Re: NPR bias

On Sun, 13 Jan 2002 shadowman-IfOL7F/[email protected] wrote:

> > (It's not *entirely* unknown for a major news org to run a piece critical
> > of Israel, though they standardly take a *lot* of flak for it. But the
> > more pervasive problem is things like these casualty reports and calling a
> > period of great violence "calm" until one Israeli is killed (about a
> > period where *26* palistineans, mostly *KIDS*, are killed). This conceals
> > the basic *facts* of the situation! It's morally grotesque! It's
> > completely racist.)
>
> this implies some sort of conspiracy and that makes me skeptical.  i don't
> question your facts, i just fail to see a motive as to why they would
> deliberately conceal something like this.  obviously they did conceal the
> facts, but what did they have to gain?  are you implying that they have

I don't think its a conspiracy.  I think its several factors.  First of
all, racism.  The (largely white) NPR staff simply doesn't value
Palestinians as much as Israelis.  Second, NPR gets significant amounts of
funding from corporate sources (advertising).  Corporate powers that be
support Israel and the oppression of the Palestinians, for financial (and
by extension political) reasons.

So when NPR airs something that accurately characterizes the conflict they
probably get a lot of flak from their corporate sponsors and other wealthy
donors.  This influences their coverage.  And of course there's the racism
issue, which will have a pervasive influence over the reporting.

> something to gain by characterizing Palestinian deaths as a "great calm"?
> i'm no pollyana, but i cannot agree that the whole of NPR is racist.  (i
> understand that you are not implying that). i think that would be a
> sweeping generalization.  making a racist statement is not the same as
> being a racist.  i trust NPR to give accurate and balanced reporting and I

I can't speak for Bijan but I _would_ say that NPR is basically racist.
Pretty much all white institutions are racist because racism is so much a
part of the fabric of US society.  Its simply not possible to live in the
US and not notice that white people are valued more highly than people of
color.  I think this is ingrained in people in very deep ways that can't
be discarded.

So while there may be plenty of people of good faith at NPR who would
never tell racial jokes or _say_ that people of color are less valuable,
nonetheless the racism so pervasive in US society has shaped their outlook
so strongly that they will unconsciously make racist decisions.

As to trusting them to provide you with accurate and balanced reporting, I
sure don't (though I do listen to NPR fairly often).  They are very
clearly strongly influenced by elite interests (their major funders).


-dave

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