- Recently, I had the idea of researching what the other
side is doing, so I decided to search Google.com for the words "Liberal
Democrat." I found some very interesting things.
-
- The first page of results contained mostly links for
the Liberal Party in the UK and Europe - nothing at all to do with either
Liberals or Democrats in America. The paid ads dealt with topics like "Dating
for Democrats" and "Anti-Bush Gear," and of course the Leftist
propaganda website MoveOn.org was prominently featured.
-
- However, the most interesting aspect of this Google search
was the paid ad for National Public Radio at the top of the page. The ad
declared:
-
- "Liberal Democrat. www.NPR.org . Objective, in-depth
& informed political coverage & analysis."
-
- If you search Google for "Conservative Republican,"
however, you will not find any ads for NPR. It is obvious what type of
listener NPR really wants to reach. Their political content is clearly
biased and leans strongly to the Left.
-
- What is NPR? One online encyclopedia calls National Public
Radio a "loosely organized public radio network" that was founded
in 1970 (after passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967) and created
to broadcast news and cultural programming. Here's how the encyclopedia
glowingly describes that network:
-
- "NPR is an internationally acclaimed producer and
distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.
A privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization, NPR serves
a growing audience of 26 million Americans each week in partnership with
more than 780 independently operated, noncommercial public radio stations."
(See http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/National-Public-Radio <http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/National-Public-Radio>
.)
-
- I personally suspect that "growing audience of 26
million" consists mostly of the hardcore Left-wingers left over from
the student radical movements of the 1960s and 70s.
-
- So, exactly who funds NPR?
-
- Well, first of all, NPR charges hefty fees to the member
stations who receive its programming, and that accounts for about half
of its current $100 MILLION annual budget. The rest comes from private
donations, corporate contributions, and grants from charitable foundations,
often to underwrite specific projects.
-
- Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, the lion's share of
NPR's support came from the U.S. taxpayers via the Federal government.
But during the Reagan years, Conservative critics wanted to de-fund NPR
completely, and that led to both a major funding crisis in 1983 and to
massive changes in NPR's support structure. Today only about 2 percent
of NPR's total funding comes from government grants and programs.
-
- NPR network member stations also benefit from both private
donations and government funding, but they are notorious for raising money
through periodic on-the-air pledge drives which appeal to their well-heeled
Lefty listeners to donate money to "Save Public Radio," or to
keep so-called "quality programming" on the air. Unfortunately,
there is really no danger of NPR's Liberal agenda fading into the sunset
anytime soon.
-
- Urban myths abound. In 1995, for example, two Left-leaning
college students started an e-mail petition in which they falsely claimed
that Nina Totenberg had warned her "Morning Edition" listeners
that "if the Supreme Court supports Congress [in efforts to de-fund
NPR], it will, in effect, be the end of National Public Radio." Although
the nonexistent funding crisis has long passed, that bogus chain letter
refuses to die and continues to circulate on the Internet - much like the
equally bogus "FCC Petition" that has Dr. Dobson allegedly warning
Christians that the Gospel is about to be banned from the airwaves.
-
- NPR carries no traditional advertising but does broadcast
brief PR statements from its major donors. These lofty statements of humanitarian
good will are called "underwriting spots," not commercials, and
are bound by certain FCC restrictions. For example, these spots cannot
promote any product nor advocate any "call to action." This ban
on commercial advertisements is supposed to keep NPR's pristine "public"
programming unsullied by the corrupting influences of capitalism.
-
- The net effect, however, has been to reinforce its promotion
of All Things Liberal. Since NPR is not dependent on traditional advertising
revenue, its producers are largely free of the economic decision-making
process that is driven by ratings - and thus NPR is also less accountable
to the general market. The result is programming that some may consider
to be "less sensationalistic," but which is more blatantly biased
than what most mainstream listeners would normally accept.
-
- In 2003, the estate of McDonald's Corporation heiress
Joan B. Kroc (the widow of Golden Arches founder Ray Kroc) gave a super-sized
$200 MILLION bequest to NPR - a huge windfall equal to twice NPR's annual
operating budget. Clearly NPR's tragic funding crisis is now but a vestige
of the dim and distant past.
-
- Liberals love to complain about Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly,
Sean Hannity and other Conservative media personalities whose common sense
messages resonate with millions of grassroots Americans - many of whom
also happen to be Republicans.
-
- But those same Liberals are loath to admit that in NPR,
they have their own government-protected, lavishly supported, politically
correct propaganda network created especially for Liberal Democrats. Let's
just let the truth be known.
-
- Since NPR clearly has a liberal and biased agenda I believe
it only fair they give back the millions the government gave them to start
their business. You think that will happen?
-
- Copyright © 2005 by Nathan Tabor
-
- Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based
in Kernersville, North Carolina. He has his BA in Psychology and his Master's
Degree in Public Policy. He is a contributing editor at www.theconservativevoice.com.
Contact him at Nathan@nathantabor.com.
-
-
-
- Comment
From Glenn McCarthy
6-7-5
-
- Mr. Tabor:
-
- It took me a while to uncover a clear argument in your
rantings, but I was able to outline it and I have three responses for you.
-
- You seem irrationally upset that those whom you have
labeled "liberals" have found a media outlet to fund which has
not been taken over by right-wing corporations or the culture of big money
commercialism in general. And, you claim that NPR should not be provided
with government funding instead of asking, as we "liberals" do
of big-brother Inc., that NPR cover some opposing views (which they do
but you obviously do not listen very closely).
-
- My first response is: This makes me very very happy.
Now you know how it feels to have your concerns relegated, albeit in a
puny measure compared to what we "liberals" have suffered, to
the back of the buss. Raul's veil of ignorance has been lifted for you;
congratulations.
-
- My second response is: When Congress takes back the
public air waves, stolen from the public in 1990's and valued at over 70
trillion dollars, from their corny-capitalist buddies then you can whine
and moan about the pittance federal funding provided to NPR.
-
- My third response is: I am sick to death of the ignorant
and mundane CRAP spewing forth from the corporate mass-media dog and pony
show. Even if NPR does lean to the left in its reporting, a democracy
requires many perspectives to function; even yours Mr. Tabor.
-
- Thank God NPR does it intelligently and not in the low-browed
right-wing-predigested and pre-approved manner that has kept you in your
comfort zone for far too long. Morons may need to be brow-beaten and talked
down to by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity to be
indoctrinated with an opinion but when they grow up, they will need the
thoughtful and in depth "lefty" outlets like NPR to feed their
starved minds.
-
- Glenn McCarthy
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