Re: NPR bias

On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, Dave Rolsky wrote:

> 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.

good point.  i agree that wealthy corporations (especially wealthy
Jewish-owned banks) dictate U.S. policy in the Israeli-Palestinian issue
but i admit i have some naivete with regard to corporate influence apropos
 media coverage, especially NPR.
however, i must also explain that i became more or less a Palestinian
sympathizer by listening to NPR and their coverage of the Palestinian
perspective.  before i started listening to NPR i really had no idea what
the struggle was really about.  having come to some understanding of the
issue, i began to understand the frustration the Palestinians feel towards
the U.S. and it's support of Israel.

>
> 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.
> > 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.
>
i agree that most white institutions are racist and NPR is not above the
fray, however, Jewish people are not "white" and that's who corporations
seem to be supporting.


> 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.
>
most racism occurs on an unconscious level and it's up to us to bring it
up and point it out, otherwise, how will they know?  public radio belongs
to the "public" and if it's overly influenced by corporations then it
needs to change.  while this may seem overly-idealistic, it is not
unrealistic.

> 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).
>

i'm no elitist ;-) but i still support them and will urge them to correct
this problem.

regards,
hugh
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