The NPR board may have buckled under the pressure of James O’Keefe’s faux scandal, but weeks after the Schillers resigned, NPR journalists are standing up to take a swing. And not in the venue you might expect.
Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep has a column in The Wall Street Journal today in which he challenges claims that NPR has a “liberal bias.” The main evidence he provides is that NPR has a significant conservative following, and he presents it with a convincing mix of stats and anecdotes from meeting NPR audiences on the road.
The facts show that NPR attracts a politically diverse audience of 33.7 million weekly listeners to its member stations on-air. In surveys by GfK MRI, most listeners consistently identify themselves as “middle of the road” or “conservative.” Millions of conservatives choose NPR, even with powerful conservative alternatives on the radio.
…Conservatives in our diverse audience let us know when they disagree with our coverage—as do liberals, who’ve sent notes for years to advise me that I am conservative. Most listeners understand that we’re all figuring out the world together, calmly and honestly, in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Think what you want about Inskeep—the fifth suggested search to come up as you type his name into Google is “Steve Inskeep annoying”—but we’re happy he’s coming out and saying his piece. What Inskeep does particularly well is latch on to an important, oft-ignored element of the ongoing NPR debate: whether or not the programs are created by latte-sipping liberal east coast types, they reach and are enjoyed by conservatives, liberals, moderates, and independents in some of the nation’s most rural and hard-to-reach crannies. It is supplying news in places from which other outlets are pulling out.
“When I was NPR’s Pentagon correspondent,” writes Inskeep, “I discovered that it’s a prize beat, because on every base you meet people who already know who you are. Many other Americans are listening in places like Indiana, my home state, or Kentucky, where I first worked in public radio. Not much of the media pays attention to the middle of the country, but NPR and its local stations do. Many NPR stations have added news staff as local newspapers have declined.”
Kudos to Inskeep too for making a point that should get the goat of all who care about journalism: while James O’Keefe was orchestrating and promoting his “gotcha” sting, real journalists at NPR were out committing acts of real, dangerous, and valuable journalism.
At the same time that the NPR/O’Keefe story was unfolding, Inskeep writes that he was in Egypt and…
…my NPR colleagues in the Arab world were reporting on the actual Muslim Brotherhood and many other players involved in the uprisings. My colleagues’ reporting technique demonstrates their values. Suppose you’re NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, one of the first reporters into Libya after its rebellion began. You need to know if the rebels are advancing. The only way to find out is to drive toward the front lines until the artillery shells exploding around you make it clear that they’re not. Next, you figure out how to get back alive. Then you try to rest, because you’ll do it again tomorrow.
James O’Keefe’s faux scandal
Joel, do you think that if you tell yourself that often enough, you might be able to convince yourself that its true?
Anyhoo … conservatives like me listen to NPR because its good radio and a good source of the day’s news, despite the fact that its very ideological and mildly partisan.
#1 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Thu 24 Mar 2011 at 04:18 PM
Mike: Did you listen to the unedited version of the NPR video? It's a faux scandal. Just like the ACORN video, it was edited to present a false picture. O'Keefe's stock in trade, it seems.
#2 Posted by Thalia, CJR on Thu 24 Mar 2011 at 06:25 PM
I'm conservative. Very conservative. I listen to NPR. Have for a couple of decades. Ergo, NPR doesn't have liberal bias. Case closed.
Wait ... huh? What kind of logic is that?
Sure, NPR has a nice format. And it's well produced. But it's self-evidently way, way left of center. That's a fact. And it's inarguable. Truth is, I listen to NPR precisely because it's such an efficient way of getting the Left's perspective on current events, arts, and culture. I'd rather get it spoon fed to me that scroll through the Huffington Post every day.
I note, also, that NPR carries a lot of classical music programming that by its nature appeals more to conservatives than to liberals, who despise such products of Western culture as classical music. So, doubtless, many of the "conservatives" Inskeep alleges are such fans of NPR may only be tuning in to its music programming.
NPR defense FAIL.
#3 Posted by Quiet Professional, CJR on Thu 24 Mar 2011 at 08:55 PM
NPR has an undeniable conservative bias -- the Board of Directors is mainly conservatives, most of their analysts are conservative, and the guests and quoted sources tend to be 3:1 conservative-heavy. It's a fact and the data proves it. It is an inarguable fact.
Conservatives don't like NPR because it doesn't play banjo music and Toby Keith. That's their cultural preference and they tend to tune in to Nashville stations who cater to their taste in music. That's where they listen to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage.
#4 Posted by James, CJR on Thu 24 Mar 2011 at 09:15 PM
So long as they are honestly telling stories, delivering news, making argument, I don't care how conservative or liberal Inskeep or any other NPR reporter may or may not be. I hate to sound "liberal" but the reason I don't like Fox News is not because Hannity or Beck are conservative, but because they don't make sensible arguments or tell stories that say anything. They just exist to advance a point of view -- despite the facts, and without regard for other points of view.
#5 Posted by Jon S. , CJR on Thu 24 Mar 2011 at 09:31 PM
Re James' comment that the NPR Board of Directors is 'mainly conservatives', US News & World Report crunched the numbers, and found that 89% of the political donations of the Board since 2004 have gone to Democratic candidates. It is true that if your idea of the Left is Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez, then NPR can be painted as 'conservative'. Maybe the House Democrats understand which side their bread is buttered on. A couple of on-air reporters have listed campaign contributions in the last few years, too, Guy Raz and somebody else . . . Nobody needs to ask to which party. It's the one that keeps voting to fund Guy Raz' employer. Brooke Gladstone, whose resume includes contributions to 'In These Times' among other non-partisan journals, didn't even bother hiding her vote for 'Hillary' in an on-air interview in 2006. I could go on, but some of you not in denial get my drift.
The reality is that there is obvious low-level warfare going on between the constituencies of the mainstream of the Republican Party on the one hand, and most major news organizations on the other, including NPR. It is silly for Joel and CJR to pretend they don't have the slightest idea why so many conservatives listen to NPR but don't trust its domestic political coverage.
Most people, including the 'stupid' people who comprise the supporters of the GOP (which include small business operators, soldiers, cops, white working-class males, and other supposedly sheltered elements), are nevertheless strikingly good at picking up on when and how they are being condescended to, or when their concerns are being marginalized while those of their political opponents are trumpeted. James' comment reveals the cultural war going on here.
Speaking of music, James, maybe, in its next starry-eyed profile of some white songwriter with the usual left-wing opinions, NPR could get around to noting the racial composition of his/her audience, and ask a tough question or two. It's something NPR seldom fails to note about conservative gatherings. My experience, living in a university town, has been that the Ani DiFranco types for which NPR has a soft spot preach to almost exclusively white audiences. Of course, that isn't because they are 'racist'. It's just . . . one of those things.
#6 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Fri 25 Mar 2011 at 09:39 AM
Mr. Richards is in a handwringing snit over my parody of Mr. Quiet Professional's silly assertions. You seething rightwing loonies just have no sense of humor whatsoever.
#7 Posted by James, CJR on Fri 25 Mar 2011 at 10:01 AM
I may be a seething rightwing loony by James' rather outre standards, but I cited a fact that contradicted one of his assertions, unrefuted by him (check), and I think he is projecting a 'snit' that is possessed by him, not by me (double-check). It's not the first time someone has weaseled out of getting caught making a false statement by saying 'I was just kidding' or 'it was a parody'.
#8 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Fri 25 Mar 2011 at 01:12 PM
Mr. Richards, Chief Deputy of the CJR Rightwing Thread Patrol, having sniffed out some political incorrectness contained within one of the left-leaning blog-posts, swoops down in nostril-flaring, jowl-quivering outrage. He has discovered that someone, somewhere has said something mildly unflattering about conservatives, albeit in self-defense. BIG no-no!
The CJR Rightwing Thread Patrol, which has worked so hard and helped make CJR what it is today ought to be paid at least as much as the Huffington Bloggers. Don't you think?
#9 Posted by James, CJR on Fri 25 Mar 2011 at 02:04 PM
James gets so hyper-ventilated that he couldn't even get my name right, then accuses me of being the one with nostril-flaring, jowl-quivering outrage. (Hey, my jowls aren't long enough to quiver.) Whatever.
As to the main story, the Gfk NRI listener poll that Innskeep cites in his WSJ story has self-described 'liberals' as 37% of the listeners, 25% as middle-of-the-road', and 28% as 'conservative'. On this basis, Innskeep says 62% of listeners are middle-of-the-road or conservative. But the liberals outnumber the conservatives 37-28 in a country in which, according to the last Gallup numbers I saw, have self-described 'conservatives' outnumbering 'liberals' 40% to 21%. NPR's audience is clearly to the left of the mass of voters/consumers even by Innskeep's own evidence. Fox News has numbers showing similar outcomes, yet no one doubts Fox skews to the right. And the current controversy indicates that conservative listeners like in NPR but don't trust its reporting on domestic political and cultural issues - and that the lack of trust is based on first-hand consumption.
#10 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Sat 26 Mar 2011 at 03:35 PM
You seem to be making a very, very basic mistake, confusing the purported political leanings of listeners with the substance of the newcasts. They aren't equivalent. Not even close. I mean, that's pretty basic. So you aren't proving, or saying, anything. Again, with the Thread Patrol. tsk tsk.
There is no liberal bias there. In fact, NPR bends over backwards to lean conservative, futilely, in order to mollify you rightwing loonies.
#11 Posted by James, CJR on Sat 26 Mar 2011 at 04:17 PM
James must be some conservative media outfit's operative in covert thread-monitoring, since he makes people on the Left look lazy and shallow, with all the name-calling to cover up reading-comprehension issues. For example, he scores my 'very, very basic mistake' in 'confusing the purported political leanings of listeners with the substance of the newcasts'. But it was Steve Inskeep who raised the issue the make-up of NPR's listener audience, in support of his argument that NPR was trusted by a politically diverse set of consumers, not I. This was repeated, uncritically of course, by CJR, if James had bothered to read the first boxed paragraph above. His 'confusion' problem is with Innskeep and Joel Meares, not with me - I just wrote that their own numbers confirm that NPR skews Left in its appeal.
I was mystified by the semi-coherent references to 'Thread Patrols' until I got to looking at James' response-time to others posting on the thread above. Unlike 'Quiet Professional' and myself, James averaged 24 minutes between a posting challenging CJR's piece above and his response. Somebody spends a lot of time online, then assumes everyone else does the same. I think the shrinks call this sort of thing 'projection'. Does CJR have a policy on trolling?
#12 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Sun 27 Mar 2011 at 02:02 PM
Hilarious: "I note, also, that NPR carries a lot of classical music programming that by its nature appeals more to conservatives than to liberals, who despise such products of Western culture as classical music. "
Sure, liberals hate Western culture. We're all secret Muslims, or is it communists this week, I can't keep track.
No wonder the symphony does so poorly in liberal cities like New York and San Francisco, and thrives in conservative places like Miami and all of those red states.
Wow, the conservatives I know (and there are many) don't buy silly stuff like this. Liberals don't "hate America" or "hate Western culture", duh. They have different values than you do, and somehow you can't accept that they can and still love this country. Bizarre, and a fine example of how some conservatives live in a strange little fantasy world, divorced from reality.
#13 Posted by El Ronbo, CJR on Mon 28 Mar 2011 at 03:32 PM
Yep, Mr. Richard is correct. Stuck inside on a rainy weekend, I thought I'd pass the hours poking at the rightwing loonies online with the hope of irritating and annoying them. And I see I was successful. heh heh.
Shame on me.
#14 Posted by James, CJR on Mon 28 Mar 2011 at 05:50 PM