National Public Radio
Top 10 Most Needed Government Reforms.
[#10] Get government out of culture: It may be small potatoes in light of the entire federal budget,
but the money spent for National Public Radio, the National Endowment for the Arts, et al., is an affront
to the Constitution. Harry Reid's Cowboy Poetry Festival will no doubt be missed, but if it is that
wonderful, let it find private-sector funding.
NPR
host is Occupy DC spokeswoman. National Public Radio host Lisa Simeone appears to be breaking the
taxpayer-subsidized network's ethics rules by acting as a spokeswoman for Occupy D.C. group "October 2011,"
which is currently "occupying" Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. Simeone hosts NPR's nationally syndicated
"World of Opera" program and "SoundPrint," a program that airs on NPR's WAMU affiliate at American University in
Washington, D.C. When Roll Call asked Simeone about the conflict of interest and the apparent ethics
violations, she replied, "Well, I work in radio still, but this is totally different" because she says
she's a "freelancer."
NPR host doubling as 'Occupy DC' spokesperson fired from syndicated radio program.
After violating National Public Radio's ethics code by acting as a spokeswoman for Occupy DC protesters, Lisa
Simeone was fired Wednesday evening [10/19/2011] from one of the two public radio programs she hosts, the
Associated Press reports. Simeone was fired from "SoundPrint," an internationally syndicated program
appearing on NPR affiliate WAMU in Washington, D.C. The official who fired Simeone reportedly did so
over the phone and read NPR's ethics code to her during the call.
NPR
host and Occupy DC rep fired from one radio show, staying at another. National Public Radio announced
Thursday that "World of Opera" host Lisa Simeone will continue as the show's host, despite violating of the network's
ethics policy by acting as a spokesperson for a left-wing "Occupy DC" political protest group. World of Opera
is produced by WDAV, a North Carolina NPR affiliate. NPR nationally syndicates the show over taxpayer-subsidized
airwaves.
Socialism Is Theft.
[Scroll down] Newsweek is all but out of business, but Obama and his gang believe that ordinary people
still shouldn't be allowed to decide where their money goes. Which is why you pay for PBS, NPR, and the
National Endowment for Offending All Religions Except Islam. It is America's official leftist Ministry
of Propaganda, something any self-respecting tyranny has had for the last six thousand years, ever since the
imperial powers of Sumer, Egypt, and Beijing.
Juan Williams:
I
Was Fired for Telling the Truth. Yesterday [10/20/2010] NPR fired me for telling the truth.
The truth is that I worry when I am getting on an airplane and see people dressed in garb that identifies them
first and foremost as Muslims. This is not a bigoted statement. It is a statement of my feelings,
my fears after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by radical Muslims.
How Public Is NPR's Funding?
De-fund NPR! In the wake of the firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio, we've once again heard
conservative voices issue that call. NPR representatives respond, as they always do when their dependence
on government purse strings is noted, by arguing that only two or three percent of the service's money comes from
the federal government. NPR apologist Norah O'Donnell recently threw out a one- to three-percent figure
on MSNBC. ... Is this three-percent number a fair claim by the NPR crowd? Apparently, in a very limited
sense, it is, but in a more comprehensive analysis, it is nowhere near accurate.
Will Republicans Fight
to Defund 'Public Broadcasting'? Once again, Republicans are talking about defunding public broadcasting.
If history is a good indicator, don't bet on it happening. But do insist that they do so. "I think
the U.S. Congress should investigate NPR and consider cutting off their money," said former Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich Thursday [10/21/2010]. Consider? Merely consider?
GOP Ready to Probe NPR's Federal Funding.
The tens of millions of dollars in federal funding to National Public Radio (NPR) have come into question after
Juan Williams' firing. NPR terminated Williams' after he said on Fox News that since 9/11, he gets nervous
flying on airplanes with passengers wearing Muslim attire. NPR said Williams' comments are "inconsistent
with our editorial standards and practices."
Will
NPR fire Nina Totenberg for wishing Jesse Helms would get AIDS? Figuring out what's inconsistent
with NPR's editorial standards can be awful difficult. The network terminated the contract for Fox News
contributor Juan Williams because of a comment about Muslims, but apparently has yet to take a similar action
against Nina Totenberg.
Williams
firing, Soros donation spark new calls to end NPR taxpayer subsidies. The firing of National
Public Radio news analyst Juan Williams for comments made about Muslims, combined with leftwing billionaire
George Soros' recent $1.8 million donation to the organization, have reignited calls to end NPR's
taxpayer subsidies.
National
Politically-correct Radio. My Fox News Sunday colleague Juan Williams has been fired by NPR for
telling an inconvenient truth. Juan was appearing on Bill O'Reilly's show Monday night, when O'Reilly
asserted, "The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the
biggest threat on the planet." Juan didn't disagree with this claim. Would President Obama, for
example, disagree?
All
Things Considered, Public Broadcasting Should Be Abolished. Gwen Ifill mocks Sarah Palin and
cravenly cowers when called out — nothing happens. Juan Williams says something honest and
accurate, and gets canned. Let's just let Soros and CAIR pay for this travesty.
NPR
Funding Under Fire After Williams Ouster. News analyst Juan Williams' firing from National Public
Radio for comments he made about being nervous when flying alongside devout Muslims has sparked a public outcry
that includes calls for investigations and a cut in public funding to the broadcaster. "I think the U.S.
Congress should investigate NPR and consider cutting off their money," said Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich,
who is also a Fox News contributor.
Let NPR Pay Its Own
Way. It has not escaped our notice that the left-wing Media Matters for America has for a long
time been pressuring NPR to forbid its correspondents to appear on Fox News, nor that the same donor —
one George Soros — just gave exceedingly large donations to both Media Matters and NPR. Hmm.
If NPR wants to behave like every other liberal news organization, complete with a slavish obeisance to left-wing
pressure groups, fine. Those organizations don't rely on taxpayer funding, and neither should NPR.
Standards and
Practices. In its furious effort to explain its firing of Juan Williams, National Public Radio
has opened itself to scrutiny and raised further questions about its "standards and practices." The
network's own website reports that NPR CEO Vivian Schiller "on Thursday said that Williams should have kept
his feelings about Muslims between himself, 'his psychiatrist or his publicist' — a comment she
later said she regretted.
NPR's Disgrace. Juan Williams
put it simply: "I was fired for telling the truth." That's about as succinct a summary of the
situation as you're likely to find.
NPR Lashes Juan Williams.
When escaped slaves were caught, they were lashed into submission. This was intended not only as a warning
to that particular slave, but to the entire plantation of black servants to stay in their place. Liberals
do the psychological equivalent of this to any black person who dares to leave the plantation of liberal
orthodoxy. After working over a decade for liberal National Public Radio, Juan Williams was summarily
fired, publically ridiculed and told to see a psychiatrist. Liberals have a proprietary attitude toward
blacks and other minorities. When anyone one of us dares contradict leftist thought, they try to
punish us severely.
CAIR's
Role in Juan Williams Firing: By now most of the world knows about NPR's shameful firing of
Juan Williams for candidly stating his thoughts about Muslims. But what about CAIR's role in the
matter? As the most high-profile Muslim Brotherhood front organization in the United States, CAIR was
quick to suggest "professional consequences" for Juan Williams' exercise of free speech.
PBS
Sends Senior Editor as Presenter to CAIR Conference on 'Defaming Islam'. The news about NPR
firing Juan Williams is opening the eyes of many in the media and public to the extraordinary rules of
censorship that CAIR, other Muslim Brotherhood groups, and the "Establishment Left" impose to restrict free
speech. But it's not just NPR that responds to CAIR's political pressure which may in itself be a
violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Juan Williams: Victim or Enabler?
As I write this, [Juan] Williams is getting the equivalent of a national high-five. For what, exactly?
Perhaps in a modern-day America where "victimhood" has been elevated to an almost reverential status, Mr. Williams
is the beneficiary of nothing more than being in the right place at the right time. The upcoming election is
about many things, but first and foremost, it will be a referendum on the kind of progressive-inspired
political correctness that got Mr. Williams fired.
Juan
Williams, NPR and the Death of Liberalism. So my fellow Fox News analyst Juan Williams just got
fired for saying something supposedly controversial about Muslims. But make no mistake, Juan isn't the
only casualty today. So is American liberalism.
GOP puts NPR on
chopping block. A top House Republican said Friday [10/22/2010] the party will ask Americans
whether to cut off funding for NPR after the radio network fired commentator Juan Williams this week for his
comments about Muslims. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, said the GOP will add
cutting funding for NPR to its "YouCut" program, which asks constituents what federal programs they would
want to slash.
Williams wins
out in NPR fiasco. How do you fire Juan Williams for expressing a common, if politically
incorrect, perception? Personally, I've seen Muslims taken off planes as I've sat in Seat10C.
I pay attention in airports and other public places — many of us do. We're not afraid,
but we are aware; we're not intimidated, but we are not blind to possibilities. Neither was Mr. Williams.
We Are All Bigots Now.
The firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio (NPR), alleging that he was guilty of bigotry during a
recent appearance on Bill O'Reilly's FoxNews Channel television program, is another case of political
correctness mixed with demagoguery run amuck.
NPR's
Suicide? Did National Public Radio jump the shark? Just hours after sacking Juan Williams
for making sensible but allegedly insensitive remarks on Fox, the federally funded outfit has brought itself
under painful scrutiny.
National
Politburo Radio. In the fury of the firing of Juan Williams much of the tenor of what is
happening at NPR is being overlooked. His firing is completely outrageous but it is a symptom of
a larger problem at the news organization.
NPR's Crack-Up. National
Public Radio is behaving as if it has a death wish, acting in ways that imperil its welfare. In this,
it reflects a syndrome affecting the broader American left as the dream of shifting America permanently to the
left crumbles in the face of a looming electoral rejection. As details of the situation gradually come
to light, NPR's decision looks worse and worse.
National Pathetic Radio.
The backlash was swift; critics on the left and the right accused NPR of overreach and censorship. Angry
listeners flooded the voicemail and email inboxes of NPR stations across the country. Firing Juan Williams
for saying something that a majority of Americans believe — and for saying it in a deeply personal, almost apologetic
way — had revealed NPR as a heavy-handed enforcer of political correctness.
Proposal: The
Juan Williams Law. A national outcry has arisen from the firing of Juan Williams by National
Public Radio. Many have been outraged by what they see as the network's un-American restriction on Williams'
freedom of speech when Williams was merely voicing personal feelings about sitting on an airplane with passengers
in Muslim garb. Matters were made worse by NPR CEO Vivian Schiller implying that Williams should see a
psychiatrist to deal with those feelings. And further complicated by the revelation that the ultra-liberal
George Soros had donated $1.8 million to the putatively ideologically neutral, publicly-financed,
news organization.
Comparing Jews to Nazis
Meets NPR's 'Editorial Standards and Practices'. NPR's mindset has not changed since they blacklisted
terrorism expert Steven Emerson in response to a complaint from a Hamas supporter... whom they invited to be a
commentator.
The Editor says...
I disagree with everything Juan Williams says, at least on Fox News. (I don't listen to
NPR.) What happened to him at NPR was unjustified. But what happened next at Fox
News was unjustified, too: He is reported to have landed a three year contract worth
about two million dollars. His opinion is valuable only to provide fairness and
balance to the "fair and balanced" network's commentary. But it's not that
valuable.
National Propaganda Radio Enforces Sharia In
America by Firing Juan Williams. By firing Williams for making a comment deemed insulting to
Muslims, NPR facilitated radical Islamists in enforcing sharia law against 'defamation' of Islam.
And it paid back the far Left multi-billionaire George Soros for his $1.8 million donation to NPR by dismissing
an employee for the 'fireable' offense of expressing his feelings on the hated Fox News network.
The Left Hates Free Speech -- Juan at a Time.
National Public Radio's firing of commentator Juan Williams is yet another example of how political correctness
has poisoned free speech. Mr. Williams didn't say anything that the vast majority of Americans wouldn't
say or agree with regarding genuine and well-founded concerns about Muslims on airplanes. Who doesn't
know that Muslim voodoo loons have used or tried to use jets as a means to carry out mass murder and mayhem?
It's the truth, comfortable or not.
Media
Capitulation: If Juan Williams Is Fair Game... Over the last few days, on the news channels
and the net, it has been wall-to-wall coverage of the Juan Williams firing by the tools over at National Public
Radio. NPR was serving the hydra-headed, Hamas-supporting Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
which called on them to take action against Williams. I am grateful for this high-profile incident.
Much like with the Ground Zero mosque affair, Americans have suddenly become aware of something quite
terrible — a sea change, a profound transformation of a basic assumption, and a stunning reversal of
their very basic unalienable rights.
More
about pro-Islam bias in the media.
NPR's Overdue Execution. [Juan
Williams] is widely seen as having been scapegoated by bigots and bravely fought back. But the reasons
for defunding PBS and NPR, and their parent, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, are far broader.
They involve not just politics and economics, but principles and the Constitution. First, the United
States government should not be in the news business at all. Arguments and debates about public
affairs should be the province of private citizens.
NPR
CEO Vivian Schiller Key Architect of FCC Govt Takeover of the News. Last week, National Public
Radio CEO Vivian Schiller took a break from her crusade for a government takeover of the media to swat a
fly. ... Schiller could barely contain her rage at Fox News and at [Juan] Williams last week, saying he should
discuss his fear of boarding a plane with Muslim passengers with "his psychiatrist." Those who understand
what is at stake saw the Williams/Schiller dust up for what it really was — a declaration of war by
one of the most powerful women in journalism against for-profit, non-liberal media. If Schiller and her
liberal friends have their way, Fox and its viewers will pay the bill for her new government news network.
Vivian Schiller and the
Party Line at NPR. [Nina] Totenberg's hate speech doesn't qualify as hate speech in the liberal
lexicon. Totenberg toes the party line at NPR. She's a good apparatchik, safe among the party
hierarchy. Speaking of that hierarchy, the leader is Vivian Schiller, the NPR official responsible for
exiling the dissident Williams to Fox News for the crime of bucking party orthodoxy. And amid all the
hoopla about Schiller and this episode, there was something reported last week which, expectedly, has eluded
media attention: namely, that Schiller once worked as a tour guide in the Soviet Union.
Juan Williams Firer a Soviet
Fan? [Vivian] Schiller is suddenly infamous as the National Public Radio executive with Soviet-style
values on display in the firing of Juan Williams. Where would an American media executive ever learn that
dissent is not to be tolerated? How about a film project called Portrait of the Soviet
Union?
At the End of the
Liberal Dynasty. The women at NPR who bungled the firing of Juan Williams last week advertised
their weakness in all directions. They told the Angry Left that they could be rolled. They told
the Republicans in Congress that they were not up to the job of defending their institution. In
addition, they are demonstrating to anyone who cares the strategic folly of Affirmative Action.
Journalistic Malpractice
and NPR. For those who don't regularly listen to NPR, the bias runs deep. Juan Williams is
no exception. After the September 12th Tea Party events of 2009, Juan Williams suggested anyone who
went to a Tea Party protest on 9/12 or anyone who protested President Obama's agenda was somehow racially
motivated. Williams failed to report the objection to Mr. Obama addressing the Nation's "SchooChildren
[sic]" was based upon the Department of Education issuing an accompanying lesson plan that clearly advocated
the President's agenda. Such advocacy is in direct violation of the DoE's charter.
NPR
Affiliate Managers Voice Discontent with Firing of Juan Williams. Executives at NPR affiliate
stations across the United States have begun publicly voicing discontent in the aftermath of the network's
dismissal of news analyst Juan Williams, with several station managers openly questioning the actions and
judgment of NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller.
No Juan left behind at NPR.
State-controlled media-monopoly National Public Radio took time last week from its perpetual beg-a-thons to tend
to some administrative matters and fired its only black guy, Juan Williams. He was shown the door and
not even given an NPR tote bag by our taxpayer-subsidized leftist "news" organization. Given what
happened to us on 9/11, it is logical to harbor some concern when you see Muslims on airplanes.
NPR's Muslim problem. Al
Qaeda and its terrorist allies must be terribly frustrated. The main point of terrorism is to instill
fear in people. [Vivian] Schiller, however, thinks it's a psychological disorder to harbor anxiety of
radical Islamists after 9/11, the Christmas bomber, shoe bomber, Time Square bomber, 7/7 London bombings,
Bali bombings, Madrid train bombings, World Trade Center bombings, Mumbai massacre, etc., etc., etc.
Don't Cry for Juan Williams.
Lurking ahead are probably a seven-figure book deal, larger speaking fees, and loads more face time on television.
NPR fired him, reconfirming the organization as a taxpayer-supported bastion of biased liberalism
masquerading as "nonpartisan." So it's all good.
Who's Afraid of Muslims?
NPR has shown itself to be afraid of Muslims — far more afraid than Juan Williams, and hypocritical in a way
that Williams never was. What's worse, NPR has acted on that fear. In 2006, a Danish cartoonist
made drawings of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb tucked into the prophet's turban. Adherents of the
religion of peace then launched a campaign of terrorism worldwide, burning embassies, and violently
protesting. The artist himself was nearly killed by an axe-wielding Muslim. NPR deliberately
refused to publish those cartoons. ... PBS can't base newsroom decisions on fear, and then fire Williams
for sharing in an identical fear which he does not act on.
NPR, Juan Williams, and Sharia Law.
NPR's sacking of Juan Williams was more than the politically correct act du jour. It was the latest
in a series of media and political capitulations to Sharia law. A central provision of Sharia law is its
prohibition against speech that can be construed as "defaming" Islam or the prophet Mohammed. Where Sharia
is practiced and enforced, such "defamation" is a criminal offense that can be punished by death. In
other words, what we in America take for granted as free speech is a capital crime in some areas of the
Muslim world.
NPR Still Isn't
Sure Why They Fired Juan Williams. On Oct. 20, Juan Williams was fired as a senior news analyst at
NPR after making controversial comments about Muslims while a guest on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor." The
decision to terminate Williams generated an avalanche of angry emails. Just over three weeks later, the
public radio network is still trying to figure out exactly why Williams got the axe.
What
if NPR had a Juan Williams soul-searching party and nobody came? The National Public Radio Board of
Directors held a public meeting Thursday [11/11/2010] in part to discuss the company's decision to fire news analyst
Juan Williams, giving listeners a chance to voice their concerns directly to board members. One problem:
No one showed up to comment.
Obama's Authoritarian
Multiculturalism. National Public Radio's firing of the talented and amiable Juan Williams for
comments he made on Fox News about Muslims is outrageous, even disgusting. But it is not an aberration.
It is emblematic of the "dictatorship of virtue" imposed on Americans by the country's elites — many of
them, like those at NPR, publicly funded but unaccountable to the American public. Judging from the response to
Williams's firing and the immediate extension of his multimillion dollar contract with Fox News, it looks like he will
thrive. But arrayed against the unchecked power of elite multiculturalism, now ensconced not only in Ivy League
universities but in the White House as well, it is not at all clear that the country will.
NPR's
Ellen Weiss resigns after review of Williams firing. An outside law firm's investigation into NPR's
handing of the Juan Williams firing has led to the resignation of Ellen Weiss, the senior executive who informed
Williams, but largely stands by CEO Vivian Schiller's handling of the case. However, the board also decided
to withhold Schiller's bonus for 2010 as a result of the affair.
NPR
executive resigns following review of Juan Williams' firing. Ellen Weiss, NPR's senior vice president
for news who fired analyst Juan Williams over his remarks on Fox TV, has resigned after NPR's review of the circumstances
surrounding the incident.
If it matters...
Juan Williams Reacts to NPR Exec's Firing. On Thursday's [1/6/2011]
broadcast of Fox News Channel's "America Live," former NPR correspondent Juan Williams reacted to the resignation of Ellen
Weiss, the NPR executive behind his firing.
The Schiller syndrome.
Vivian Schiller is the wretched NPR chief executive who trashed Juan Williams for statements she declared
best relegated to his psychiatrist. I detected a whiff of the punitive psychiatry employed in the late
Soviet Union in Schiller's public comment on Williams. Soviet psychiatry's favored diagnosis for those
guilty of heterodox thoughts was sluggishly progressing schizophrenia. Is Williams a victim of this malady
in Schiller's view? She clearly thought he needed therapy to address his misguided thoughts.
Months later...
NBC Set to Hire NPR
Retread Vivian Schiller. Former National Public Radio president and CEO Vivian Schiller who
resigned in March after video surfaced showing an NPR fundraiser making disparaging remarks about
Republicans and the Tea Party is apparently returning to the news business.
Several months later...
Juan Williams Says Rick Perry Can't Compare to
Obama on Job Creation. Juan Williams has never been known for his honest analysis, but this
takes the cake. Under the Obama Administration at least 3.3 million Americans have lost their job,
millions of Americans gave up looking for a job and Obama's jobs record is worst of any president since the
Great Depression. Meanwhile, Rick Perry has created more jobs in Texas than all of the rest of the
states combined. But, Juan Williams trashes Perry, not Obama.
Several months after that...
Did
Juan Williams Link Christians to The Oklahoma City Bombing? [Scroll down] Williams' premise
is simply not correct. You see, Timothy McVeigh was not a "Christian terrorist." He was born of
Christian parents and lived in a nominally Christian culture, sure, but he did not perpetrate his crime in
the name of the Christian God. On the other hand, the Saudi terrorist did kill thousands in
the name of their Muslim God. Thus, Williams' claim that we didn't hold McVeigh's crime against Christians
is a logical fallacy at the outset because McVeigh was neither representative of, nor claimed to be representing,
Christians, Christianity, nor a Christian God when he bombed the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
Did
someone mention the Oklahoma City bombing?
Three months later...
Juan Williams plays dumb. How
convenient. Racial code words just happen to entail every conservative criticism of socialistic programs.
You cannot say Entitlement Society because that somehow is racist. Never mind that white people are a plurality
of the people on welfare. It is racist because, well, Juan Williams said it is. End of discussion.
And we cannot talk about Work Ethic because apparently Juan Williams thinks only white people have one.
Months earlier:
Juan
Williams Agrees with AFL-CIO President's Class Warfare. NPR and Fox News contributor Juan Williams
does not see vitriolic blanket-statements condemning conservatives as "racist," "homophobic," heartless,
anti-intellectual, and depraved (to name a few), as divisive or erroneous in the least. Aside from
possibly race and identity-politics, there are few things more toxic and effective than the poisonous doctrine
of class warfare — no matter how many times leaders may promise heaven on earth.
Months later:
Juan Willams Says the US "Pokes Out
Eyeballs & Teeth" of Detainees. Why is this far left crank allowed on FOX News Sunday week
after week? Why then not Michael Moore? Juan Williams is wrong on issue after issue and allowed
to spew his far left talking points ad nauseum. Why is this allowed?
Juan Williams unhinged.
Do you remember when the American left recently launched its new era of political civility? Neither does
Juan Williams. Fox News political analyst Juan Williams may not be commonly mistaken for a calm,
well-reasoned and persuasive communicator, but at least he has provided a somewhat tempered voice. His
comments after the Osama bin Laden raid, however, suddenly make the birthers and truthers seem like pillars
of rationality by comparison.
NPR's Sins Go
Beyond Firing Juan Williams. They finally nabbed Al CaponeÑbut for tax evasion. Legislation
to de-fund The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will finally be introduced -- but because of Juan
Williams' pink slip. Senator Jim DeMint explained his motivation, "Since 2001, the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, which funds programming for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service,
has received nearly $4 billion in taxpayer money ... there's simply no reason to force taxpayers to
subsidize liberal programming they disagree with."
NPR
Fired the Wrong Person. [Juan] Williams is someone I personally disagree with about 70-80% of the time.
Nonetheless he has the right to not be misrepresented, nor to be mistreated, and Vivian Schiller has done both.
NPR should replace Schiller if it truly cares about being seen as an important journalistic outlet where the
genuine ethics of truth in reporting are respected. As of now Schiller has made a mockery of that which
she claimed to be practicing.
Corporation for
Public Broadcasting Got $533.3 Million in U.S. Tax Dollars in 2010. Congress awarded the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) $533.3 million in fiscal year 2010, $420 million of which
was distributed to public radio and television stations in all 50 states and U.S. territories, according
to the CPB Appropriation Request and Justification report. Taxpayer money for the CPB is allocated
through the Department of Commerce. According to the CPB report, 583 public radio and television
stations nationwide received $420 million in FY 2010.
Taking
the public out of NPR. NPR should be defunded, not because it's liberal but because it's wrong
for the federal government to be in the news business or to subsidize one set of views over another.
NPR is unconstitutional.
Much has been said lately about the Commerce Clause in regards to Obamacare. What about the Commerce
Clause in relation to NPR? Undoubtably, if NPR's funding is constitutionally justified, it's done using
the Commerce Clause with an assist from the "Elastic" Clause. Everything's done that way. The
founders might as well have taken Article 1, Section 8 and said: "Congress can do whatever."
But they didn't. The Commerce Clause states that Congress has the power "To regulate Commerce with
foreign Nations, and among the several States," not to get involved in private business.
NPR's actual tax funding much more than
1% lie. Almost one-quarter — 23 percent — of the money NPR gets comes from the taxpayers,
meaning congressional chatter about defunding NPR over the Juan Williams firing could pose a serious threat
to the organization.
Focus on the Achilles
Heel of Public Broadcasting. [Juan] Williams was a member of that lonely, dying breed:
an honest liberal. His firing was not ideological, exactly. It was rather totalitarian.
The creepy people who run NPR showed all the consistent thinking of slavish Stalinist ciphers during the
worst days of the Great Purge. What about the "due process" shown to Juan Williams, something that
leftists always insist that terrorists and welfare queens must be granted? It was contemptuously
ignored by NPR.
Why Is NPR
Getting Our Money? As part of the federal gravy train, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
is set to receive $420 million this year alone. No wonder Elmo is smiling. This is free
money for a group of people who should be competing in the private marketplace. And what are the
taxpayers getting for their money? Well, this much is beyond dispute: The news-based programming
on PBS and NPR is heavily tilted to the left. In fact, as far as their news analysts are concerned,
there are 17 liberal-leaning individuals on the air and one moderate, David Brooks. There are no
conservative voices heard in the national public broadcasting precincts.
NPR and the Liberal
Subculture that Worships It. [Scroll down] Beinart does, however, do us the service of
reiterating NPR's most beloved talking point: "NPR doesn't get a lot of public money." This endlessly
repeated assertion is apparently so important that it appears on NPR's own website, where it features prominently
in the ombudsman's frequently asked questions page. "NPR receives no direct funding from the federal government,"
the network states. This begs the question, of course, of why — if the public money it
receives is so minor — NPR and its defenders fight so ferociously to retain it.
Time to Pull NPR from Armed Forces Radio Airwaves.
Just when you thought you'd heard and seen it all from National Public Radio (NPR), the taxpayer-funded mouthpiece
of the liberal movement outdid itself last week. With its shameful and very public dismissal of respected
news analyst Juan Williams, NPR managed to accomplish a feat thought unimaginable: lose what little
journalistic credibility it still maintained.
NPR Grant Raises Coverage Questions.
National Public Radio, which fired news analyst Juan Williams last month after pressure from the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has featured the Islamist group's leaders on air nearly two dozen times in
the past three years, while never addressing CAIR's designation as a cog in a Hamas-support network, a review
of NPR transcripts shows. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice stood by its inclusion of CAIR on
a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the terror-financing prosecution of the Texas-based Holy Land
Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). That list became public in June 2007, but never has been
discussed in any of the NPR broadcasts featuring CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, national spokesman
Ibrahim Hooper and other officials.
NPR's
defenders receiving money from the same Soros-backed organization. After NPR fired Juan Williams
in late October for comments he made about Muslims on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor," NPR saw supporters come out
of the woodwork to decry right-leaning calls for the radio company to be stripped of government financial support.
Interestingly, many of those who voiced their opinion that NPR should keep its government provided cash happen
to receive funds from the same source: liberal financier George Soros and his Open Society Institute.
NPR
Isn't 'Left Wing,' It 'Leads to a More Informed Electorate'? The public-radio show "On The Media"
explored the debate over defunding public broadcasting on Saturday — but utterly stepped around any
evidence from certain conservative media watchdog groups that NPR or PBS have a liberal bias. Host Brooke
Gladstone perfectly characterized how the NPR elite arrogantly conceive of their mission: some say they
have a liberal bias, but they are merely seekly to build a better, more informed, more thoughtful democracy.
As usual, liberalism and enlightenment are the same thing.
Move to cut NPR
funding is defeated in House. House Democrats on Thursday shot down a G.O.P. attempt to roll
back federal funding to NPR, a move that many Republicans have called for since the public radio network
fired the analyst Juan Williams last month. Republicans in the House tried to advance the defunding
measure as part of their "YouCut" initiative, which allows the public to vote on which spending cuts the
G.O.P. should pursue. But their push was blocked, 239 to 171, with only three Democrats
voting with a united bloc of Republicans.
No
subsidy for NPR. A bill pulling the plug on federal funding for National Public Radio was thwarted
last week when the lame-duck Democratic majority in the US House of Representatives voted down a Republican effort
to bring the measure to the floor. ... Of course there was never any chance that a bill targeting one of the nation's
most prominent left-of-center institutions would pass while Democrats still controlled the House. But a GOP
majority is taking over in January, and ending NPR's taxpayer subsidies ought to be high on its to-do list.
It's not rational to spend tax dollars on
PBS/NPR. Given that the federal budget is more than $1 trillion in the red and that
deficits extend into the future as far as the eye can see, federal subsidies to public broadcasting
understandably are on the table. The just-released report of President Obama's deficit-reduction
commission recommends diverse measures to put Washington's fiscal house in order, including a $100 billion
reduction in defense spending, a substantial increase in the federal excise tax on gasoline, ending the tax
deductibility of home mortgage interest payments and eliminating all funding for the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting.
Defunding NPR and CPB:
NPR is a hard-left organization run by hard-left ideolouges who haven't changed their tone or core political
beliefs in more than thirty years, though I confess surprise that the head of news and the head of programming
are both veterans of the early anti-Reagan years. Those two with Nina "forgive-the-expression" Totenberg
must make up the longest serving triumverate of the left in a major news organization, and between them have
worked out the party line response to five presidents and countless crucial national events. This
"shake-up" is a desperate attempt to try and hold off the defunding demands that surged in the aftermath
of the PC police's slams at [Juan] Williams last year.
Who
Knew NPR Execs Were So Well-Paid? Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi was complete enough
in his reporting on the internal NPR review of the Juan Williams firing on Saturday that he included financial
numbers that NPR released on the bonuses of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller. The decision to cancel her bonus
over that Fox-loathing fiasco was a six-figure decision: According to tax records released by NPR on
Friday, Schiller received a bonus of $112,500 in May 2010, about 17 months after she was hired by the
Washington-based organization. This was in addition to a base salary of $450,000.
GOP
Gears Up Again to Strip NPR of Federal Funds. For years, Republicans have wanted to cut off
federal funding for National Public Radio. They tried and failed in the 1990s, but now, with a new GOP
majority in the House, they're ready to try again. It's still a long shot, but they have a fighting
chance.
Games NPR Plays.
It could almost be Washington's motto: The buck stops somewhere else. Now it's happened at NPR.
Which is one of the many public-private hodgepodges that gets all kinds of funding from all kinds of sources —
and so is hard to pin down when things go embarrassingly wrong. There are more of those around than ever —
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Government Motors, AIG, American health care in general ... you name it. Their
structure tends to resemble that of a medieval chimera, only without the charm.
Defund Organizations That Destroy Freedom.
NPR claims that federal funding is only 2 percent of its budget, but the indirect taxpayer subsidy
through affiliate stations is about 20 percent of its budget. NPR has abused this privileged
position for years by serving as a mouthpiece for those who advocate more government spending and higher
taxes — all of which have served to undermine American prosperity and job creation. Americans
who desire to listen to the voices of the left already have MSNBC, most of the major networks and most large-city
newspapers. NPR will not go out of business without taxpayer subsidies because many left-wingers such as
George Soros will continue to pour money into its activities. Taxpayers should not be coerced into
paying one dime to support NPR propaganda.
NPR
thanks Obama for budget 'vote of confidence'. As some Republicans on Capitol Hill try to cut,
or even eliminate, its government funding, National Public Radio has sent a public thank-you to the Obama
administration for proposing an increase in taxpayer funding for public radio. "Public broadcasting
received a vote of confidence today from the Obama Administration," NPR said in a statement Monday [2/14/2011].
"The President's FY 2012 budget submission to Congress included $451 million for the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting (CPB) for the two year advance appropriation for FY 2014, an increase of
$6 million over FY 2013 funding."
Welfare for public radio.
National Public Radio's President and CEO Vivian Schiller simply gushed over President Obama's proposed budget
that preserved the funding for public broadcasting that House Republicans would just as soon cut. In
expressing her gratitude to the White House, Ms. Schiller helped Republicans make their case.
NPR
Promotes New Planned Parenthood Radio Ads Attacking Pro-Lifers. Planned Parenthood lost a
House vote on Friday by a count of 245 to 180 that would strip its funding out of this year's stopgap
spending bill. But they're not sitting still.
Sen.
Boxer on PBS cuts: 'Republicans have a vendetta against Elmo'. Sen. Barbara Boxer
(D-Calif.) said Tuesday that House Republicans want to strip government funding of PBS because they have
a "vendetta against Elmo."
Public
Broadcasting Should Go Private. While executives at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
and National Public Radio (NPR) are raking in massive salaries, the organizations are participating in an
aggressive lobbying effort to prevent Congress from saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year by
cutting their subsidies. The so-called commercial free public airwaves have been filled with pleas for
taxpayer cash. The Association of Public Television Stations has hired lobbyists to fight the cuts.
Senate
Republicans introduce bill to defund NPR, PBS. Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn
(R-Okla.) introduced a bill Friday [3/4/2011] to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),
which doles out federal funds to radio and television stations.
Salvaging
Government Journalism. It's SOS time at National Public Radio — "save our subsidies."
Today [3/7/2011], NPR will put CEO Vivian Schiller in front of a sympathetic National Press Club audience to plead
for Congress to spare its funding. And if the announcement is anything to go by, Ms. Schiller will tug
at the heart strings by insisting that "rural and economically distressed communities" will be hardest hit
by this "significant blow" against public broadcasting.
NPR,
PBS campaigns to keep federal funds called unlawful. NPR and PBS stations nationwide are rallying
their audiences to contact Congress to fight against Republicans' proposed spending cuts, but some affiliates'
pleas may violate laws preventing nonprofits or government-funded groups from lobbying. Interrupting popular
programs, the stations air warnings that cuts could end beloved children's television shows such as "Sesame Street."
Some stations urge their audience to call and let Congress know their feelings, while others go further,
instructing viewers to "stop the Senate" or "defend federal funding" for public broadcasting.
Why
PBS is a public menace. PBS recently added 15- to 30-second "sponsorship" messages to online
presentations of major programs — everything from "Masterpiece" to "Frontline" (but not children's
programs). This fall, it intends to start interrupting its broadcasts with promotional spots, although
in response to criticism it says it may test the idea first. PBS calls these interruptions "program
breaks" or "sponsorship announcements," but on other channels they're called commercials. So: What,
in a world of hundreds of radio and TV channels, is so special about PBS and NPR that they should get
$420 million a year of taxpayers' money?
NPR
Discusses How Tea Party Appeals 'Very Fundamentally' to Racists. Ellis Cose was a liberal
Newsweek columnist on black issues from 1993 to 2010, and now has a book out on improving racial attitudes
called The End of Anger. Naturally, the book was plugged on National Public Radio's Talk of
the Nation on Tuesday afternoon [5/31/2011]. Even as Cose argued he was pleased that racism isn't
accepted in any mainstream political group, and tried to insist not every Tea Party activist is a racist, he
insisted "let's be adult here" and acknowledge the Tea Party "appeals to an older, conservative, in many
cases racially prejudiced group of people."
Gov.
Christie Blasts Public Broadcasting as Soviet-Style. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey compared
government funding of public broadcasting to the olden days of the Soviet Union. He made this statement
before announcing a deal that will sell the state's public broadcasting network to New York's WNET, which was
first reported by MyFoxPhilly.com. Fox News reports that, "New York Public Radio will acquire four radio
stations under the agreement. At a press conference in Trenton, Christie said the government ought to
stay out of broadcasting, and the relationship in New Jersey should have ended decades ago."
NPR
host 'temporarily' steps down while husband works to re-elect Obama. National Public Radio's Michele
Norris, who co-hosts All Things Considered, is stepping down "temporarily" from her post as her husband works to
re-elect President Barack Obama. Norris' husband, Broderick Johnson, worked for Massachusetts Democratic
Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, and for Obama's 2008 White House bid. Norris did not step
down in 2008, but did recuse herself from political coverage in 2004.
NPR
Plays Dumb: 'Nothing Terribly Ideological' About Saul Alinsky. People at National Public Radio
boast about themselves as a network for the smart people. So why must they try to tell smart people that
a man who writes a book called "Rules for Radicals" offered "nothing terribly ideological" in his activism?
In an attempt to "correct" Newt Gingrich on Monday night's [1/30/2012] All Things Considered newscast, NPR
correspondent Ina Jaffe became merely the latest in a line of liberal-media specialists in selling the Opposite
of Reality: that Alinsky wasn't a leftist, and that besides, the conservatives are the ones using Alinsky's
radical rules.
Defund NPR. Who is NPR's audience?
They are wealthier and more educated than the average American. NPR doesn't report political affiliation,
but it's fair to assume its audience is more liberal and more Democratic than average. Thus, NPR is a
regressive institution, a transfer payment from the masses to the gentry.
NPR
Anchor: Rick Perry Goes 'Against All Evidence' on Warming. Notice how NPR just rolls up everything
they disagree with and loads it into one question for the "conservative" panelist. ... NPR likes to parade
around as the intellectually serious network But they don't really want to engage those issues.
NPR
Listeners Hear EPA Touted as 'Environmental Investment Agency'. In the Obama era, the
Environmental Protection Agency and its chief Lisa Jackson have been absolutely non-controversial in the
national media. Few reporters have considered its aggressive "green" tactics a job-crusher.
Tax
Payer Funded NPR Brings Rock Stars to Swanky Washington Party. In the aftermath of the
admission by former National Public Radio (NPR) executive Ron Schiller that NPR would not only survive an
end in federal funding but "be better off in the long run" there was a common refrain from NPR supporters to
ignore that man formerly behind the curtain, that public subsidies of NPR must remain in place because of
the quality of the programming and the alleged need for it in rural areas.
PBS
Host: Donald Trump and Tea Partiers Are Racist. On MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence
O'Donnell, PBS host Tavis Smiley had a lot to say about Donald Trump and race. Specifically, Smiley
argued that Trump has been "race-baiting" as a way to "[play] to the worst in the tea party."
Did
someone mention Donald Trump?
Former
Al-Jazeera and NPR Reporter Now Working for Castro. He used to be a correspondent for
Al-Jazeera English in Communist Cuba, reporting "objectively" on what is happening in Castro's island
paradise. Now, Juan Jacomino is the Second Secretary of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington,
D.C., where he is coordinating "solidarity" activities for the regime. This means that he is
organizing support on U.S. soil for Marxist governments and movements in Latin America.
PBS Host
Advocates Repeal of the 'Natural Born' Clause. Apparently, in [Jon] Meacham's world, it is
irrational (and horrifying) to expect transparency from this particular president. As expected, he
refers to the matter as the "birther issue" instead of an issue of transparency, and insults those who
consider the matter important by equating them to "crying children."
NPR on a Bad Day.
I stopped listening to NPR years ago. I was tired of screaming at the radio until my throat hurt.
The last time I listened to them was by mistake, my attention momentarily caught as I turned the radio dial.
Top 10 Spending Cuts Thwarted by
Democrats: [#1] National Public Radio: The House voted to entirely
defund public radio, but Democrats in the Senate are standing firm to protect "A Prairie Home
Companion." If the programming is so wonderful, why can't it compete in the marketplace?
NPR
Ekes Out A Surplus and Hosts Make Out Like Bandits. NPR, which has been under attack after
video footage from James O'Keefe showed a now former network executive saying that NPR would be just fine
without federal funding, is going to run a surplus or "modest margin," this year. ... This would normally
be good news, except that NPR is locked in a battle over future government funding, running a surplus shows
good fiscal management but may also lend credence to the idea that they don't need more taxpayer money.
The Bias They Can't
See: NPR's reporters, regardless of how much they might annoy us, are clever, intelligent
people. As professional communicators, hired for their abilities and not how good their hair appears
on camera, they know how to make words sing and dance. They understand how to advocate without advocating.
Advocacy begins with the choice of stories to cover. When you cover the "controversial" Arizona immigration
law with great attention and give very little attention to stories that reflect badly on immigrants, you exhibit
bias even though no clear advocacy has been shown. Of course, the media will argue that they cover the
"newsworthy" stories. This is convenient cover when you get to decide yourself what is and isn't
newsworthy.
NPR
executives caught on tape bashing conservatives and Tea Party, touting liberals. A man who
appears to be a National Public Radio senior executive, Ron Schiller, has been captured on camera savaging
conservatives and the Tea Party movement. "The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is
fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn't
even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move," declared Schiller, who runs
NPR's foundation.
NPR exec
blasts tea party in hidden-camera video. An NPR executive was captured on hidden camera
calling the tea party movement racist and xenophobic and says NPR would be better off without federal
funding.
NPR responds to
executive's comments. National Public Radio spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm responded to the
remarks NPR foundation's nonprofit president Ron Schiller made. "The fraudulent organization
represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings
attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept," Davis Rehm said in an e-mail to The Daily Caller.
"We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands
for."
NPR
chief asks critics: What liberal bias? NPR Chief Executive Vivian Schiller defended taxpayer
funding for public broadcasting Monday [3/7/2011] and challenged critics to find any evidence of liberal
bias in NPR's coverage. Schiller said the accusation that public broadcasting has a liberal bias is
just a "perception problem" that doesn't accurately reflect NPR's journalism.
Another NPR Hit Piece on Israel.
Never mind Juan Williams: What really gets me about National Public Radio is the way it manages to
cover Israel in a manner more reminiscent of Tishreen's or Al Jazeera's style than that of an American
news outlet.
NPR
says it's 'imperative' that its federal funding not be cut. NPR said it's "imperative" that it
receives federal funding in light of a recommended cuts by the leaders of President Obama's fiscal commission.
"Federal funding has been a central component of public radio stations' ability to serve audiences across the
country," NPR said in a statement. "It's imperative for funding to continue to ensure that this essential
tool of democracy survives and thrives well into the future."
The Editor says...
What's the big deal? It's only 5% of NPR's funding, right? Or was that a lie?
Taxpayers
Provide More Than 25 Percent of NPR's Funding, Analyst Says. As Republican lawmakers lead the
charge to cut off public funding to National Public Radio, which has been under fire ever since it sacked
Juan Williams last month, the network insists it gets no more than 3 percent of its total budget from
taxpayers. But one analyst has argued that NPR's $166 million budget is actually made up of more
than 25 percent of taxpayer dollars and that its member stations across the country haul in another
40 percent of public funds.
A Brief History
of NPR's Intolerance and Imbalance. From calling Tea Party members "Tea Baggers," to saying that
"the evaporation of 4 million" Christians would leave the world a better place, to suggesting that God
could give former Sen. Jesse Helms or his family AIDS from a blood transfusion, NPR's personalities have said
some pretty un-PC things in the past. A look at the record reveals no shortage of intolerant statements
and unbalanced segments on the publicly sponsored network's airwaves.
Totenberg
Regrets Helms-AIDS Remark. On NPR's blog The Two-Way, NPR media reporter David Folkenflik
recalled reporter Nina Totenberg's July 8, 1995 TV outburst wishing disease and death on Sen. Jesse
Helms: "I think he ought to be worried about the — about what's going on in the good Lord's
mind, because if there's retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion or one of his grandchildren
will get it." In a new interview Tuesday [10/26/2010], she declared her regrets.
NPR
political donations raise questions. At least six people self-identifying themselves as National
Public Radio employees have collectively given $2,560 to Democrats in the past five years, according to campaign
finance data. NPR's own internal policy prohibits political contributions, but the network maintains that
none of the six employees were required to abide by the ethical guidelines.
All the News that
Fits Soros's Agenda. Are three liberal billionaires trying to control what we think of as news
in America? Hedge fund billionaire George Soros, the sugar daddy of the Democratic Party, has given NPR
an initial grant of $1.8 million to begin a project called Impact of Government that will allow NPR to
hire one hundred journalists at NPR member stations in all fifty states. The focus will be covering
state governments and how their actions affect people.
All Things
Considered ... Except Evidence — and Scholarship. Despite being interviewed by NPR
religion reporter Barbara Bradley for over thirty minutes, and providing her much additional written material
countering Jenkins' flimsy speculations, precious little of my rebuttal was included in the broadcast.
Omdud:
NPR changing abortion language. NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard wrote last week about how her news
organization, along with several others, categorize the opposing sides in the abortion debate. She noted
how a listener was surprised to hear an NPR correspondent describe those opposing abortion rights as pro-life —
a term that isn't used by most major news organizations. Now, Shepard follows up that NPR will no longer
use politically charged terms like "pro-life" and "pro-choice."
The Editor says...
If I may be allowed to state the obvious, removing the word life de-personalizes the issue, and
inserting the word rights manufactures a right where no such right exists. George Orwell
saw this coming years ago.
More disgrace at NPR. I no
longer listen to NPR and I certainly don't read its website. So I missed the idiotic animated political
cartoon, "Learn To Speak Teabag," which apparently ran on NPR's website for two months. The cartoon portrays
a stammering representative of the Tea Party movement as having no arguments to make about Obamacare other than
to repeatedly label it "Socialism" and to accuse its supporters of being Nazis.
NPR Teabags America. Just in case any
conservatives continue to question the endemic condescension, bad faith, and elitism pervasive among political
leftists, a cartoon recently published by National Public Radio (NPR) will extinguish all doubt.
NPR: No apology for 'Tea Bag' attack cartoon.
National Public Radio executives say there will be "no apology" for an animated cartoon on the network's
website that has angered thousands of conservatives. The cartoon, entitled "How to Speak Tea Bag," by
satirist Mark Fiore, will remain on the NPR site, executives tell NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard.
The Editor says...
The people at NPR can say whatever they like on their web site, as soon as they stop accepting
government subsidies and rely entirely on voluntary support. But as long as taxpayers' money
is keeping them afloat, the taxpayers have every right to object.
NPR Bias Shines Through.
NPR brass reacted negatively after veteran reporter Nina Totenberg consistently referred to White House Chief
of Staff as Rahm Emanuel by his first name only. ... This was no rookie mistake by Totenberg and NPR reacted
quickly to make it clear that all reporters need to use both the first and last name of their subjects.
Survey: NPR
CEO Made 1.3 Million Bucks a Year. The public-broadcasting-insider newspaper Current passed along a survey
from The Chronicle of Philanthropy on executive compensation at large nonprofits in 2008. The salaries can be higher
than the current presidential salary of $400,000 (and the current congressional salary of $174,000). The list includes
national executives and leaders at large stations like WNET (New York), WETA (Washington), WTTW (Chicago), and
KCET (Los Angeles.) ... It's always worth remembering these numbers at pledge-drive time.
Is NPR
Skipping Over the Murder of Private William Long? Just like audio offered on the National Public Radio
website, NPR transcripts in Nexis do not include top-of-the-hour newscasts. But a quick Nexis search finds there is
no mention of the Monday shooting of Private William Long at a Little Rock recruiting station by a Muslim
convert. ... Meanwhile, Nexis lists NPR has aired seven full stories or interview segments on the Sunday
shooting of late-term abortionist George Tiller.
We are all Marxists
now. National Public Radio's Juan Williams, appearing on Fox News Sunday, insisted repeatedly
that "supply is at an eight year high" as proof that the oil companies are cheating us. He kept
repeating the phrase, as if that would make it a more sensible statement. It didn't. … Frustrated
by his inability to convince others of his nonsense, Williams then insisted that there is no connection
between supply and demand.
Further Proof
NPR Caters to Extreme Left: Even when they try to go a little toward the conservative side of the debate,
they get lambasted by their audience, angered that they had the temerity to air conservative views. Of course, the
only reason they would get such a rude reception from their own audience is because they have garnered only a far left
listenership as a result of their far left programming. After all, if they had a balanced listenership they wouldn't
get deluged by angry emails when they aired conservative content.
PBS, Pay
your own way. My cable company made me a remarkable offer: They want
to add a new channel to my cable subscription — and you will pay for it. The channel
will have liberal news, highbrow entertainment and a variety of educational programming. Sounds
insane, and yet the channel isn't new. It's called PBS. Public broadcasting is
a classic example of welfare for the well-off. … I enjoy PBS, but it hardly seems fair
that the government demands you buy it for me.
Public
Broadcasting: Time to Halt the Taxpayer-Funded Gravy Train. For
years, the government-owned Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and in
turn National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have
been the recipients of large public handouts. Tax dollars from wealthy, middle-income,
and lower-income Americans have gone to subsidize programming whose audience is
disproportionately upper-income.
The age of the State-Owned Mainstream Media is
upon us. The biggest winner within the SOMSM realm has been NPR. Not only does public radio
get a steady stream of government revenue, but it also gets lots of tax-deductible cash. Most profoundly,
the $200 million that NPR received from the estate of Joan Kroc has enabled public radio to play in the
big media leagues. "We're probably the only major national news organization on a growth curve," says
spokeswoman Andi Sporkin. "We're on a hiring binge, expanding bureaus, expanding beats."
Saving
public broadcasting: Public broadcasting has been so successful and popular
that it's now ready to spread its wings and fly on its own. … Let's be clear about
some of the figures that have been tossed about. In 2003, CPB received a $363 million
dollar federal appropriation which was a 45 percent increase in just four years. The
2006 budget calls for $400 million.
Movement
Grows to Push "Public" Broadcasting off the Taxpayers' Dole: Americans
who have long resented having their hard-earned dollars confiscated
to fund the trashing of their values on "public" broadcasting could get relief.
The Other Liberal Radio Network. The
stories about the bankruptcy of Air America, the liberal radio network, usually tried to compare its success,
or lack thereof, to the ability of conservatives to get on hundreds of radio stations. Air America has
89 affiliates, compared to Limbaugh being on 550 stations and Hannity on 515. But the left-leaning
National Public Radio has 800 affiliates and claims an audience of 26 million. It, of course, is
federally-financed.
More Bias from Public Broadcasting.
While conservative radio hosts are on hundreds of radio stations, taxpayer-supported public radio has 800
affiliates. Its bias, usually presented as objectve journalism, has a real impact on people. Its
recent treatment of the controversy over the launch of Al-Jazeera English is a case study of how the bias is
displayed on a daily basis.
NPR
and PBS are Too Conservative, Say Liberal Lawmakers: Wednesday
House hearing on federal funding for the taxpayer-run Public Broadcasting
Service and National Public Radio turned into a debate between subcommittee Republicans
and Democrats about news reporting and overall programming bias.
Editor's Note: If
you stand far enough to the left, everybody will appear to be on your
right. If everybody appears to be too conservative, you must be
a liberal extremist.
The Case for De-Funding Public
Broadcasting: There was a time when non-commercial public broadcasting may have
offered an alternative that people couldn't find elsewhere. With the rise of cable
television and talk radio, however, U.S. taxpayer underwriting of television and radio is
no longer needed. The public should not have to subsidize public broadcasting through
tax dollars or tax breaks. People have access to hundreds of cable channels and radio
stations and networks. Also, satellite television and radio are available. There's
no need to force taxpayers to pay for programming they do not want or enjoy.
NPR
Repeatedly Describes Far-Left Islamists as "Conservative". When
it comes to ideological labeling, the media standard is to presume that the bad guys
are the conservatives or the ones on the right. How else to explain "hard right"
and "conservative" communists when communism is on the far left?
A
Battle Over Programming at National Public Radio. Executives at National
Public Radio are increasingly at odds with the Bush appointees who lead the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting. In one of several points of conflict in recent months, the chairman
of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates federal funds for public radio and television,
is considering a plan to monitor Middle East coverage on NPR news programs for evidence of bias,
a corporation spokesman said on Friday [5/13/2005].
National
Public Radio Criticized in Congressional Hearing: Members of Congress Thursday [2/28/2002]
demanded that the president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting explain questionable reporting practices
by National Public Radio.
NPR Bigots Ignore Sharpton's
Candidacy: The Democrat party establishment would rather ignore the embarrassing White House
wannabe Al "Tawana Brawley" Sharpton. So would its media stooges, including the taxpayer-funded leftist
drones at NPR.
Time
for National Private Radio. Congress has tried before to tamper with the subsidy
to federally funded radio. The attempt stands as one of the signature failures of the fabled
Republican-revolution-that-wasn't, away back there in the dreamy days following the election
of 1994. "If the Corporation for Public Broadcasting still exists in two years," Newt
Gingrich said then, referring to the government agency that funds public radio, "then we will
have failed." Ten years later, Gingrich is gone but NPR survives. … A chief reason
for the failure was the bureaucratic flow chart of public radio — a system of funding
that would have puzzled Rube Goldberg. … The intricacies and indirections of the system might
lead a skeptic to think they were designed precisely to frustrate any congressional attempt at
privatization.
Privatize PBS and NPR. PBS
became the object of outraged citizens when it broadcast a blatantly anti-Boy Scout documentary called "A
Scout's Honor" in 2001. And last December, "Mohammed: Legacy of a Prophet" was more an infomercial
for Islam than an objective documentary. To a greater extent even than PBS, NPR has become a mouthpiece
for the radical left. Conservatives have their talk radio and Christian stations while liberals occupy
the mainstream media. But the radical Left has found its home at NPR.
NPR's
Kroc-pot bubbles over: National Public Radio is not only a broadcast
boutique operated by and for liberals, it's now flooded with more cash than it could
possibly ever need, thanks to a liberal philanthropist.
Rep. DeLay Condemns
NPR for Anti-Christian Smear: A high-ranking House leader Thursday led a series of
attacks on National Public Radio for slandering a Christian group. While five lawmakers raised
the issue on the House floor, a congressional subcommittee confronted NPR's top brass. Some of
the congressmen questioned whether the taxpayers should continue to subsidize NPR's
left-wing propaganda.
Public air
wars: The hearing's purpose was to grill Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, Corporation
for Public Broadcasting president, about hiring two consultants in his campaign
against liberal bias on the airwaves.
In praise of honest
liberals: I almost drove off the road when I heard it, the shock was so great. I
really should have known better than to be listening to the "news" on National Propaganda Radio
instead of the classical music station.
Obama, Justice Thomas and
Col. West: On Morality. A white liberal friend of mine is sure in his own mind that Justice Clarence
Thomas is an intellectual lightweight. Why? Has he read any of Thomas' Supreme Court opinions?
No. He's never bothered. But he's heard about Justice Thomas on NPR.
This ... I Disbelieve. Whoever runs
NPR, aka National Platitudinous Radio, can't have read Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. Or if they have,
they must have missed the definitive dissection he performed on an old radio program called This I Believe, an
Edward R. Murrow special that NPR recently revived.
Public Media Bias and Climate Change:
Taxpayer funded public media has consistent left-wing bias regardless of the party in power. Mission
statements claim balance, but this is never the case. Remove the funding and these agencies fail.
CRS:
Public Broadcasting gets 15 percent of its funds from the taxpayer. At the request of Sen. Jim
DeMint, R-S.C., the non-partisan Congressional Research Service has produced a short report on how much NPR
and PBS together receive from the taxpayer via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The answer for
the current fiscal year (2011) is $430 million. Federal funds make up about 13.7 percent of
the revenue from public broadcasting. By comparison, about 24.4 percent comes from "viewers/listeners
like you," with the remainder coming from business and foundation grants.
FCC Commissioner Wants
to Test the 'Public Value' of Every Broadcast Station. American journalism is in "grave peril," FCC
Commissioner Michael Copps says, and to bolster "traditional media," he said the Federal Communications Commission
should conduct a "public value test" of every commercial broadcast station at relicensing time. In a speech
at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York on Thursday [12/2/2010], Copps also said station
relicensing should happen every four years instead of the current eight.
White House: NPR, Public
Broadcasting 'Important Priorities'. National Public Radio and its parent organization are "worthwhile
and important priorities" to receive federal dollars, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday [3/9/2011]
after the head of NPR resigned over a politically embarrassing undercover video.
NPR hates you. When the
tape was aired, Mr. Schiller issued a statement that his offensive language was "counter to NPR's values" and,
incredibly, "not reflective of [his] own beliefs." NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller, who is an
ideological sister but not a blood relative of Mr. Schiller, rushed out a statement saying his remarks were
"contrary to what NPR stands for and are deeply distressing to reporters, editors and others who bring fairness,
civility and respect for a wide variety of viewpoints to their work everyday." Does any thoughtful person
believe either of these announcements? It is extremely doubtful that anyone — including the
flacks who wrote the statements, the lawyers who signed off on them and the people in whose name they were
released — believes a word of them. Both Schillers are now out of a job and the public
broadcasting damage-control effort is in overdrive.
NPR Media Reporter Folkenflik: Vivian Schiller Didn't Quit She Was
Fired. Not many people were surprised National Public Radio announced that President and CEO Vivian
Schiller had resigned, the day after the release of an undercover video sting showing a former top NPR executive
vilifying grass-roots conservatives and questioning the need for continued federal funding for the organization.
DeMint
on NPR CEO ouster: it's about taxpayer money, not her. Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican,
said National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller getting "ousted" doesn't absolve NPR from federal funding cuts.
"The issue about taxpayers funding public broadcasting isn't about who gets hired or fired, it's about two simple
facts: we can't afford it and they don't need it," DeMint said in a statement.
NPR President Resigns.
Schiller's departure, while welcome, does nothing to correct the politicization of the NPR organization.
Schiller's resignation means that the MSM must cover the story, much as Van Jones's resignation broke the MSM
blockade on the revelations of his self-proclaimed communism. I think it is time to refer to NPR as
"scandal-plagued NPR."
NPR's
CEO Vivian Schiller Is Out; NPR Should Be, Too. NPR raises nearly $800 million a
year; the federal government's support accounts for only 10 percent of its budget. The
now-ousted Schiller claimed in a speech last week that it needs those federal dollars to "leverage"
its private support, but that's absurd — chances are the common knowledge of its federal
funding somewhat depresses its fundraising possibilities.
The End of NPR. The
most outrageous thing about [Ron] Schiller's diatribe is not its bigotry, but its lazy cluelessness.
There isn't a mind-numbing morsel of liberal conventional wisdom he hasn't fully digested. He even
characterized the Tea Party as a band of "fundamentalist Christians" who are "fanatically involved in people's
personal lives," a caricature no one who had even the slightest contact with the Tea Party would believe.
They're fiscal conservatives whose primary issue is uncontrolled federal spending. Schiller appears to
understand very little about the world his network is charged with covering.
Last
Straw For NPR? It's bad enough that taxpayers are forced to support a left-wing media outlet
long since rendered obsolete by the Internet. Now we learn NPR is seeking booty from terrorist sources.
Letting
it all hang out, &c. Have you read about NPR? ... An NPR executive denounced the Tea Party
to two people he believed to be with a Muslim organization. He said, "They believe in sort of white,
middle America, gun-toting — it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people." ... I
feel sure of one thing: If [James] O'Keefe et al were on the left, not on the right, dedicated
to embarrassing and exposing conservatives, they would be hailed as heroes of investigation, transparency,
and truth. They would have won every award under the sun by now.
Push to
Defund Public Broadcasting Heats Up. NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller may have hoped her
departure would help placate budget cutters and public radio's critics on Capitol Hill, but instead they
stepped up calls to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Public radio is indeed popular,
Republicans say, and it should be able to fund itself.
Secret Foreign Money At NPR.
NPR made a big deal of trumpeting their refusal to accept this fat donation. "The fraudulent
organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no
strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept," their official response declared. As it
turns out, they were lying through their teeth. NPR was not only happy to accept millions from the
men posing as Muslim Brotherhood operatives, it volunteered to help them avoid government scrutiny by
remaining anonymous.
Barack
Obama, America's first NPR president. If proof were needed that some people at the top of
National Public Radio despise the public then it was provided last week. In a delicious sting
carried out by the young conservative troublemaker James O'Keefe, Americans were offered a glimpse of
the different plant a certain class of liberal inhabits. For the uninitiated, NPR (officially,
they've actually dropped the radio bit as they pursue digital expansion) is viewed a little bit like the
BBC is in Britain, only much more so: Left-leaning, worthy and a more than a little self-satisfied.
Peeling
Back The Onion That Is 'White, Liberal, Elite' NPR. With National Public Radio in danger
of losing its federal funding and former top official saying Tea Party people are "racist, racist", NPR
board member Sue Schardt recently said the organization had "unwittingly cultivated a core audience that
is predominately white, liberal, highly educated, elite." As Instapundit says, "I'm not so sure it
was all that unwitting."
The
Protocols of the Elders of NPR. As well they should, Nation Public Radio is backing and
shuffling fast to cover the public humiliation of the promulgation of a video showing NPR execs playing
funding footsie with two putative donors masquerading as representatives of a Muslim Brotherhood front group.
Opposing viewpoint:
NPR Videos Are Not
What They Seem. It looks like James O'Keefe's Project Veritas may have some
'splaining to do after an analysis by The Blaze reveals some selective editing of the recently
released NPR videos. The most damning video was the one where now former NPR executive Ron Schiller
was quoted as calling the Tea Partiers as racists. However a further look at the raw footage shows
that Schiller was actually discussing what an Republican Ambassador was saying.
All things reconsidered.
Liberals in general, and NPR in particular, know one of only two reactions to any event. They are either
appalled (which was their go-to reaction in the ACORN scandal) or offended. That is pretty much what they
do. And many liberals do not have room left on the bumpers of their Volvos for any more stickers airing
their pious indignation. They are currently suffering from "appalled fatigue" due to Republican efforts to
de-fund them. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, of which NPR is a part, gets $430 million a year
from the government to cover inane subject matters better left alone.
Juan Williams says...
It's
Time to Defund NPR. I'm not being vindictive when I say that NPR leadership had become ingrown and
arrogant to the point that they lost sight of journalism as the essential product of NPR. People like Schiller
and Ellen Weiss, the head of news for NPR, who made it her life's work to fire me, came to think of themselves as
smarter than anyone else. They felt no need to answer to any critic. No other point of view had any
importance to them. They came to personify anti-intellectual resentment and arrogance in journalism.
House
votes to cut NPR funding. NPR receives about $90 million in federal funding annually,
but the Congressional Budget Office calculated that the net savings from defunding the network would be
zero. Democrats seized on the CBO analysis and ridiculed the GOP for trying to silence popular
public radio programs like "Prairie Home Companion" and "Car Talk" for their own political reasons.
The Editor says...
Nobody is saying those shows won't be on the air after federal funding is cut off. They'll
just be packed with commercials.
Harry Reid: 'I Love NPR'.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), interviewed Tuesday on National Public Radio, began with an
endorsement of the liberal media outlet: "I love NPR," Reid told host Michele Norris right after she
introduced him. Reid went on the show to discuss the debt-ceiling deal that Obama signed on
Tuesday [8/2/2011].
Techniques for Untruth.
As the 2012 election season lurches into full activity and the presidential darling of 2008 looks
increasingly beatable, members of the Obama campaign team, also known as the mainstream press, realize
there's much work to do keeping their man in the White House. Two recent NPR stories display some
techniques available to journalist-activists, allowing them to misrepresent truth while at the same time
maintaining an appearance of objectivity.
NPR
Picks Sesame Workshop CEO as President. Even as House Republicans plan to zero them out,
National Public Radio has picked a new president with Democratic Party connections on his resume. ... The
Washington Post mentioned [Gary] Knell is "a former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee when it was
chaired by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). Before his stint in Washington, he worked as a legal
adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Calif.) during Brown's first term, and for Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.)."
NPR has a long history of Democratic party men as presidents.
NPR prepares for a new reality.
By selecting someone with virtually no newsroom experience but a long history of both defending the federal
funding of public media and raising money, NPR signaled that the battle ahead will not be about journalism,
but about survival.
Totenberg:
'Don't Make Me the Spokesman for the White House'. There was a truly marvelous exchange between
syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and NPR's Nina Totenberg on Friday's "Inside Washington." When
Krauthammer pressed her on why President Obama didn't embrace the Bowles-Simpson plan to reduce the budget
deficit, Totenberg replied, "Don't make me the spokesman for the White House," leading him to deliciously ask,
"What would be new about that?" ... For those not getting the joke, Totenberg like so many on NPR has a long
history of carrying Obama's water. Nicely done, Charles.
Time to Cut off NPR.
National Public Radio continues to define itself in every way as a taxpayer-funded nest of leftism.
NPR couldn't just supportively report on the Occupy Wall Street protests. A fire-breathing
spokeswoman for the "Occupy D.C." protests against capitalism was also an NPR host.
Michele Norris steps down as
husband joins Obama team. NPR host Michele Norris is temporarily stepping down from the
afternoon news show "All Things Considered" because her husband has taken a senior role in President
Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
Back to the top of the page
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the
propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."
— Thomas
Jefferson
The Public Broadcasting Service
More than fifty years ago, the FCC set aside certain television channels for noncommercial educational
television. Perhaps the hope was that something good would come from television, even if
all the other channels degenerated into endless streams of soap operas, game shows and sitcoms. But
in the last several years FCC rules have been relaxed, and these "noncommercial" stations run "enhanced
endorsements" which are actually just TV commercials. Many PBS stations also run self-serving
telethons to raise money by guilt-tripping their gullible local viewers, even though there is plenty of money coming from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Here's an interesting tidbit of information: PBS has 26 stations in the top six television
markets, and a total of 216 stations in the top 100
markets. *
Analyzing the justification for this number of PBS affiliates is left to the reader
as an exercise. If you can't understand the need, perhaps your Congressman could provide an
answer. When you inquire, you might remind him or her that running a television station isn't
cheap. The electric bill alone amounts to a small fortune every month. And since
PBS stations are ostensibly non-commercial, they rely on taxpayers to pick up the tab.
Sesame
Street Muppet Pitches Government Dependence: Free Food at School. A "food insecure" Muppet is helping to
promote a national "Food for Thought" campaign that teaches poor families to seek out nutritious food and to eat on the
taxpayers' tab. At the National Press Club on Thursday [12/8/2011], Lily the Muppet — who worries about
her family not having enough money to feed her properly — pitched free food at school.
Malnourished
Muppets and the Indoctrination of America's Children. After an extended interlude, America finally
has another liberal buzz phrase to add to the country's politically correct vernacular: "Food Insecurity." ... Sesame
Street has introduced a downtrodden "food insecure" Muppet named Lily, whose voice sounds as if she's been
stricken with hunger-induced low blood sugar.
PBS
alters transcript to hide Obama gaffe. At one point Mr. Obama made a major gaffe; he
identified Abraham Lincoln as the founder of the Republican Party. Lincoln did not join the
Republicans until 1856, over two years after the party was founded. The first Republican convention
was held in Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854. Such a gaffe would have brought huge amounts of ridicule
and derision on George W. Bush, but in the case of Obama the media yawned. Actually, they
did more than yawn; government-funded PBS has altered the transcript of the President's speech,
removing the offending comment.
Online
push for Bert, Ernie to have gay wedding on 'Sesame Street'. An online campaign to
pressure the producers of "Sesame Street" into having lovable roommates Bert and Ernie get married
is gathering steam.
It's not educational TV, it's indoctrination TV.
WaPo
Columnist: Forget Ernie and Bert, Time for a Regular Gay Human Couple on 'Sesame Street'. In
Friday's [8/12/2011] Washington Post, Metro section columnist Petula Dvorak dismissed the half-serious
campaign by gay advocates to have the Muppet characters Ernie and Bert get married. She said preschoolers
should see two new human characters on the educational PBS show: a gay couple. "Preschoolers will
get this," she insisted.
PBS Facing Station Defections.
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), which has been fending off Congressional threats to its public funding,
is facing new threats to its future as stations contemplate leaving the PBS system. Last year longtime
affiliate KCET in Los Angeles announced its intention to not renew its contract with PBS, citing the
burdensome dues that had risen 40% to $7 million just as the economy soured and donations to the
station dropped.
Hungry Muppet to appear
on "Sesame Street". A new poverty-stricken Muppet will highlight the issue of hunger struggles
on an episode of "Sesame Street", the show said in a statement on Tuesday [10/4/2011]. Pink-faced Muppet Lily,
whose family deals with food insecurity, will join Big Bird, Elmo and other favorites on a one-hour
prime-time special...
The Editor says...
This is obviously political propaganda masquerading as "educational" television for children.
This one Muppet apparently goes around hungry all the time, so I suppose we're all supposed to feel sorry for
him (or her, or it) and demand that Congress pass more legislation. As long as they're
engaging in political theater, why not introduce a Muppet who has asthma because of a nearby
coal-fired power plant, and another Muppet who goes into convulsions whenever he's near a
peanut butter sandwich? How about a Muppet with a racial chip on his shoulder, and
a Muppet who has no idea who his father is? Pretty soon, the show will be indistinguishable
from South Park.
Occupy Sesame Street. The
No. 1 food issue for children in low-income families is obesity. From the CDC: "The CDC has
introduced the four-year Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project, which aims to prevent obesity in children
2 to 12 who are included in the Children's Health Insurance Program. The $25 million
project, funded under provisions in the Affordable Care Act, will look for ways to promote healthy, active
living and seeks to involve families and communities." So why is Sesame Street adding a new character
Lily to represent malnourished kids who don't know where their next meal will come from?
PBS
Shows Will No Longer Be Ad-Free. PBS will soon end its long-standing practice of airing entirely
commercial-free programming, one of its largest selling points to both viewers and sponsors. At the
network's annual meeting held this month in Orlando, executives told member stations that shows like Nature
and Nova will feature four commercial breaks beginning this fall, with the longest uninterrupted stretch of
programming coming in at just under 15 minutes, the New York Times reports.
PBS Facing Station Defections.
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), which has been fending off Congressional threats to its public funding, is
facing new threats to its future as stations contemplate leaving the PBS system. Last year longtime affiliate
KCET in Los Angeles announced its intention to not renew its contract with PBS, citing the burdensome dues that had
risen 40% to $7 million just as the economy soured and donations to the station dropped.
The Muppets' Spendthrift
Lobby. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-N.C., has taken particular aim at CPB and its corporate offspring,
PBS, noting on his blog that in 1967, when CPB was created to "facilitate the development of public
communications," there were only a handful of television stations with limited viewing choices. Now
we have hundreds of channels running through our cables, bouncing off our satellite dishes and dancing on
our iPads. There is no reason why lavishly successful offerings like "Sesame Street" couldn't succeed
on their own. The fact is, many of the offerings on PBS, television's answer to Air America, don't
deserve airing, much less a public subsidy.
Why
Is PBS Linking to Fake Biographies of Conservatives?. Politicians and pundits are again
debating the wisdom and necessity of American taxpayer support for public radio and television.
Both Juan Williams's firing and alleged comments by National Public Radio's executive Ron Schiller have
raised real questions about political bias. It seems that the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
has a similar problem.
Arthur
and Elmo Are Not a Rationale for Government Broadcasting. Back in the 1960s, when there were
few television channels to choose from, there might have been an argument for "educational television," as
PBS was generally known. But in an era when the vast majority of Americans have access to literally
hundreds of channels of every possible variety of programming, there is no need for Washington to fund a
privileged liberal-leaning network. Where once a local PBS station was the only place where a quality
kids' TV show like Sesame Street could be found, there are now a number of such alternatives on basic
and premium cable. Indeed, popular shows like Sesame Street and Arthur are successful
commercial enterprises on their own and require no subsidization.
The Editor says...
Cable and satellite are not the only competition. Numerous companies distribute educational TV
programming for children on VHS or DVD.
Move on,
Big Bird. A subsidiary of New York City's PBS station, Channel 13, has agreed to pay back
nearly $1 million after the US attorney filed a civil grant-fraud lawsuit. Prosecutors charged
that the Educational Broadcasting Corp., which produces programming for Channel 13, "made false or
fraudulent claims" and "submitted false statements" regarding $1.2 million in federal grants between
2001 and 2008.
Tavis
Smiley of PBS: 'We're All Working For Barack Obama'. Chris Matthews won't be working
alone. Back in November, the Hardball host said it was his job to make Barack Obama's presidency a
success. Today, another TV journalist expressed a similar sentiment. Tavis Smiley has declared
that "we're all working for Barack Obama" and that "we have to help make Obama a great president."
Ronald
Reagan: The 100-Year-Old Racist? Ronald Reagan "tortured" blacks. Tavis Smiley, the PBS
television host, once said this about the former president.
Kill Big Bird.
Congress can save a quick $420 million a year by zeroing out the budget for the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting. It's a needless drain on the public coffers that has outlived its usefulness.
President Johnson saw the Public Broadcasting Act as a means of lending government support to arts and
education programming, an element of his vision of the Great Society. That was in the days when the big
three networks dominated television and AM radio was in its heyday.
PBS Wages War
On Pro-Lifers. The Public Broadcasting Service recently announced it will not allow new
religious programming on their taxpayer-subsidized airwaves. The handful of stations that have shown a
Catholic Mass or Mormon devotions will be allowed to continue, but the other 300-plus stations have been
instructed to avoid any kind of evangelism. Welcome to Barack Obama's new world order.
PBS board approves compromise on
religious programs. The board of the Public Broadcasting Service says the handful of PBS
stations that carry religious services or devotionals can continue showing them, but cannot add new programs
defined as sectarian — that is, "placing one religion above all others."
Why
Should So Many Americans Feel Threatened by Business? [Television] has offered several decades
worth full of negative stereotypes and sleazy plot twists involving businessmen. As long ago as 1987, a
controversial PBS documentary called "Hollywood's Favorite Heavy: Businessmen on Prime Time TV" (hosted
by movie legend Eli Wallach) pointed to the tendency of major networks to portray corporate executives as
felonious, ruthless, blackmailing, violent, lecherous, unfaithful, greedy and, frequently, murderous.
The program cited studies at the time showing that on fictional network series (including dramas, soap operas,
and even comedies), no occupational group so frequently committed major crimes so frequently as wealthy
business leaders.
PBS, Bill Moyers, and AIG.
[Scroll down] Well, as of today, the hounds are loosed. In the world of Barney [Frank] and Andy [Cuomo]
everyone has a right to know who gets public money of any kind and how much. So, what's up with PBS, NPR and
its parent Corporation for Public Broadcasting? Are they the AIG of the media?
New PBS outrage.
Our federally-funded propaganda broadcaster is dispensing with any pretense of nonpartisanship in a new
documentary.
KBYU
may lose its PBS affiliation. A handful of Public Broadcast Service television stations —
including Brigham Young University's KBYU-TV — face the possibility of losing their affiliation if
PBS votes this summer to punish those whose programming includes religious shows. In KBYU's case, the
continued broadcast of BYU devotionals could result in the loss of signature PBS fare like "Sesame Street,"
"Barney," "NewsHour" and "This Old House."
Wright Speaks
for the Left. The Rev. Wright's decision to allow himself to be interviewed by Bill Moyers was,
from his perspective, an excellent one. It is difficult to imagine a less challenging, more fawning,
interview. How bad was it? Given that one of the most egregious of the Rev. Wright's statements
was his charge that the American government developed the AIDS virus and inflicted it on black Americans, one
assumed that the first major reporter to interview Wright since the comments were made public would ask him
about it. Not Bill Moyers.
The PBS Foundation: These days, "PBS" often
stands for "Pretty Bland Stuff" … Yet the rap against PBS has always been its biased public affairs programming.
Aside from the nightly "News Hour" with Jim Lehrer, most PBS news programs are little more than left-wing agitprop. The
ominous sound track on the PBS series "Frontline" typically signals yet another tale of corporate malfeasance and political
intrigue. The human interest stories on "Independent Lens" and "P.O.V." are politically correct lamentations on
social oppression or celebrations of "diversity."
How Taxpayer-Funded
Broadcasting Is "Surging" Left Under Democrats. The Democratic takeover of Congress in 2007
quickly made one definitive change in the national media infrastructure. ... In previous years with Democratic
control of Congress, PBS has played a more activist role within the media, dragging the rest of the national
media further to the left and spurring more aggression and ill will against conservative and Republican
leaders. Just as 2007 has been a year for a "surge" of troops in Iraq, it's also been a year
of "surging" activism within PBS.
Honoring Independence at PBS: The potentates who
run the taxpayer-subsidized Corporation for Public Broadcasting have an exquisite sense of timing. To honor America's
232nd birthday, PBS is bracketing our nation's anniversary with a three-part documentary on the horrors of warfare in the
20th century. Regrettably, nearly two-thirds of the series is a dubious assessment of American motives and methods
during and after World War II.
A John Edwards
infomercial via PBS. The nebulous project is a transparent pretext to maintain the ex-senator's
entourage (and his face on TV free-of-charge) while he plans his next political move. Edwards invokes
the usual saccharine platitudes and failed public-policy prescriptions, albeit superficially acknowledging
some of the shortcomings of past governmental "Wars on Poverty". Notably absent is any indication of a
selfless charitable donation from the Edward's own considerable wealth.
House retains
public broadcasting funds. The House Wednesday evening [7/18/2007] overwhelmingly rejected
President Bush's plan to eliminate the $420 million federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting. The move to kill subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which make
up about 15 percent of its budget, was launched by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.
PBS Chief Denies Public TV is
Liberal. It is another case of the liberals not admitting to what they really are: a
bunch of liberals promoting a liberal agenda. They call their liberal media "mainstream" in denial
of their true nature.
Back
to Bias Basics at PBS. [Kenneth] Tomlinson is long gone, and Democrats now control Congress.
But another step was necessary for the re-emergence of classic PBS propaganda: the return of Bill Moyers.
He was back to full-time fulminating duties on April 25, with a special titled "Buying the War." The
entire thesis of this 90-minute taxpayer-funded lecture? The national media were willing cogs in the
neoconservative machine that took America to war.
PBS
Telling Teachers to Violate First Amendment, Group Says. A packet for educators issued by
the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in conjunction with the NOVA program "Judgment Day: Intelligent
Design on Trial" encourages teaching practices that are probably unconstitutional, a conservative organization
stated on Tuesday [11/13/2007].
Moderate and Radical
Muslims: the Confused PBS View. In 2006, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
commissioned Islam vs. Islamism for a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series, "America at the
Crossroads" — with a $675,000, taxpayer-funded grant. But in February, Washington D.C. PBS
affiliate WETA, discarded the documentary as too "alarmist," effectively declaring it inappropriate for the
entire PBS network — and taxpaying viewers nationwide. It is troubling that a single PBS
affiliate can control a decision with such significant national import.
Too
Fine for PBS. I have to admit the first thing that attracted me to Martyn Burke's "Islam vs.
Islamists" was that PBS had suppressed it. … PBS's initial explanation was that the film was
not good enough, aesthetically.
Politicizing
PBS. Isn't it time to take the "public" out of the Public Broadcasting System? For years,
PBS has been a politi cal football -- thanks primarily to the fact that the bulk of the network's cash comes
not from "the support of viewers like you" but from the federal budget.
The Dark Side of PBS: The Public
Broadcasting Service (PBS) has reminded us again of why we don't want our tax dollars going into this
left-wing outfit. Its Frontline documentary about the events leading up to the war in Iraq was an
absolute model of liberal media bias. From the absurd title, "The Dark Side," to the dour images
of Vice President Cheney and the other villains of the piece, to the complete one-sided nature of the
arguments and the cast of characters. It made the argument for an end to taxpayer funding of PBS.
The Dark Side of PBS, Part 2. The
PBS Frontline documentary, "The Dark Side," about the events leading up to the war in Iraq, was guilty of some
of the same charges it leveled against Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
These officials were accused of manipulating information in order to get us involved in Iraq. But PBS
itself manipulated information to make the administration look bad, even dishonest.
The Case for De-Funding Public
Broadcasting: There was a time when non-commercial public broadcasting may have
offered an alternative that people couldn't find elsewhere. With the rise of cable
television and talk radio, however, U.S. taxpayer underwriting of television and radio is
no longer needed. The public should not have to subsidize public broadcasting through
tax dollars or tax breaks. People have access to hundreds of cable channels and radio
stations and networks. Also, satellite television and radio are available. There's
no need to force taxpayers to pay for programming they do not want or enjoy.
What public broadcasting
is and isn't: [PBS is] liberal. It just is. To say it isn't is just plain
batty. The shows we associate most with PBS are run by liberals … and they tend to
tackle questions from a liberal perspective. The people who run PBS are liberals. The
decision-makers are liberals, and — contrary to funhouse logic of PBS's left-wing
critics — the fact that these executives sometimes opt to put conservatives on the
air doesn't change that fact.
The film PBS doesn't want you to see. The
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and its flagship stations (including Washington's WETA) have frequently allowed the public
airwaves to be used to promote a variety of agendas with which as much as half the population strongly disagreed. These
have included many hour-long documentaries and other programs featuring vitriolic critiques of our government and its leaders,
disparaging portrayals of our country's policies and values and flattering portrayals, if not effusive endorsements, of those
who share such sentiments.
Climate of Fear: From Nuclear
Winter to Global Warming. This year is the 25th anniversary of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series
on public television, a landmark in the public's awareness and interest in science issues. Sagan achieved
a degree of celebrity few if any scientists today enjoy, particularly among the bon pensants who tend to
treat anything produced by PBS as holy writ. It is a fitting time to look back at the genesis of today's
climate debates, for Sagan became one of the first politicizers of fear of catastrophic climate change.
PBS Gets
Religion. Ronald Reagan used to say that he didn't leave the Democratic Party; the party left
him. Apparently that's how lots of liberals feel about PBS. … One viewer gripes that the network
is "validating the new Right Wing Evangelical perspective that has become oppressive in this country."
Another wants the shows banned because "schools and governments are prohibited from promulgating
superstitious dogma."
PBS's
Brand of 'Civility'. PBS station managers made a big push last year to drive any trace of
"sectarian" Christianity out of the taxpayer-funded broadcasting system, banning any church services or
religious lectures that appeared on a handful of stations. They ultimately compromised and banned any
new church programming. But on at least one program, PBS sounds like it's declaring war on
Christianity, including smears on Christianity that are not based on reality.
Public TV Does Not Belong In the
Minnesota Constitution. "This proposed Amendment is absurd," said David Strom,
President of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. "Putting the arts, zoos, and public television
into the Constitution doesn't make any sense at all." "Essentially we are creating a Constitutional
right to Public TV. Is this the 'Elmo and petting zoo' right that our Founding Fathers fought so
hard for? The 'interpretive dance and performance art' right?"
Wither Public TV? There's
really nothing on PBS that you can't imagine on any number of cable networks, such as Bravo or A&E or
Discovery or the National Geographic Channel. … PBS is at this point basically an upscale,
government-funded, highbrow version of the mindset behind pretty much every major television network
except for Fox News.
AIM Denounces Public Broadcasting for
Breaking Federal Law. Accuracy in Media (AIM) editor Cliff Kincaid has urged
Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), to open an
immediate investigation into how public broadcasting engaged in illegal lobbying against
the proposed $100 million cut in federal funding of public TV and radio. Mr. Kincaid cited
31 USC § 1352,
which prohibits the use of federal funds to engage in lobbying activities.
The $50 Billion New Socialist Media.
While the McChesney show has a very small listening audience, its format and themes may give us some insight into the
kind of "new media" we could expect from passage of the $50 billion "Public Media Trust Fund," a Free Press
proposal which is supposed to be financed by a tax on home electronic devices. This would be on top of the
$8 billion from taxpayers that has been provided to the CPB for public TV and radio since 1967. (The
CPB currently receives about $400 million a year.)
Public
Broadcasting: Time to Halt the Taxpayer-Funded Gravy Train. For
years, the government-owned Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and in
turn National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have
been the recipients of large public handouts. Tax dollars from wealthy, middle-income,
and lower-income Americans have gone to subsidize programming whose audience is
disproportionately upper-income.
TVC Condemns PBS For Tax-Payer Funded
Attack Against Boy Scouts: "If a heterosexual young man wanted to be a Girl Scout or
Brownie leader, most people would be concerned about his sexual intentions," said TVC Chairman Rev.
Louis P. Sheldon. "We should have an equal concern for homosexuals when they indicate a
desire to be Boy Scout leaders. Men who wish to have sex with men should not have access to
young boys."
Saving
public broadcasting: Public broadcasting has been so successful and popular
that it's now ready to spread its wings and fly on its own. … Let's be clear about
some of the figures that have been tossed about. In 2003, CPB received a $363 million
dollar federal appropriation which was a 45 percent increase in just four years. The
2006 budget calls for $400 million.
Squelching Public
Broadcasting. Any network in existence would happily fund Sesame
Street. Why should we?
A Liberal Boss For
Liberal PBS: The ultra-liberal Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has a new boss, and
the head of the tax-funded network is a perfect choice for the left-leaning network — she's
a certified member of America's ultra-liberal elite.
It's time for
public broadcasting to go private. "Sesame Street" is one of the most popular
children's programs in history — so popular that licensing fees from "Sesame Street" dolls,
toys, clothing and other merchandise are the main source of income for the organization that produces
the show. … Children's programming that has an audience does not need taxpayer subsidies.
PBS jousting: The
question of a left-wing tilt in public television is in the news again, this time posed by the man who
runs the federal agency that funds public broadcasting. Veteran journalist Ken Tomlinson, board
chairman at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has raised the ire of public television executives
by having the temerity to suggest some of the documentary and other news programs aired on PBS are
often lopsidedly liberal.
PBS, Recruiting for Islam. What would be the
best way to convert lots of Americans to Islam? Forget print, go to film. Put together a handsome
documentary with an original musical score that presents Islam's prophet Muhammad in the most glowing manner,
indeed, as a model of perfection. Round up Muslim and non-Muslim enthusiasts to endorse the nobility and
truth of his message. Splice in vignettes of winsome American Muslims testifying to the justice and
beauty of their Islamic faith. Then get the U.S. taxpayer to help pay for it.
PBS Analysts Ridicule Eminent Domain
Concerns of Conservatives. During PBS's coverage Wednesday [9/14/2005] of the Senate
hearing with Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, analysts ridiculed the concern of some conservative
Senators over the Supreme Court's recent eminent domain ruling and mocked the role of naive talk
radio hosts.
PBS
Peddles New Online Leftist Indoctrination to Children. Built with your tax dollars, EekoWorld
is a whole complex of games, cartoons, and narrated stories aimed at young children on the "PBS Kids"
website. "PBSkids.org" is so heavily promoted during children's programming on PBS, that it was among
the first complex word sets that my son learned to speak. Whenever the third parent, I mean "the
television," would sing the PBS Kids jingle, "P-B-S Kids!" my little internet junkie would quickly add "dot
org!" Keep in mind that this was before Buster the Rabbit decided to teach the PBS kids about Lesbian
couples making children and maple syrup in the mountains of Vermont, so I didn't think anything about letting
the boy, now 4 years old, watch unlimited PBS, which I figure I've paid for already anyway.
Bear Lobby Mauls
First Amendment. One of the arguments in favor of public broadcasting
was that public TV would be independent and willing to take risks. But New Jersey public
television has yanked a documentary because it upset the animal rights movement. The film,
titled, "Bears: Too Close for Comfort," could possibly have saved lives by alerting people
in New Jersey to the very real threat posed by black bears, some weighing 500 pounds, on
the prowl for food. Marauding black bears in the state are attacking
people, including young children.
Public
Broadcasting: Your Tax Dollars Fund Liberal Bias. When President Lyndon
Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the bill included language insisting that
fairness and objectivity should be observed in "all programming of a controversial
nature." These words were routinely ignored on PBS television broadcasts and NPR
news programming. In 1992, Congress toughened that language, and public broadcasters
still ignored it. How have PBS and NPR displayed a liberal tilt over the
years? [Numerous examples included.]
"Alleged" tilt
at PBS: PBS is still a liberal monstrosity transforming the hard-earned dollars
of many Bush-loving taxpayers into fire-breathing Bush-loathing programming.
The
PBS Attack on Wal-Mart: PBS's Frontline spent most of its Tuesday night November 16
program attacking Wal-Mart and blaming it for killing American jobs, contributing to the trade deficit
and helping put Rubbermaid out of business. The program titled "Is Wal-Mart good for
America?" featured correspondent Hedrick Smith saying the U.S. is "like a third-world country"
because we import so many goods from China compared to what we ship them. ... The bottom line
on taxpayer-funded PBS was that Frontline was out to get Wal-Mart.
Is
Wal-Mart good for America? On Tuesday [11/16/2004], the Public Broadcasting
Service ran a scathing attack on Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, on its "Frontline"
series. ... In short, "Frontline" presented a one-sided hit piece disguised as objective
news reporting. Everyone responsible for it should be embarrassed for this
grotesquely unfair case of taxpayer-financed liberal propaganda.
DOE Director
Calls PBS to Account for Pro-Homosexual Cartoon. The new U.S. Secretary of
Education [has] denounced the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for spending public money
on a cartoon with homosexual characters. Although the episode, which has not yet
aired, focuses on an animated bunny named Buster and a visit to a maple sugar farm
in Vermont, it also features a lesbian couple and their children.
Big Bird Doesn't
Deserve Big Bucks From Uncle Sam. A spokesman for a media watchdog organization
says it is hard to justify why the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, two
very liberal media outlets, continue to need federal tax dollars to stay on the air while other
broadcasters have to compete in the marketplace.
Excellent!
PBS
is no longer relevant — if it ever was — so cut it off. PBS
and National Public Radio are, of course, relevant to their small but well-educated and affluent
coterie of viewers and listeners, and they are certainly relevant to those who produce their
shows, take their money or use them to promote their invariably politically correct causes, but
their wider relevance in today's world is questionable at best.
Moyers Ends With a Silly Whimper,
Not a Bang. Bill Moyers is retiring from his subsidized perch at PBS, most recently on the weekly
liberal hour known as Now. To mark the occasion, Moyers told the AP that he will end by uncovering
the major story of our time, the media's conservative bias: "We have an ideological press that's
interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom
line." Ridiculous.
FCC Fines Worry
Broadcasters. Worried about big fines from the government, PBS is carefully monitoring the
content of its shows for profanity, nudity or anything that may be deemed indecent, the nonprofit network's
chief says.
Unplug Moyers, PBS.
This is a guy who is wrong about everything. Even when he's right, he's wrong because of his evil
motivations. Who is this man? It's Bill Moyers, the political activist masquerading as a
journalist and living the comfortable, taxpayer-subsidized life at PBS.
Another Pro-Gay PBS
Summer: Some things in life you can count on. The sun will come up. The Washington
Redskins think they have another winning team this year. And in those lazy, hazy days of summer, PBS will
take your tax dollars and air another offensive agitprop film promoting the righteousness of homosexuality.
Talk is expensive when it comes to
Bill Moyers: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR, has an annual
budget of about $2.2 billion. More than $300 million of that comes from the American taxpayer,
according to the CPB Web site (www.cpb.org). Moyers' production company, Public Affairs Television, gets
paid by PBS, but it is unclear how much since PBS will not say.
PBS Under Threat From Competition:
Critics say that PBS has compromised its mission over the last 30 years, squandering taxpayer dollars with
little thought to viewer accountability and becoming slaves to corporate underwriters and political correctness.
Close Sesame? A
Review of "PBS: Behind the Screen". As a hybrid government-foundation fiefdom, PBS may have
helped to correct some of the banality of Minow's "vast wasteland." Certainly it has broadcast fine
cultural and educational offerings. But many of its programs have carried a liberal bias. Even its
nature specials often take a particular environmentalist slant, without providing countervailing views.
Inevitably, PBS became an ideological combatant in the cultural war.
Congressional Testimony of Tim Graham,
Director of Media Analysis, Media Research Center. Contrary to the assertions of congressional staff, this
left-leaning image of PBS and NPR is not a "myth," but an image that is both well-earned and well-documented.
CPB Exposed:
By law, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is required to insure balance in all "programming of a
controversial nature," but CPB refused to undergo a study of its content. A study released by the Center
for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) shows why: there is no balance on PBS.
PBS And The 'Remarkable' Ted
Turner: Al Gore went to Harvard with Erich Segal, the author of "Love Story," so he knows that
being in love with the planet Earth means never having to say you're sorry when your doomsday pitches are
massively, dreadfully wrong. But shouldn't PBS and other media outlets be held accountable when
doomsday predictions they've facilitated from 15 or 20 years ago fail to materialize?
Liberalism is so impressed with its own brilliance that results apparently don't matter.
Taxpayer-financed
Journalist: Arrest Bush! "Lying" about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, holding detainees at
Gitmo, and prosecuting the saintly matron of all things domestic, Martha Stewart. Those are just three
reasons taxpayer-financed journalist Bonnie Erbe finds for filing criminal charges on outgoing President
George W. Bush and his dastardly underlings.
PBS's latest infomercial.
In May I reported that PBS stations were airing medical programs that weren't adequately reviewed or vetted
by either the local station or parent PBS corporation. My concern was that publicly funded stations
were broadcasting questionable medical claims, made by Daniel Amen, M.D., about unproven methods for the
prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, without properly warning viewers the information was
controversial.
FCC's Chief Diversity Officer Wants Private
Broadcasters to Fund Public Broadcasting. Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity
Officer of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for making private broadcasting companies
pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs to allow public broadcasting outlets to spend
the same on their operations as the private companies do.
Somewhat related...
NJN Signs Off Forever.
State-owned television network New Jersey Network will permanently go dark Friday, after more than a year's
fight against Gov. Chris Christie and the N.J. Senate's decision to get out of the television business. ... Christie
decided a year ago that state funds should not be used to run a television station, which has been
reporting news to the area for the past 40 years.
The Editor says...
There are plenty of other television stations, even if these stations go off the air, which they
didn't. Television stations change ownership all the time.
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