# NPR's ultra-liberal bias **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 21, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903 "2010-10-21T17:26:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/61 "2010-10-21T23:35:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Certainly; what I didn’t (and don’t) understand was what _Star Trek_ had to do with this thread. Or with athletic programs, for that matter. He was suggesting that your name was red shirt backwards, not because you were a fan of Star Trek (whose security guards wore red shirts and were regularly killed), nor on a university athletic program (which has a practice called “red shirting”, which allows a member of an athletic team to take a year off from actually playing in games while allowing him to still practice, thereby allowing him to play for a fifth year), but instead because you are a communist. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/62 "2010-10-21T23:46:08Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > He was suggesting that your name was red shirt backwards, not because you were a fan of Star Trek (whose security guards wore red shirts and were regularly killed), nor on a university athletic program (which has a practice called “red shirting”, which allows a member of an athletic team to take a year off from actually playing in games while allowing him to still practice, thereby allowing him to play for a fifth year), but instead because you are a communist. Huh. The only political group I know of associated with red shirts are [these guys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_United_Front_of_Democracy_Against_Dictatorship). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/63 "2010-10-22T00:00:34Z")
Well, because red is associated with Communism, was my assumption. It’s possible he was implying that you were a member of the Thai group, but I was assuming the Communist one, especially because you’re known for your rather far left wing views. I could be wrong, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/64 "2010-10-22T00:43:59Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > Didn’t they share fundraising lists with the Democratic Party awhile ago, and got smacked down for doing so? Obviously if the same latte-drinking, beret-wearing, clove cigarette-smoking urban VW driver listens to NPR as votes commie, then it’s not unreasonable of them to cater to their audience. So it’s not that I fault them - just that they ought not be publicly funded is all. I understand why some people call the Daily Show liberal: their audience. I don’t understand NPR’s classification. Are NPR listeners really like Sr. Smashy identifies? I’ve only ever met one (me) and he drinks his coffee black. I can see that NPR listeners are white, affluent and educated [(if I look here)](http://www.wqub.org/media/NPR%20Profile%20stats%202009/NPR%20demographics.pdf), but are they as liberal as people assume them to be? > [@Todderbob](#): > > This sums it up. Conservatives say the same exact thing about fox, and they get the same response. > > Your shit doesn’t smell bad because it’s the shit you smell on a regular basis. When you walk in the bathroom after someone else has taken a plunker, of course its gonna smell funny to you. NPR is 90% of the radio I listen to but only like 15% of the total news I consume. I still find it so much easier to specify the ways in which a Fox report is slanted- little stuff like the slightly fudged ‘ground zero mosque’, neither at ground zero nor a mosque. I’d like to think that I apply the same level of scrutiny to NPR, and if someone can point out the methods by which NPR infuses their coverage with bias, I’d appreciate it. I’d like to be vigilant so I can shout at my radio as much as I do my TV/computer. > [@Quartz](#): > > If you don’t listen to anything else how are you going to make the determination of bias or lack thereof? Just because NPR makes up 90% of news radio in my region doesn’t mean it makes up 90% of news in my region. > [@Blalron](#): > > I think it’s literally impossible for humans to be perfectly unbiased, but to the extent that any human institution can show objectivity, NPR deserves credit because it really strives to do so. I don’t suggest NPR is unbiased. I just wonder what the hell kind of heuristics people are using to judge NPR as so obviously biased. A fellow student, upon hearing I listen to NPR snorted, ‘ha National _People’s_ Radio!?!’ Seriously, what does he think NPR actually is? Wilbo, upon hearing the suggestion that NPR is non-partisan, snorts :eek:. Seriously, what does he think NPR is? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/65 "2010-10-22T01:24:57Z")
I listen to NPR a lot. To the extent that there is bias, I think it’s along the lines of what the NYT’s Public Editor said about his publication several years ago. And that is, that they cater to a mostly urban audience. But I don’t think they are biased in any significant way in terms of promoting the Democratic Party over the Republican Party. All in all, I would say they are the best news source on radio in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/66 "2010-10-22T01:29:29Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > And yet the OP is admitting he might be wrong and is asking for refutation or support. So why sneer at him for that? It shows weakness. Weakness must be punished. I wonder if there’s an element of judging something by its audience. [/QUOTE] Clearly NPR listeners are too edumacated to organize a one-car parade. At least without deconstructing it afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/67 "2010-10-22T02:16:51Z")
I don’t find the reporting of the news to be liberal on NPR and I have never understood the charge either. I remember a few years ago a study coming out that tracked people’s factual knowledge of events (like were WMD found?) and where they got their news and NPR listeners had the best scores. I like NPR. It’s the only radio I listen to (not my only news source). I feel I learn both (or more) sides of an issue without an agenda being force upon me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/68 "2010-10-22T02:47:07Z")
Plus, its the only outlet that keeps a skilled statistician on staff, the much respected Marge N. Overra, or hires such admired writers as Sara Bellum. But never forget: in Hell, it is always Pledge Week. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/69 "2010-10-22T03:06:44Z")
> [@godix](#): > > They do a very good job of being fairly neutral and unbiased on their coverage. However, the story I’ll never hear on NPR is that renewable sources like these only account for 2.5% of all power generation in the US. So yeah, NPR is fair in how it covered the issue. But the fact that it bothered to cover the issue at all while ignoring the elephant in the room does show a bias. I’m curious as to what you conclude about NPR’s bias because of this. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/70 "2010-10-22T04:42:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > All in all, I would say they are the best news source on radio in the US. Agreed. I travel a lot and NPR is not available everywhere, so sometimes I have to contend with the local news outlets. It seems a lot of news radio in the US is competing to see who can be the most incendiary, or provoke the most outrage, or have the loudest, angriest callers, or spew the most unsourced inanities. It is so nice get off the plane after a trip, hop in my car, turn on the radio, and really take the time to appreciate adult commentary from All Things Considered, or Morning Edition, or Talk of the Nation, or even interview shows like Fresh Air. Nothing else on radio today compares. I have a suspicion that those who label NPR ‘liberally biased’ have never actually listened. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/71 "2010-10-22T04:58:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > But the most insidious form of bias comes simply from choosing what you deem newsworthy is a biased way. It doesn’t even have to be intentional. > … > Another form of bias that liberals wouldn’t be likely to catch would be the casual repeating of memes that liberals believe are true. The reporter saying it doesn’t realize that it’s in dispute, and neither do the liberals listening. It’s just a non-partisan ‘fact’ (and facts have a well-known liberal bias, right?). They’re simply unaware of the opposing viewpoint. If these two kinds of bias aren’t universal, they’re at least pervasive among all popular kinds of news agencies (with those of other political persuasions substituting appropriate everybody-knows “facts”). ---
**Author:** ![erez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@erez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erez)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/72 "2010-10-22T05:20:41Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > I understand why some people call the Daily Show liberal: their audience. I don’t understand NPR’s classification. Are NPR listeners really like Sr. Smashy identifies? I’ve only ever met one (me) and he drinks his coffee black. I can see that NPR listeners are white, affluent and educated [(if I look here)](http://www.wqub.org/media/NPR%20Profile%20stats%202009/NPR%20demographics.pdf), but are they as liberal as people assume them to be? You could look at who visits their website if you want more than just general demographics: [http://www.quantcast.com/npr.org](http://www.quantcast.com/npr.org). These visitors are most likely to also visit [theatlantic.com](http://theatlantic.com), [truthout.org](http://truthout.org) (liberal site), [rawstory.com](http://rawstory.com) (another liberal site), and [democracynow.org](http://democracynow.org) (yet another liberal site). ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/73 "2010-10-22T10:58:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Huh. The only political group I know of associated with red shirts are [these guys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_United_Front_of_Democracy_Against_Dictatorship). Nah, Der Trihs isn’t a commie or expendable. He’s a brain damaged moron. But he gets better in his last arc. Edit: Not talking about the poster. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/74 "2010-10-22T12:08:38Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > A minor highjack perhaps, but where has Chomsky ever opined that the media is left of center? I can find two youclub clips and a line from Understanding Power where he says the opposite. He’s even said that left of center is basically a meaningless term owing to the extreme narrowness of the allowed spectrum. I read it years ago and have no cite, but there was a passage from, I think, Manufacturing Consent, where he said something to the effect that the media are just “liberal” enough that they create the _illusion_ of challenging the establishment, while not actually questioning the underlying assumptions of the power structure. So it would jibe with the idea you give above – the media is may be on the left side of that “narrow spectrum,” but from his POV as a radical, the distinction is so small as to be meaningless. In his opinion they are “liberal” in a way that empowers conservatives. That’s all IIRC, and FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![MentalGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/75 "2010-10-22T13:07:14Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > A recent study showed that listeners to Rush Limbaugh and the O’Reilly Factor were more knowledgeable about the news than NPR listeners ([cite](http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1068)). And if you look at the 3 questions they asked to determine this, you can see that none of them were things that right wing outlets such as Fox News would have been misleading about. Throw in some factual questions like “Was Iraq responsible for 9/11?” or “Is an Islamic group trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero?” and I’m sure the results would be much different. The three questions were: What party controls the House of Representatives? (at the time it was the republicans) Who is the Secretary of State? (Condoleeza Rice) Who is the president of Russia? (Vladimir Putin) ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/76 "2010-10-22T14:01:07Z")
Those are fair questions of general knowledge, and I’m surprised at the result. They’re pretty selective, though so I wonder if oreilly and Limbaugh were really hitting stories about them at the time. At the same time, you can see how poorly fox viewers did on even those questions in that poll, which is kind of more relevant to this thread anyway. Only about one quarter could answer even those softballs. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/77 "2010-10-22T14:03:07Z")
> [@MentalGuy](#): > > And if you look at the 3 questions they asked to determine this, you can see that none of them were things that right wing outlets such as Fox News would have been misleading about. Throw in some factual questions like “Was Iraq responsible for 9/11?” or “Is an Islamic group trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero?” and I’m sure the results would be much different. The three questions they asked had simple objectively verifiable answers. Is there some kind of cultural bias in them that disadvantages NPR listeners. Your response seems to be just blaming the test, because you failed it. I am actually quite horrified at the result. I have been listening to NPR for twenty years and merrily thinking that I was in some elite audience of well educated, well informed listeners. So this result is definitely dissonant. I am sure there are other measurements that show the opposite result, but I am too laze to go look for them. But just quibbling with the three questions they asked isn’t a reasonable response. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/78 "2010-10-22T14:53:13Z")
> [@MentalGuy](#): > > And if you look at the 3 questions they asked to determine this, you can see that none of them were things that right wing outlets such as Fox News would have been misleading about. This would seem to imply that NPR must have been misleading about which party controlled the House, since NPR listeners did less well than O’Reilly viewers. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![JustLuthien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6f9a4e/32.png) [@JustLuthien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustLuthien)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/79 "2010-10-22T15:44:11Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Can anyone provide actual examples of NPR bias? Yes. In 1995, Nina Totenberg made some very obnoxious and downright hateful remarks about Jesse Helms \*and his grandchildren \* deserving to get AIDS. Remember, this was in 1995 when AIDS was pretty much a death sentence. And she kept her job, no problem. Here’s the clip from Youtube, hardly a hotbed of conservatism: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7msrF1V4NeY/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGEQgMih_MA8=&rs=AOn4CLBL6YBa8g4X1KbNx2hyD9DL-adRuw "Nina Totenberg on God Giving Jesse Helms Aids") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7msrF1V4NeY) To the guy about NPR funding: CPB gives money to PBS which, in turn, gives it to NPR, but the real money is on the local level via government-granted, taxpayer-funded grants. All of which will be, to quote Margaret Mitchell, gone with the wind after Boehner becomes Speaker (according to today’s news). ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903/80 "2010-10-22T16:12:35Z")
> [@JustLuthien](#): > > Yes. In 1995, Nina Totenberg made some very obnoxious and downright hateful remarks about Jesse Helms \*and his grandchildren \* deserving to get AIDS. Remember, this was in 1995 when AIDS was pretty much a death sentence. > And she kept her job, no problem. > > Here’s the clip from Youtube, hardly a hotbed of conservatism: > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7msrF1V4NeY&feature=player\_embedded](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7msrF1V4NeY&feature=player_embedded) What’s weird is that this particular clip seems to have exploded among right wingers, but all I can seem to find is the exact same clip, which ends kind of abruptly. I can’t find any transcript either. Given the proclivity of Republicans and right wingers to lie through editing, I would really like to see a bit more context around this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nprs-ultra-liberal-bias/557903.md?page=5)