Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Steve Inskeep, co-host of NPR's "Morning Edition," has an incoherent defense of his company in the Wall Street Journal titled "Liberal Bias at NPR?"
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…
Based on this logic, since I (a conservative) frequently attend theatrical film screening, there is no liberal bias in the film industry. If a conservative watches NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, there is no liberal bias. Really? Where did you learn logic? Not one line in his diatribe tackled the issue of public funding, which is the main point of conservative and Republican objections. They can be as left wing as they desire, just not use public funds. With 33.7 million customers, you would think they could figure out a business model that could fund their operations. But that would be capitalism!
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Oct '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
How incredibly revealing this is of the liberal mindset that they only listen to media in which they agree with! How curious and open-minded is that? Once again conservatives demonstrate that they are NOT isolated Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck worshippers completely ignorant of different points of view.
Jun '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
I've suffered through a couple of Obama's press conferences. Per Inskeep's logic: I must like him. Reality: he's the least serious president in history.
Inskeep conflates listening to something to liking it. When my kids were teen-agers I was occasionally forced to listen to their music: I still hate it.
Jun '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Ken, Thanks for the info.
Here's my Logic 102: As I mentioned here Vivian Schiller thinks bias is determined by your critics: she says that since NPR has critics on the left and the right that this proves they are in the middle (technically true because CPUSA is to their left) but where in the middle? Most important, how do we determine bias? If NPR really wanted to defend their positions of where they stand in the political spectrum they could study it intelligently instead of putting up clouds of smoke.
The reason NPR doesn't commission a serious study is that they already KNOW their political positions are left of center, mostly far left. NPR needs to apologize to the American people for taking our money and then lying to us about its use -- and for using it in service to just the Democrats. Leftists have plenty of money. We should not grant them the imprimatur of implicit government endorsement.
This is a moral issue and an issue of being good stewards of government money and using it in service to ALL Americans. That is the minimum we should expect.
Sep '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Larry Koler:
Here's my Logic 102: As I mentioned here Vivian Schiller thinks bias is determined by your critics: she says that since NPR has critics on the left and the right that this proves they are in the middle (technically true because CPUSA is to their left) but where in the middle?
Yes, and Vivian Schiller, by using this argument, proves she believes people are stupid.
Another thing that is quite misleading in the Op-Ed is the fact that NPR does not consist solely of political content. Much of NPR is classical music and other non-political shows. So naturally some conservatives will listen to those shows, and may or may not stick around for the Democrat Party spin masquerading as political news.
And you are right. They know their audience. I've listened enough to lefties and liberals talk to each other to understand the tones of contempt - tones that are deliberately communicated as code, delivered alongside a perspective on news that emanates from the left-wing worldview. These people don't even know they have a distinctive worldview. It's like an odor of cheap perfume they forgot they put on too heavily.
Jul '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Right. And Rush Limbaugh isn't biased either because libs listen to Him.
Aug '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
So true, Jimmy. And Fox News isn't in the least biased either, because it's a documented fact - according to industry rating services - that Dems and other Leftists watch Fox.
We're seeing the true value of a modern 'liberal' education, long stripped of its core curriculum of Socrates, Plato, and the other Greco-Roman classics.These people don't know how to reason anymore.
Jun '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
After reading the first sentance from this fellow Steve Inskeep, it popped into my mind, what has this got to do with public financing? Yes, they, like every other network, have their biases. The difference is, I don't have to pay for them. NPR, however, has its hand in my pocket.
Jul '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Every leftist I've known believed they were "middle of the road".
Aug '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Consider the base rate. In most surveys something like 70% of Americans describe themselves as middle-of-the-road or conservative. NPR's audience could be disproportionately liberal and still have a majority self-describing themselves as center or right.
Jun '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
So true. This is due to the fact that they live in a bubble.
It gets even stranger in some cases: My liberal sister told me years ago that she understood both sides of the abortion debate because though she couldn't have an abortion herself she didn't want to deny that right to others. She hadn't even bothered to inform herself sufficiently to know that this wasn't half way to my pro-life position. It was the left-wing Catholics' pro-choice position as formulated by guilt-ridden Mario Cuomo and Ted Kennedy. She really thought the pro-abortion crowd (nobody wants that label) and the anti-abortion (or pro-life) were the two poles and that she was -- wow! -- right in the middle. Just like NPR and the MSM were trying to tell her.
Edited on Mar 24, 2011 at 2:12pmOct '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
So true. I am no longer shocked at the lack of imagination (or empathy) from the left. Delusional is a constant state of mind for the vast majority of left wingers.
Oct '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Too bad they weren't, literally. (does that violate Ricochet's CoC?)
Oct '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
It's not about Left or Right. It's not about "net neutrality". It's about public funding. I listen to NPR, have for a long time. It has a bias to the Left, no doubt. The point is the tax payers should not be subsidizing any form of media. NPR can, and I hope will, survive on its own merits.
Oct '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
FOXNEWS is not biased because liberals watch!
Oct '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Newsbusters.com gets in the act: Even NPR Fans Think Anchor Steve Inskeep Committed 'Deceitful Sophistry' In Claiming Right-Tilting NPR Audience
Some great links to Forbes and Business Insider ripping the fuzzy math and assumptions. (“74 percent of NPR listeners described themselves as either liberal or moderate, and a full 81 percent described themselves as either Democrats or Independents”).
My favorite section: “If Inskeep truly thinks this is a plausible way to analyze on-air content -- and it's not -- then perhaps he'll agree that Fox News leans to the left: “Did you know 61% of the viewers of Fox describe themselves as middle-of-the-road or liberal?” Chris Wallace explained in 2009. “Given how much bigger the Fox audience is than the other Cable audiences, I’ll bet our 61% is bigger than CNN or MSNBC in total.”
Jun '10
Re: Logic 101: NPR not Biased because Conservatives Listen!
Franco
... Another thing that is quite misleading in the Op-Ed is the fact that NPR does not consist solely of political content. Much of NPR is classical music and other non-political shows. So naturally some conservatives will listen to those shows, and may or may not stick around for the Democrat Party spin masquerading as political news....
Good point.
Franco
... These people don't even know they have a distinctive worldview. ...
Well, I think they are lying. If you think about the Fairness Doctrine era (removed in 1988 or so), you realize that if an editor or a producer sees that they are producing something biased then they are required to give the other side. But, if they just -- abracadabra (I got this from Jonah Goldberg) -- deem the content to be unbiased then no pesky right winger has to be interviewed or right-wing ideas commented on.
This is the source of the mental illness that still afflicts our MSM, they just slowly moved the pretend center of the country further and further to the left, then called that the middle. They enter into an implicit conspiracy whenever they back each other up in this lie.