On The Media - Is NPR Biased

Biscuit

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Biscuit
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A great program on 'On The Media' discussing bias in reporting

Is NPR Biased

Basically they hired a guy, from PEW I think, to analyze NPR's coverage in comparison to the media as a whole.

The transcript will be available tomorrow and I am sure there will be some interesting direct quotes but here are few things I found out and paraphrased by me.

Conservative media spends the most time on traditionally "liberal" issues

NPR is actually more conservative in its coverage than the media at large


At the end of the day most bias in the media is in the eye of the beholder. This is especially true when it comes to NPR. A questioned asked by an NPR reporter will be viewed differently by people of different political beliefs. But the same questioned asked by an outlet the listener believes is aligned with their views is harmless.

I always find there is a lot of misinformation regarding NPR and it is nice to see a few things cleared up.
 
I have no problem if a network is biased in terms of its number of left stories vs its number of right stories. All I want is accurate, honest reporting. I wouldn't hate Fox Noise if their numbers and information were valid and reliable.
 
While NPR employees may be "liberal", I really don't see any liberal bias in their programming. They cover news and have many shows covering a large variety of topics. It's a very worldly programming venue. Oh wait, that's it! If you don't do only USA news, you're a damned liberal!
 
I have seen the "perception" thing at work many times. I listen to NPR essentially all day; it's always on in the squad car.
Often, when listening to the various "talk/news" shows like Diane Rehm or Talk Of The Nation, mere mention of a subject will bring in calls from listeners about the "liberal bias".

This even though no opinion was expressed.
One humorous incident involved conservative commentator Tony Blankley, who used to be a regular on the weekly "reporter's roundup" segment. He mentioned something, and immediately some listener called in complaining about Blankley's liberal bias.... Which got a good laugh from all present.
 
So why wouldn't you think "On the Media" doesn't have a liberal bias in it's coverage also? And if it is bias, wouldn't you expect it to form their research to show that NPR is NOT biased?

Because, see, EVERYBODY has a political bias. It shows in how they interpret anything. Including this post. ;)

Don't these two lines from the OP show bias?

"Conservative media spends the most time on traditionally "liberal" issues"

"NPR is actually more conservative in its coverage "

So, the libs cover conservative issues, the conservatives cover liberal issues, each to point out the other guy's flaws. And they are all biased.
 
And Pew's research is aimed at finding "the lack of bias", by not looking at the attitude of the coverage, but the subject. All 'news' shows cover the same subjects, it is the attitude that shows the bias.

Pew's bias is to give their customers what they want. It's good fro business.
 
casebro said:
So why wouldn't you think "On the Media" doesn't have a liberal bias in it's coverage also? And if it is bias, wouldn't you expect it to form their research to show that NPR is NOT biased?
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Have you ever listened to on the media? Do you know what the show is about? Did you listen to the show this thread is based on? I think your answer is no.[/QUOTE]

casebro said:
Because, see, EVERYBODY has a political bias. It shows in how they interpret anything. Including this post. ;)
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Journalists are people with opinions but good journalists don't let them come through. The conclusion that bias in the eye of the beholder shows that the bias only exists based on the listeners own bias. The data shows the bias isn't there. You really should listen to the show.

casebro said:
Don't these two lines from the OP show bias?

"Conservative media spends the most time on traditionally "liberal" issues"

"NPR is actually more conservative in its coverage "
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hose two lines are just me paraphrasing but if you listen to show I think you will see I was pretty accurate.

casebro said:
So, the libs cover conservative issues, the conservatives cover liberal issues, each to point out the other guy's flaws. And they are all biased.
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Nope, thats not what I said or what the research showed. Listen to the show.
 
I Am The Scum said:
No... That's not true. That's impossible!
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I should clarify that line. The conclusion was based on a percentage of time devoted to liberal issues vs conservative issues. Most of the media was split 60/40 in favor of liberal issues but NPR was split 52/48.

ETA: I have recently been critical of another pew study with regards to the 2008 election and media coverage of it. I want to state I am equally critical of these results until I can see how the numbers were gathered. The main point that bias is ITEOTB was rather convincing.
 
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Biscuit said:
I should clarify that line. The conclusion was based on a percentage of time devoted to liberal issues vs conservative issues. Most of the media was split 60/40 in favor of liberal issues but NPR was split 52/48.
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It was a line from Star Wars. You should check out the films. I think you can rent them on Netflix. :)
 
Kind of liked Bernie Goldberg's article about bias at NPR.

No Liberal Bias at NPR — Just Ask NPR
http://www.bernardgoldberg.com/no-liberal-bias-at-npr-just-ask-npr/

from the article:

Ask most conservatives and they’ll tell you that NPR is a hopelessly left-wing news organization filled with liberal biases. Ask most liberals and they’ll tell you it’s a down the middle, mainstsream news outlet. Instead of getting into that debate, let’s get into another, more nuanced one. So, consider this statement made by the co-host of NPR’s On the Media:
“If you were to somehow poll the political orientation of everybody in the NPR news organization and all of the member stations, you would find an overwhelmingly progressive, liberal crowd.”
Those are the words of Bob Garfield in the aftermath of the conservative “citizen journalist” sting against NPR, which caught on camera a now former fund raising executive smearing the entire Tea Party movement as racist and stupid.
Mr. Garfield was not saying NPR has a liberal bias, just that it’s journalists are “overwhelmingly” liberal. That is a great big problem all by itself. But more on that in a moment. Garfield’s guest, a liberal named Ira Glass, who is host of the NPR show “This American Life” predictably said, NPR is a mainstream news operation and has no liberal bias. End of discussion!
But let’s look it this way: Let’s say, if you were to somehow poll the political orientation of everybody in the NPR news organization and all of the member stations, let’s say you’d find an overwhelmingly conservative, right-wing crowd — does anyone at NPR think that would be just fine; that such one-sidedness wouldn’t present journalistic problems; that such a news organization would present the news without filtering it through a conservative lens?
I don’t.
But somehow liberals at NPR think that it doesn’t matter if just about everybody in the newsroom is liberal. After all, the argument goes, they’re professionals. They can keep their biases to themselves. To which I have just two words: Juan. Williams.
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I Am The Scum said:
It was a line from Star Wars. You should check out the films. I think you can rent them on Netflix. :)
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I got it! Sorry I didn't pat your fan boy back for quoting star wars completely out of context. I just wanted to clarify what I meant.

you scruffy nerf hearder.
 
Arrow said:
Kind of liked Bernie Goldberg's article about bias at NPR.

No Liberal Bias at NPR — Just Ask NPR
http://www.bernardgoldberg.com/no-liberal-bias-at-npr-just-ask-npr/

from the article:
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That Bernie References that travesty of lie regarding the schiller sting does not lend him much credibility.

Juan had been warned on a number of occassions not to give personal opinion when representing NPR. That is their policy for all of their staff. Its a good policy that helps keep them impartial in their reporting.
 
The transcript is now up

We do come from a point of view that says that there are certain groups that are, that are slighted by our media, both public and corporate media. Now, does this mean that we would surmise that NPR is a conservative outlet? I wouldn't say that. But the thing is, we've had four decades of formal campaigning by the right, by groups like Accuracy in Media, the Media Research Center, the Heritage Foundation, to portray our media, corporate and public broadcasting, as being to the left of center. It’s paid off.

And I think the fact that we're having this discussion here, the fact that there’s a debate in Congress, shows how much it’s paid off.
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