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National Public Radio started out its typically partisan week by filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his attempts to defund NPR and PBS. Their lawyers arrogantly argued that Trump’s actions violated the First Amendment. Somehow, freedom of speech requires conservatives to fund speech they oppose. Trump voters must fund virulently anti-Trump “journalism.”
Surprisingly, the morning and evening newscasts of ABC, CBS and NBC didn’t report on this. But their streaming channels did. On the streaming CBS “Daily Report,” they brought on legal expert Jessica Levinson to buttress the free-speech argument. “The First Amendment arguments that NPR brings up here, I think, are quite strong … because what’s in the public record is the Trump administration saying, we don’t like the content of what NPR is disseminating.”
At least CBS anchor Lindsey Reiser quoted from the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which clearly states that there should be “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.” That passage has been ignored on a daily basis since 1967.
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NPR was mentioned in passing on Wednesday’s “CBS Mornings.” Reporter Jarred Hill cited, “On NPR Tuesday, Harvard`s president said the university has made real progress dealing with antisemitism.” This was an interview with Harvard President Alan Garber where NPR morning host Steve Inskeep threw anti-Trump softballs, including: “Is the administration trying to damage, destroy or capture your university?”
NPR and PBS are fighting against Trump cuts to their budgets. FILE: The headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) is seen in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
If you would like to count ABC’s “The View” as a news show – and it’s technically a product of ABC News, which is perpetually embarrassing – on Thursday, May 29, they celebrated NPR “founding mothers” Susan Stamberg and Nina Totenberg for Jewish American Heritage Month.
Over treacly music, Sarah Haines hailed Stamberg as the first female anchor of a national broadcast news program with a “neutral and relatable tone.” Then she gushed over Totenberg for winning seven awards from the American Bar Association, as if that group isn’t a gaggle of Democrats.
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Haines oozed that “Nina was dubbed the Queen of Leaks by Vanity Fair for her award-winning reports on top secret Supreme Court Watergate deliberations and for breaking the bombshell story of sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas – which he has denied.”
In reality, Totenberg has been a queen of leaks from Democrats seeking to damage Republican Supreme Court picks. She succeeded in ruining Douglas Ginsburg in 1987, failed to get Thomas in 1991, and she relished the unproven claims of Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers in 2018. But she wrote an entire book relating how she and leftist Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg were the best of pals titled “Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships.”
The “PBS News Hour” came to NPR’s defense with a softball interview on May 27 that included more bias-denying absurdity from NPR CEO Katherine Maher. PBS host Geoff Bennett mentioned that Republicans accuse NPR of a liberal bias, and longtime NPR editor Uri Berliner “accused the network of having what he called a lack of viewpoint diversity. How do you respond to those critiques?”
Mayer unleashed the chutzpah: “Well, I first of all, respond by saying we’re a nonpartisan news organization. We seek to be able to provide a range of different viewpoints in terms of who we bring on air, the stories that we tell. … My view is that that is a mischaracterization of our work. We do not seek to favor any political party at all.”
Bennett didn’t note that Berliner investigated NPR news employees who registered to vote in the District of Columbia and found 87 Democrats and zero Republicans. That might make Maher look foolish.
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This was like CBS’s “Face the Nation” hosting Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger on May 4. [Host Margaret Brennan helpfully suggested that when the president described the networks as “radical left monsters,” she could only think of Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street.” These networks are just like cute and fuzzy Muppets.]
ABC’s “The View” loves NPR’s Nina Totenberg. (Allison Shelley/NPR)
Brennan gently asked Maher about complaints about fairness: “How do you respond to the implication that your news coverage is not?” Maher typically claimed “We have an extraordinary Washington desk, and our people report straight down the line, and I think that not only do they do that, they do so with a mission that very few other broadcast organizations have, which is a requirement to serve the entire public..”
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Calling NPR “straight down the line” makes about as much sense as claiming the Rocky Mountains are a prairie.
NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik was ordered to cover this lawsuit in the most one-sided way, both on “Morning Edition” and the very inaccurately titled evening newscast “All Things Considered.” They didn’t consider offering a conservative critique of the NPR lawsuit.
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At least CBS anchor Lindsey Reiser quoted from the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which clearly states that there should be “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.” That passage has been ignored on a daily basis since 1967.
Folkenflik also appeared on the NPR talk show “Here & Now,” where co-host Scott Tong intoned the usual silly corporate language: “No NPR official or news executive has had any influence on this story.” And then the entire interview could be summarized as “So tell us what NPR’s CEO said about this?”
In other words, “No NPR executive viewed this beforehand” and … it would pass with flying colors if they did. The idea that there is any objectivity or balance on this network is easily shattered by listening to it.
