectively by billionaire shareholders. But they play the “both sides are reasonable” game annoyingly often with every issue, as if there is some sort of sensible middle ground to be reached somewhere between Obama and Hitler. Seeing Gaza in particular covered this way - one the most appalling human rights catastrophes of my lifetime aided and funded by my own government - was too much for me to stomach.
- nabwodahs 1y agoCan you cite specific examples of this "bias?"
- photonthug 1y agoAs linked elsewhere in this thread, see Uri Berliner on the subject https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-tru...
- TimorousBestie 1y agoHere’s Fox reporting on NPR’s bias: https://www.foxnews.com/media/npr-head-asks-critics-show-me-story-proves-liberal-bias-amid-defunding-threats https://www.foxnews.com/media/npr-head-asks-critics-show-me-... As you can see, it’s mostly gotcha quotes and unfair glosses. For example: > NPR also called America’s interstate highways racist. I did not know our highways were racist. I thought they were concrete, but not according to NPR. Of course, it’s a historical fact that many minority neighborhoods were bulldozed to make room for interstate highway development, among them Cincinnati, OH and St. Louis, MO. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-freeways-flattened-black-neighborhoods-nationwide-2021-05-25/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-freeways-flattened-black... But of course this history that actually happened is interpreted as Reuters’ liberal bias. There’s no winning this.
- specialist 1y agoHave you read Robert Caro's The Power Broker? It's a biography of Robert Moses.
- dizlexic 1y agoRobert Moses did not build the USA highway system. Robert Moses was racist. What was done to some communities was messed up. The highway system isn't racist.
- shakes_mcjunkie 1y ago
- linotype 1y agoWell, congratulations, now there won’t even be that, but Fox will persist.
- lenkite 1y agoIs Fox news government funded ?
- dpkirchner 1y agoI don't agree -- NPR is about as center-right as it's possible to be. Just look at the efforts they've made to normalize Trump, it's way over the top.
- smithkl42 1y agoWhat I said about NPR might apply to some of their listeners as well: "What makes it most annoying is their utter blindness to their own bias."
- breakyerself 1y agoThe right in the US is so far right that centrism looks like communism to some people. NPR and PBS are far more influenced by their corporate donors than they are the political leanings of their audience.
- treyd 1y agoAnd nonetheless it's an important voice to have since it will leave a void in the media landscape to be filled by opportunists.
- dpkirchner 1y agoOh, I agree, don't get me wrong. I'm just kinda shocked people think it is leftist. It's like they have no idea what the term means (it's not "left of my personal beliefs").
- 1234letshaveatw 1y agoSo true, it is so telling that everyone complaining about it is a conservative...
- nemomarx 1y agoI've seen leftist complaints about NPR - they take corporate sponsorships after all
- leviathant 1y ago> It's Fox, but for the Left There was a distinct shift to the right at NPR when Obama took office, and by the time he took his second term, NPR News' social media was posting clickbait trash instead of real headlines. "The liberal media" is an irrational boogeyman used to whip ownership in line. Everyone who complains about "bias in the media" is arguing in bad faith while they continue to turn a blind eye to the overwhelmingly dominant conservative slant of the 21st century American media.
- MathMonkeyMan 1y agosmithkl42 says that NPR is leftward, and you say that it's rightward. Maybe we're all operating from different baselines.
- leviathant 1y agoNo. If that's what you took from my post, I've miscommunicated. NPR has turned rightward. The entertainment shows are, without a doubt, liberal, on the American political spectrum. There are countless discussions and papers about the role empathy plays in successful entertainment. The editorial content has turned rightward - and the leadership has turned rightward. This has been ongoing for at least two decades, probably longer, but I wasn't paying attention at that level when I was under 20.
- dh2022 1y agoNPR was not rightward this past election, for sure. I don’t think NPR missed to report a single Kamala endorsement last fall.
- aspenmayer 1y agoI thought they meant NPR was generally neoliberal left of center, and their coverage has perhaps moved toward the center post-Obama while still being left of it.
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- nullc 1y agoThere is a surprising amount of influence in terms of what stations you listen to, not just due to the local programming but due to their choice of which national programming they air.
- thisisit 1y agoI am always confused by this narrative. People extolling the virtues of old media organization as if those people weren't toeing the government line and were cold robots with no bias. It is the rise of media org like Fox news where these kinds of comments have started surfacing. Because for Fox news is more commentary than facts. And then the narrative trick from Fox and other conservative media outlets have constantly pushed an agenda - "others do it too". It has led to comments like these and this is fine. > It's Fox, but for the Left But then when you start adding stuff like this: > and with a bit more of an intellectual spin. What makes it most annoying is their utter blindness to their own bias. The Fox hosts know that they're taking one side of a story. I've never gotten the impression that any of the NPR hosts are even that self-aware. It becomes clear you are regurgitating RW talking points and both side-ism. And because Fox is worse, the only saving argument is that Fox at least knows their bias. God help this country if this is level of intellectual spin people can give to reinforce their points.
- lazyeye 1y agoAnd you are clearly regurgitating left-wing talking points etc.....
- triceratops 1y agoIf Fox keeps moving further and further right, even centric stuff starts sounding far left.
- testing22321 1y ago> If that was true, losing the CPB would be a travesty. America and many Americans have lost their way, and have always struggled to get perspective on a topic. As out outsider looking in, let me be clear. This IS a travesty, and will be a notable mark in the history books when people look back in 50 or 100 years and ask “how did it happen?”
- fireflash38 1y agoConsidering that reporting factual information gets blamed as left wing bullshit... I don't think your post has merit. See: COVID, vaccines, climate change. You have one side explicitly denying what we can do with the scientific method and decades of peer reviewed research, and then blaming anyone who contradicts them as biased sources. Comparing to Fox News is even more ridiculous. You say that them knowing they're spouting bullshit is better than the people not spouting bullshit at all? Cmon now. Take the group that is actually trying to engage in good faith rather than the one that is knowingly producing crap. Maybe this is why people voted for Trump: he told them what he is, and they liked the honesty.
- johnsmith1840 1y agoThis is one point that has irked me. The real narrative problem is that relying on "science" as truth. Science has been weaponized by all sides it is incredivly easy to manipulate research into a narrative. But the left's media empire is by far the most effective at doing this and with heavy left bias in academia it's a corrupt system. Data has a priority say in everything we do but dropping context and information then calling everyone dumb for not "trusting the science" is propoganda. The response of the left is to simply call everyone who denies today's science as ignorant. This is how you get climate deniers. Weaponize science and unsuprisingly you get countless people who stop believing ANY politically angled research. Not sure how much you've spent in academia but modern science is nasty buissness. Incentive structures are completely warped.
- dionian 1y agoi dont think they are blind to their own bias, i think they are championing their own values, but that's the problem.