[CanYoAssDigIt] Fwd: CPB Turns to NPR as Latest "Bias" Target

Anybody that's been reading my e-mails is aware that I feel that NPR
has already caved to right wing pressure, and is decidedly
center-right in coverage of the news (a perspective I arrived at
through my consumption of NPR's products, confirmed through rigorous
analysis by FAIR). Many of you disagree with me.

Regardless of our difference of opinions about what has happened in
the past, right wing pressure is being turned up now (see attached).
Is there any doubt that without attempts to preserve what is left, it
will only get worse? Is anybody with me on this?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: FAIR <fair@fair.org>
Date: May 17, 2005 12:04 PM
Subject: CPB Turns to NPR as Latest "Bias" Target
To: Matt Love <matt.mattlove1@gmail.com>

FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2516

ACTION ALERT:
CPB Turns to NPR as Latest "Bias" Target
Right-wing group may study "pro-Arab" slant

May 17, 2005

According to a May 16 New York Times report, the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting (CPB) is considering "a study on whether NPR's
Middle East coverage was more favorable to Arabs than to
Israelis"--further evidence that the agency intends to police public
media for content it deems too "liberal."

The Times reported that two of the CPB board members had expressed
concern over the alleged bias of the public radio network's reporting.
Gay Hart Gaines, formerly a Republican fundraiser, "talked about the
need to change programming in light of a conversation she had had with
a taxi driver about his listening habits." Her colleague on the CPB
board, Cheryl Halpern, reportedly raised complaints about NPR's
reporting. The Times noted that Halpern is "a former chairwoman of the
Republican Jewish Coalition and leading party fund-raiser whose family
has business interests in Israel."

While NPR's Mideast coverage has frequently been criticized by
pro-Israel partisans, research and analysis by FAIR has found a strong
and consistent slant on NPR toward an Israeli perspective on the
conflict. A FAIR study (Extra!, 11-12/01) found that during a
six-month period, NPR's main news shows reported 81 percent of Israeli
deaths in the conflict and only 34 percent of Palestinian deaths.
Tellingly, when Israeli minors were killed, NPR reported on their
deaths 89 percent of the time, while mentioning only 20 percent of the
Palestinians youths killed.

FAIR Action Alerts (1/10/02, 2/5/02) repeatedly criticized NPR for
describing periods when only Palestinians were being killed in the
conflict as times of "relative calm" or "comparative quiet"--odd
choices of words for an outlet that is supposedly "more favorable to
Arabs than to Israelis."

As if the idea of a political inquiry launched by an institution that
is supposed to protect public broadcasting from political inquiry
weren't disturbing enough, the Times also reported that CPB chair
Kenneth Tomlinson had contacted conservative media analyst Robert
Lichter of the Center for Media & Public Affairs (CMPA) about the
possibility of conducting research for the agency. Lichter is no
stranger to battles over public broadcasting's so-called "liberal
bias." In 1992, as congressional debate over PBS's funding was heating
up, the Center released a study alleging rampant left-wing bias on
PBS. But the methodology was dubious, at best: The CMPA studied only
documentaries that aired on PBS, neglecting popular conservative
programs like William F. Buckley's Firing Line and Morton Kondracke's
American Interests show.

The CMPA study broke down the documentaries into over 35,000
segments--yet only "studied" 614 of those segments that had a clear
"thematic message." And the findings that CMPA presented were hardly
evidence of liberal bias. The Center's report explained one form of
bias: "Racial discrimination was described as a condition of American
society 50 times without a single dissenting opinion." Apparently
acknowledging the existence of discrimination is a "liberal" idea.
Another example bizarrely counted as a "liberal" viewpoint by CMPA was
a Catholic priest's opposition to in vitro fertilization. The report
argued that PBS has a pacifistic bent, even though 1,309 military
personnel appeared as sources during the period studied. The rest of
the CMPA's study is similarly flawed--see:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2515 for more.

The news of a possible investigation into NPR's Mideast slant comes on
the heels of a similar report about CPB's plans to monitor PBS
programming for liberal bias (FAIR Media Advisory, 5/5/05). Under
Tomlinson's direction, the CPB has successfully lobbied to add
conservative programming to PBS's public affairs lineup, apparently in
an attempt to "balance" the program Now, which until recently was
hosted by Bill Moyers. One new show that Tomlinson pushed for is the
Journal Editorial Report, a program that is virtually 100 percent
conservative opinion.

ACTION: Please write to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and
urge it to abandon the idea of a politically motivated investigation
of NPR's Mideast coverage.

CONTACT:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Phone Numbers:
202-879-9600
800-272-2190
mailto:comments@cpb.org

As always, please remember that your comments have more impact if you
maintain a polite tone.

See also FAIR's report on NPR's Middle East coverage:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1086
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