When Your Media Are ‘Disappointed’ by Opposition to Bigotry
March 17, 2016
As the aggressive behavior of his supporters becomes as much of a story as the violence implied in his politics, Donald Trump is bringing together folks who agree on little else to denounce him. Its true Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have policies in some ways even more regressive than Trumps, but then neither of them is openly pining for the days when protesters were carried off on stretchers.
Turnout by thousands of appalled citizens led to the cancellation of Trumps Chicago rally, and a coalition of public interest groups, including MoveOn, Color of Change, Greenpeace and Jobs with Justice, released an open letter calling for a mass Nonviolent Mobilization to Stand Up to what they called a five alarm fire for democracy.
So it might not seem extreme for Cokie Roberts, commentator emeritus at NPR, to say in a column that Trumps nomination would be a devastating blow to the USs reputation around the world.
Nevertheless, Roberts column was too much for the public radio network that many insist leans left. So Roberts was brought on Morning Edition (3/14/16) to be admonished by host David Greene:
Objectivity is so fundamental to what we do. Can you blame people like me for being a little disappointed to hear you come out and take a personal position on something like this in a campaign?
For her part, Roberts claimed to be a totally unpartisan human being who is just very interested in civility. When Cokie Roberts is your firebrand, things have come to quite a pass. This is the host who gushed to David Letterman that she was a total sucker for the guys who stand up with all the ribbons on and stuffmeaning military officialsand so when they say stuff, I tend to believe it. Her advice to Bill Clinton after the Republican congressional victories of 1994 was move to the right, which is the advice that somebody should have given him a long time ago.
Which, I suppose, is just to say: Keep in mind that some of the news outlets you rely on hold that being anti-bigotry biases your journalism. That is news you can use.
http://fair.org/home/when-your-media-are-disappointed-by-opposition-to-bigotry/
tazkcmo
(7,300 posts)When the news is NOT on.
Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)totally unpartisan human being.
Anyone who claims to be is a liar.
That said, the truth is the truth. It is sad NPR feels the truth requires "balance" with lies.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)world wide wally
(21,752 posts)Satellite is much more worth it.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)vanlassie
(5,681 posts)about how Argentina got into financial debt to the point that they decided they simply could not repay more than 30 cents on the dollar. But some VENTURE CAPITALIST HEDGE FUNDS who had purchased the debt cheap just were SO TENACIOUS that they never stopped sueing, and guess what! They got a New York judge to side with them after years, and they will soon collect several billion. Isn't that just so great? NPR was totally biased for Wall Street in that little story.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)I.e. that everybody else is still buying our bullshit. That's what she is doing.