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I upvoted, since it is lame to downvote just for an honest disagreement of opinion. I think NPR is seen as having a liberal slant. NPR has done some very in d

I upvoted, since it is lame to downvote just for an honest disagreement of opinion. I think NPR is seen as having a liberal slant. NPR has done some very in depth studies of this, counting liberal stories vs conservative, and determined that there was no bias. (I remember hearing this on NPR ;-). However, Republicans are convinced of this bias, and keep trying to cut their funding. I used to listen to NPR quite a bit on my commute, and I did think they were to the left. (I'm not saying that's a bad thing, mind you.) I find PBS news coverage more balanced, but a bit dry as well.

cookiecaper 14y ago
I consume NPR as my exclusive broadcast news source and I agree with you. NPR is more often balanced and interesting than the others, but there are times when the liberal bias is glaring. Even if all the stories broadcast are balanced, which is often not the case, there is bias even in story selection; why does NPR always have stories about how sad it is to defund the National Park Service instead of stories about how great it is to reduce the national debt and how much taxation and interest this will save in the long run? Because they'd rather pay more taxes and keep the Park Service alive. A recent example: in a snippet about some magazine's "First Lady Cookie Recipe Cook-off", the invited commentator was a writer for Jezebel.com, a feminist political blog, and while they ostensibly offered a chance for rebuttal, the Jezebel commentator spoke for about a minute and they read the three-words justification from the publisher: "People like it" as a response. One may ask, "Why did they give venue to this commentator, whose opinion is obviously skewed hard to one direction and outside the mainstream concept, and not at least give equal time to someone from Focus on the Family or something?" The answer is, "NPR likes Jezebel more, and wants to promote commentators that will give the audience the perception that this is a sexist/unequal thing".
- deleted 14y ago
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- danking00 14y ago
  This might be nit picky, but how is explicitly supporting nature preserves and National Parks a left-wing thing? You can advocate for tight purse strings while protecting natural beauty for everyone of current and future generations. I think your sentiment is a bit revealing of the divisiveness present in national political discourse. Supporting the park service shouldn't be seen as left or right, it should be seen as cost benefit analysis that a particular congressperson has made.
  - stephengillie 14y ago
    Supporting the park service shouldn't be seen as left or right, it should be seen as cost benefit analysis that a particular congressperson has made. In the present political climate, one of the political parties has (incubated?/)latched onto the generalized anti-government sentiment that came to a head last year around the Occupy movement. Since National Parks and nature preserves are handled under a government organization, they represent something which that one political party has made a priority to remove in this round of politicking.
jes5199 14y ago
it's so weird to me that people feel this way, when NPR is clearly much more Right-ward than me and my friends - but of course, I've lived in San Francisco, Oakland, and Portland. I wish there was a news source Left of me! It would be fascinating.
- tsotha 14y ago
  Surely there's a Pacifica station near you. They're pretty far to the left of plain-wrap NPR. Are you really to the left of KPFA?
  - jes5199 14y ago
    I have no idea, I didn't realize that different NPR stations had different political slants.
tsotha 14y ago
>I think NPR is seen as having a liberal slant. NPR has done some very in depth studies of this, counting liberal stories vs conservative, and determined that there was no bias. The NYT does the same thing, occasioning much laughter and derision from the right. We can't decide if they're being dishonest or if their frame of reference is such that they really believe they're being evenhanded. As a conservative, I'm convinced NPR is biased. I listen to it every day on the way to work, since it's still preferable to commercial radio (even donated a couple times), but there's no doubt in my mind whoever is calling the shots would love to see the president reelected. It's not so much how the news gets covered but what gets covered. If this week's DNC talking point is Bain Capital, NPR is covering decades-old events at Bain. If it's "War on Women" then we get to hear from hoary old feminists spouting questionable statistics. If Romney raised more money than Obama this month we get stories on Citizen United, but when Obama raises more money we get stories on just how motivated his supporters are. Benghazi was a big news story until it became apparent the ambassador died in an actual planned attack instead of a mob pissed off about a movie. Then the story disappeared completely. I don't have any problem with the way they cover stories, for the most part, though occasionally I wince at the way things are described. The big problem is the selection.
- stinkytaco 14y ago
  I'm always curious if perception of bias is due to bias in and of itself. Does simply hearing a story that is negative to your side automatically make one think "bia" whereas hearing one that accords with your views makes you think "good reporting." I'm not sure anyone's opinion of bias can be trusted, because in our own minds we're not biased.
  - tsotha 14y ago
    It isn't so much that hearing a story that's negative to my side makes me think "bias". It's that I hear predominately stories that are negative to my side and positive to the other. Also, pretty much every conservative you meet will tell you the same thing, so it's not just me.
    - 14y ago

cookiecaper 14y ago

I consume NPR as my exclusive broadcast news source and I agree with you. NPR is more often balanced and interesting than the others, but there are times when the liberal bias is glaring. Even if all the stories broadcast are balanced, which is often not the case, there is bias even in story selection; why does NPR always have stories about how sad it is to defund the National Park Service instead of stories about how great it is to reduce the national debt and how much taxation and interest this will save in the long run? Because they'd rather pay more taxes and keep the Park Service alive. A recent example: in a snippet about some magazine's "First Lady Cookie Recipe Cook-off", the invited commentator was a writer for Jezebel.com, a feminist political blog, and while they ostensibly offered a chance for rebuttal, the Jezebel commentator spoke for about a minute and they read the three-words justification from the publisher: "People like it" as a response. One may ask, "Why did they give venue to this commentator, whose opinion is obviously skewed hard to one direction and outside the mainstream concept, and not at least give equal time to someone from Focus on the Family or something?" The answer is, "NPR likes Jezebel more, and wants to promote commentators that will give the audience the perception that this is a sexist/unequal thing".

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
danking00 14y ago
This might be nit picky, but how is explicitly supporting nature preserves and National Parks a left-wing thing? You can advocate for tight purse strings while protecting natural beauty for everyone of current and future generations. I think your sentiment is a bit revealing of the divisiveness present in national political discourse. Supporting the park service shouldn't be seen as left or right, it should be seen as cost benefit analysis that a particular congressperson has made.
- stephengillie 14y ago
  Supporting the park service shouldn't be seen as left or right, it should be seen as cost benefit analysis that a particular congressperson has made. In the present political climate, one of the political parties has (incubated?/)latched onto the generalized anti-government sentiment that came to a head last year around the Occupy movement. Since National Parks and nature preserves are handled under a government organization, they represent something which that one political party has made a priority to remove in this round of politicking.

jes5199 14y ago

it's so weird to me that people feel this way, when NPR is clearly much more Right-ward than me and my friends - but of course, I've lived in San Francisco, Oakland, and Portland. I wish there was a news source Left of me! It would be fascinating.

tsotha 14y ago
Surely there's a Pacifica station near you. They're pretty far to the left of plain-wrap NPR. Are you really to the left of KPFA?
- jes5199 14y ago
  I have no idea, I didn't realize that different NPR stations had different political slants.

tsotha 14y ago

>I think NPR is seen as having a liberal slant. NPR has done some very in depth studies of this, counting liberal stories vs conservative, and determined that there was no bias. The NYT does the same thing, occasioning much laughter and derision from the right. We can't decide if they're being dishonest or if their frame of reference is such that they really believe they're being evenhanded. As a conservative, I'm convinced NPR is biased. I listen to it every day on the way to work, since it's still preferable to commercial radio (even donated a couple times), but there's no doubt in my mind whoever is calling the shots would love to see the president reelected. It's not so much how the news gets covered but what gets covered. If this week's DNC talking point is Bain Capital, NPR is covering decades-old events at Bain. If it's "War on Women" then we get to hear from hoary old feminists spouting questionable statistics. If Romney raised more money than Obama this month we get stories on Citizen United, but when Obama raises more money we get stories on just how motivated his supporters are. Benghazi was a big news story until it became apparent the ambassador died in an actual planned attack instead of a mob pissed off about a movie. Then the story disappeared completely. I don't have any problem with the way they cover stories, for the most part, though occasionally I wince at the way things are described. The big problem is the selection.

stinkytaco 14y ago
I'm always curious if perception of bias is due to bias in and of itself. Does simply hearing a story that is negative to your side automatically make one think "bia" whereas hearing one that accords with your views makes you think "good reporting." I'm not sure anyone's opinion of bias can be trusted, because in our own minds we're not biased.
- tsotha 14y ago
  It isn't so much that hearing a story that's negative to my side makes me think "bias". It's that I hear predominately stories that are negative to my side and positive to the other. Also, pretty much every conservative you meet will tell you the same thing, so it's not just me.
  - 14y ago