Partisan cuts try to lower NPR volume
A week after NPR commentator Juan Williams was unjustly fired for airing his opinion on Fox News, the public is up in arms. Conservative pundits are howling for the organization’s federal funding to be cut — something they would consider a moral victory, though NPR would likely take it in stride.
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Williams, a senior news analyst for NPR and a frequent contributor to Fox News, was dismissed from his contract on Oct. 20 for comments he made on The O’Reilly Factor a few days prior.
In a conversation about the “crippling” effects of political correctness, Williams told O’Reilly, “When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried.”
Williams was already known for his somewhat unchecked views; NPR’s ombudsman, Alicia Shepard, wrote in her public editor’s blog that “Williams tends to speak one way on NPR and another on Fox. … The assets that make Williams valuable to NPR are his knowledge, his perspective and that he is rarely predictable.”
Williams’ remarks were “inconsistent with [NPR’s] editorial standards,” said David Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The controversy continued to make headlines this week as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)announced plans to introduce a bill in Congress to legislate NPR out of its federal funding.
This is not the first time that conservative politicians have proposed taking an axe to NPR, and it will surely not be the last. Every few years, a group of Republicans work their collective panties into a bunch about the government funding news media that takes a liberal slant.
As Los Angeles Times reporter Jonah Goldberg wrote in an Oct. 26 article, “I have no huge problem with funding documentaries about bears and mummies, but state-run television news is an embarrassment in the age of C-SPAN and YouTube.”
As ridiculous at it seems to kick commentators to the curb for essentially doing their job, it is far more outrageous to cut the funding of a system that produces quality programs, especially considering who the cuts would actually hurt.
NPR is a largely self-sufficient entity. Only 2 percent of its yearly $161.8 million budget comes from federal grants; the majority of the budget comes from program fees and station dues.
In contrast, roughly 10 percent of affiliate station budgets — local radio stations that produce their own content in addition to broadcasting NPR programs — comes from federal money. Of course, these stations had nothing to do with William’s dismissal, but would be far more penalized by the proposed budget cuts.
The impetus for this whole debate was a commentator with admittedly polarizing views — and who, in a serendipitous turn of events, just signed a three-year, nearly $2-million contract with Fox News.
NPR has always pursued a balanced view in its reporting, and, according to a 2008 MRI poll, its audience is evenly distributed across the political spectrum.
Of those polled, 27 percent identified themselves as conservative, 26 percent moderate and 34 percent liberal. (The rest didn’t give answers within the poll’s parameters.)
NPR is a news service that serves the American public fairly judiciously. It provides a higher level of debate that is much needed in a time where information flies at us with unintelligible sound and fury. Neither NPR nor the practically insolvent local stations that support it should be punished for doing their jobs.
We shouldn’t be denying local news sources of direly needed cashflow or the public of a cogent news service.
Lucy Mueller is a senior majoring in cinema-televison production and managing editor for the Daily Trojan. Her column, “Everything is Copy,” runs Mondays.
“This is not the first time that conservative politicians have proposed taking an axe to NPR, and it will surely not be the last. Every few years, a group of Republicans work their collective panties into a bunch about the government funding news media that takes a liberal slant.”
Interesting statement for an editor who is trying to be “objective”. Let me ask you a question. What would you say if a group of Republicans worked their collective panties into a bunch trying to get government to provide funding for FOX news? Please speak freely and honestly while you can.
With an annual deficit of $1.3 trillion for 2010, we can’t afford NPR anymore. In fact we will need to eliminate MANY government programs to get back to the horrific deficits of $200 billion planned for by the last four presidents.
In addition to the author’s obvious ignorance of NPR’s extremely partisan political slant, I’m also appalled at the rhetoric that we propose to “punish” NPR by “denying… direly needed cashflow”. Like many young, stupid liberals, Mueller believes that anyone who wants your money, has a right to it. It is not the corrupt, incompetent political hack demanding a piece of your money, but the ordinary American who expects nothing other than what they’ve earned, who is cast as the villain here. This is in line with the philosophy that calls tax cuts “giveaways”, the belief that the people who take from others are morally superior, and the ones who are exploited should be grateful for what they’re allowed to keep.
If NPR’s shameless propagandism is such a well-produced, audience-pleasing product, why can’t they turn a profit? Let’s cut them loose, and see if they can provide a service worth the cost.
I agree with Carol. This article is HILARIOUS.
Lucy, my dear, NPR has NEVER pursued a balanced view in its reporting, and what’s more, the crucially important job that the “fourth estate” is supposed to be doing is completely antithetical to government support. If NPR were spewing right wing opinion all day it would still be wrong for it to be funded by taxpayer money — especially when we can’t AFFORD to be funding it. Quite frankly, it’s a disgrace all around.
Also, Lucy, as “managing editor” of the Daily Trojan, you should be familiar with the journalistic concept of doing your research. The crack about Juan Williams being “admitted polarizing” — uh, really? How so? Do you find Nina Totenberg wishing AIDS on a U.S. senator (and his grandchildren!) to be less “admittedly polarizing” than Williams? ‘Cuz that ran on NPR with nary a concern from Vivian Schiller & Co., and ol’ Nina wasn’t even just a “commentator” but supposedly a “journalist.”
Lucy, when you’re sitting so far Left on the spectrum, I guess NPR does look “fair and balanced.” Your skewed perspective, however, does not make it so.
The article I have just read said “NPR has always pursued a balanced view in its reporting.” Ha, ha, i almost dropped from my chair at my computer, laughing at that pattently false statement. Over the past 10 to 12 years I’ve been fortunate to travel and to drive in several states and Canada. When i am driving through a particulary scenic area, I try to find a station playing classical music, sometimes it is NPR. But, when the talk program comes on, it is almost always (OK, always) a left-leaning talk program. I listen for a few minutes, hear the “left’ slant without any other point of view, and I keep turning the radio dial to find real music. I suspect many other people are turning the dial, too. If a so-called “right wing” radio program is so wrong and offensive and out of step with the “American people”, listeners can just TURN THE DIAL and go to another station, of which there are many on both the AM and FM frequencies, or turn their car’s radio off.