Americans have suspected, probably since the early 1980s when the last real “just the facts” journalism existed at the national level, that there is an overriding liberal bias in national “media.” We have now, again, had that suspicion confirmed.
Publicly funded National Public Radio, better known as NPR (or “National Proletariat Radio” as it has been referred to for years due to its Leftist bent) has suspended veteran editor Uri Berliner after he detailed his employer’s “absence of viewpoint diversity.”
Berliner authored an expose in the Free Press that “criticized NPR’s coverage of Russiagate, the COVID lab leak theory, Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop, embrace of the theory of systemic racism, and accused the organization of downplaying antisemitism following Oct. 7.” (Fox News, Brian Flood, April 16, 2024). The Berliner article further notes that “registration records in 2021 showed an astonishing disparity between Democrats and Republicans in the NPR newsroom” and also indicated an “open-minded spirit no longer exists” at NPR. (Id.)
In fact, Berliner’s research concluded that there are 87 Democrats and zero Republicans employed on the editorial staff at NPR’s Washington, D.C. office. This ideological uniformity and close mindedness of NPR’s Thought Police destroys viewpoint diversity and raises red flags about the network’s objectivity and evenly balanced viewpoint representation. Further, it exposes to the bright light of day the fraud at a taxpayer funded national radio station at which the flagship morning show is laughably entitled, ‘All Things Considered.’
In response, The Hill news publication wrote in an article entitled “NPR editor’s tell-all confirms what we already knew about the media,” that “Americans these days just don’t trust the news.” (The Hill, Roger Ream, 04/11/24). The Hill article pointedly asks:
“How did journalism get to this point? Many Americans feel the news today doesn’t treat both sides fairly. They think it reflects deep-seated liberal biases, puts its finger on the scale for progressive policies and looks down on those with traditional or conservative beliefs. They’re not wrong; Uri Berliner joins a growing list of journalists at mainstream publications … who have publicly lamented how the news has abandoned its journalistic values.” (Id.)
What is so concerning today is that most national “news” organizations appear far more interested in advancing Woke, progressive policies than they are in faithfully adhering to the time-honored values of journalism, including objective fact-gathering within a paradigm of fairness and balance.
The topics of media bias Berliner lists in his expose are all hugely significant—Russia Collusion, the COVID lab leak theory, Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop, embrace of the theory of systemic racism and downplaying antisemitism following Oct. 7. However, I want to present one unassailable example of the gravity and damage this kind of dishonest leftist orthodoxy practiced by mainstream “media” can do.
The Hunter Biden laptop.
What exacerbates the media bias, dishonesty and complicity is the fact that polling reflects a full 16% of Biden voters would have changed their minds and not voted for Joe Biden for president had they known of the laptop and its contents, news regarding which was completely frozen out by national media and social media just prior to the election. In an election decided by 42,000 votes in Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia, without this subject matter and viewpoint discrimination the electoral college and the 2020 election would have swung to Trump.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote that if he had to choose between “newspapers without a government” or “a government without newspapers” he would not hesitate to choose the former. With great respect to Mr. Jefferson, he could not have imagined what attempts to pass as “news” these days. We do know and we should reject it and demand that so-called news organizations actually, genuinely gather information and disseminate it impartially.
Subject matter honesty and impartiality are especially vital at news organizations like NPR and PBS and other public news outlets that are funded by our tax dollars.
The ‘honesty and impartiality’ principle should also apply to the broadcast news outlets—NBC, ABC and CBS—which utilize U.S. broadcast airways that are owned by the public for, originally, the purpose of providing unbiased information to Americans that is ‘in the public interest.’
Even with Jefferson’s brilliance and foresight, he could have never anticipated the rise of the willful and agenda-driven corruption of public information engaged in by NPR, CBS, NBC, and ABC. Their licenses should all be revoked “in the public interest.”
(Shreveport attorney, Royal Alexander, worked in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 8 years for two different Members of Congress from Louisiana. He has witnessed up close several Speaker races.)
