Swing Your Partner to the Right
The problem with words? Unfortunately, they offer way too many opportunities for left-leaning bias. To make NPR truly fair and balanced, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting "has told its staff that it should consider redirecting money away from national newscasts and toward music programs produced by NPR stations." But are pieces on revolutionary Sri Lankan rappers or Guatemala's marimba preservation efforts any more likely to appeal to real Americans than Bill Moyers' rabid conspiracy theories? Where are the Charlie Daniels marathons? The modern worship rock blocks? The stirring patriotic marches? On a semi-related note: we've often wondered why NPR, unlike its more honest talk-radio betters, bans commercials for hard-on pills and AutoZone. To us, that seems totally anti-American. Maybe CPB boss Kenneth Tomlinson can look into this.— GREG BEATO
A Battle Over Programming at NPR [NY Times]