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National Public Radio Journalist Believes That NPR Listening Demographics Have Changed And...
- Thread starter Daryl Lynn L.A.
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Alleged? There wasn't any question about the fact that those press conferences were full of misinformation. It was not the job of any news media to automatically give Trump a platform to spread misinformation and get attention -- not even while he was still president. Part of the job of journalists is to make judgements on what is newsworthy, and sometimes that judgement is that a presidential press conference does not warrant continuous live coverage.
Earlier in this thread, there were comments about how "unlistenable" certain NPR stations are. In particular, KUOW in Seattle was mentioned a couple times. But here's the thing -- in the February ratings, KUOW was the #1 station with a 7.2 share. The next highest news/talk station was KIRO-FM, which was in 10th place with a 4.1 share. The next highest public radio station was KNKX, which was in 11th place with a 3.9 share. Seems to me that the ratings suggest that KUOW is doing a pretty good job of appealing to the news/talk and public radio audiences in the Seattle/Tacoma market.
And looking at a couple of other markets, I see that KQED is #2 in San Francisco with a 7.6 share. In third place is "all news" KCBS with a 6.7 share. Conservative talk on KSFO has a 1.4 share. Again, it seems that KQED is doing a good job of appealing to the audience in their market.
Now those are both really liberal markets, so presumably in an area that is less liberal, NPR will be hurting, right? Um, not necessarily. Here in Dallas/Fort Worth, our NPR station is KERA, which comes in 8th with a 4.0 share. Far less impressive than either KUOW or KQED. But still not too bad when you consider that the primary commercial news/talk station in the market is WBAP, in 13th place with a 3.3 share. So here in DFW, NPR is still holding its own.
Again, I'm not here to comment on the validity of any of the former president's press conferences, but it absolutely is, without a doubt, a major problem if they are picking and choosing what they want you to hear while masquerading as a station free of any bias. I'm 100% on-board with real time fact checking with experts who want to weigh in, but refusing to air news content becomes a very slippery slope. If KUOW decided not to air Trump press conferences, it's entirely their right (after all, it's their airwaves to do what they want with). However, KUOW took it a step further by calling it misinformation, and claiming that listeners shouldn't be exposed to such blatant lies. Are they trying to suggest that their listeners aren't capable of hearing the broadcast, and making up their own mind how they feel about it?
KIRO carried the press conferences in full, and didn't insult their listeners by telling them that they couldn't handle what was being said. And to their (KIRO's) credit, they also provided analysis and discussion of what was said in the press conference after it concluded. From my perspective, this is the best way any news radio (or TV) station could handle it.
I admit that I have a much more positive view of KNKX than I do of KUOW. KNKX seems a lot closer to the actual mission that NPR originally intended to accomplish. While they feature NPR programs, every time I've tuned in, the overall tone seems a lot more factual and aboveboard. You're 100% right, KNKX doesn't perform as well in the local ratings compared to their counterpart on KUOW, but I give KNKX a lot of credit for trying to be a reasonable source for news (with no extras or excess editorialization).
Using Seattle as an example, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if more liberal listeners were attracted more to KUOW, while moderate listeners seek out KIRO. And on the opposite end, more conservative listeners are probably listening to KTTH or KVI. The same paradigm likely also to San Francisco, where more liberal listeners might be more likely to choose while KQED, while moderate listeners are going to listen to KCBS (and in turn, more conservative listeners to KSFO).
One thing I've definitely learned is that NPR is not the same at every station. So for that reason, I can't tell anyone that it's a liberal media outlet. KUOW's ratings show that they are connecting with many listeners. But I do believe that their coverage is not as neutral as it's made out to be. KUOW's style of NPR does not appeal to me when I have access to stations like KIRO that can provide factual information, and provide a myriad of different opinions that you can listen to, choose agree with, or choose disagree with.
Huh? ''Masquerading?'' Explain how they masquerade. Did they ever say they had no bias? They were very outfront and public with everything they did. They told everyone they weren't covering the Hunter Biden laptop, and explained why. If someone didn't agree, they can find the story elsewhere.
News organizations all have editorial discretion about the stories they report. They all pick and choose base on the facts. They are responsible for what they report, and on what they base their reporting. It's all done out in the open. As of now, five years later, there are no real authoritative facts on the cause of covid. A lot of opinions. As of now, there really is no cure. Just something that minimizes the symptoms.
For four years, there was a president who admitted to presenting 'alternate facts.' We know he refused to accept the guidance of the authoritative people in his administration. He didn't accept the views of his health people, his legal people, or even his military people. His decisions were not based on facts. They were based on himself. That's not good. How do you cover a story like that? People want to know what to do if they get sick, and he tells them to inject chlorine. That's not what we pay our government to do. The problem wasn't in the coverage of the story. The problem was in the people who were supposed to be in charge.
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Are we not talking a blue city in a hyper-gerrymandered red state?
And now MAGA wants to prosecute Dr. Fauci "because mah constitooshianal right to cough in your face while infected".
The local Fox affiliate reporter who claimed the station was 'muzzling' her' was fired for the on-air stunt
Hecker released recordings Tuesday which she said show her former station censoring stories about doctors who promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine.
www.businessinsider.com
Fox News affiliate journalist Ivory Hecker blasts Fox Corp. on air for 'muzzling' her, says she plans to send recordings to far-right group Project Veritas
Project Veritas is a far-right group that says it aims to "expose corruption." It is best known for its attacks on Planned Parenthood.
www.businessinsider.com
This op-ed basically shows that NPR and their affiliates have to show they have to attract a "Large enough" audience to be viable. I don't see a grand conspiracy here.
Remember a few years ago Ivory Hecker made crazy allegations about local Fox affiliates owned by the network like KRIV Fox 26 Houston and in that one we had to explain how Local Fox Owned Stations has to attract a different demo from Fox News Channel. It was about how the local Fox affiliate producers and director has to go a certain way with their newscasts. Also Local Fox owned stations have to deal with the NFL and MLB deals.
Uri Berliner - Wikipedia
I'm confused by your comment. Are you referring to Seattle and the State of Washington?
If so, it's not just Seattle, it's the greater Puget Sound region. And last time I looked, the Puget Sound region contained more than half the total population of Washington State.
If I've understood Texas Tom correctly, here are a few quick stats: When I moved to King County (where Seattle lives) in 1980, the population of Washington was 4.1MM; the estimate for 2024 is 7.8MM. Almost doubled in 44 years, and the estimate for 2029 is for over 8MM.
The Puget Sound region consists of King County (2.28MM population, which is 29% of the entire state), Pierce County, where Tacoma lives (931K, 11.9%), Snohomish County (849K, 10.8%) and Kitsap County (277K, 3.5%). That's roughly the signal range of KUOW. Those totals are 4.337MM and 55.2%. (That doesn't even count Clark County's 525K and 6.7%; Clark is where Vancouver is, across the river from Portland.)
All the rest of the state, the 98% where Spokane, Yakima, the tri-cities, and everything else, has 2.9MM and 38%.
BTW, as regards Texas Tom's original comment, I have to agree: I may not be able to stop a malignant narcissist president from spreading lies, but I'm under no obligation to spread them further. Neither is any journalist.
(Statistics from Washington Population 2024 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs) )
In a way that's what this discussion is really about. One political party is saying that their lies are truth, and if you don't cover & report what they say, then you're politically biased. But what they've really done is change the narrative. People are being evaluated and judged based on their politics, and not on facts. That's what Berliner's whole point is. He comes up with this number that there are 87 democrats and 0 republicans in the newsroom. That's not relevant. They weren't hired based on their politics. They were hired based on their ability to write and present news. But when someone reframes the entire discussion around politics, they've distracted us from the real story.
Trump is perhaps the most effective con man of all time.
His ability to "Double Speak" while saying absolutely nothing substantial is unmatched. People who say they are "Anti Government" are the first ones crying for Federal help when a hurricane wipes out their trailer park.
You have millions of people who have grievances about all kinds of things. Most of them are BS. The idea that Immigrants are stealing jobs from Americans is just one.
Trump described White Men marching with Nazi flags as "good people". There's no point in rehashing all of his lies and vitriol. Cult worshipers do not respond to logic. It's pretty simple really. Either you join them or you are "The Other" that must be eradicated. NPR is the enemy to the MAGA mob because they won't kneel to the Donald...
I can't argue with that. It's their airwaves and they can do anything they want with it.
Well in the case of KUOW, they can either air NPR or not. It's up to them. They also pay for the programming. If they drop it, then they'd have to find replacement programming. The stations have a lot of input in what NPR does. So it'll be interesting to see how the stations respond to this criticism.
On Friday, NPR's new CEO responded to the article and the criticism that has followed:
www.bizpacreview.com
The article says the Donald Trump has vowed to cut off funding to NPR. The fact is he can't cut off funding to anything. The president has no control over the federal budget. Congress does. There is no line item in the budget for NPR. The federal funding goes to CPB, which is disbursed to the stations, that in turn buy programming from NPR.
NPR CEO lashes out after editor drops bombshell: ‘Profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning’
NPR CEO Katherine Maher released a statement against editor Uri Beliner's "hurtful" essay, standing by organization's diversity.
www.bizpacreview.com
The article says the Donald Trump has vowed to cut off funding to NPR. The fact is he can't cut off funding to anything. The president has no control over the federal budget. Congress does. There is no line item in the budget for NPR. The federal funding goes to CPB, which is disbursed to the stations, that in turn buy programming from NPR.
Again, that’s totally fair. There are many examples of great NPR stations that do their best to stick close to the original mission of what NPR wanted to accomplish. Going back to my previous example, KNKX has done nothing (in my opinion) to create distrust in regard to their programming.
Other stations may choose a different pathway. And I agree, it will be interesting to see what the overall response will be. It seems entirely dependant on the market and the station.
This is something I’ve observed with CBC radio. Sure, you have some national programs that provide much of content, but a lot of the shows and content are locally produced. What you get in one market may vary from another.
True. But if you look at the outsize influence the former president has on some members of Congress (Ukraine funding has been on hold for six months, a border deal both parties wanted is stalled because Trump doesn't want a solution before the election), it's not the same empty threat it would be with any other president or candidate.On Friday, NPR's new CEO responded to the article and the criticism that has followed:
NPR CEO lashes out after editor drops bombshell: ‘Profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning’
NPR CEO Katherine Maher released a statement against editor Uri Beliner's "hurtful" essay, standing by organization's diversity.
The article says the Donald Trump has vowed to cut off funding to NPR. The fact is he can't cut off funding to anything. The president has no control over the federal budget. Congress does.
Maybe, but it would be self-destructive. The job of people in congress is to bring money to their districts. That's what CPB money is. There was a point in 2017 when it looked like the appropriation was going to be cut. Repubs were in total control. Then a bunch of red state governors called their reps and told them they needed that federal money to pay their staffs. So it got approved.
On Friday, NPR's new CEO responded to the article and the criticism that has followed:
NPR CEO lashes out after editor drops bombshell: ‘Profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning’
NPR CEO Katherine Maher released a statement against editor Uri Beliner's "hurtful" essay, standing by organization's diversity.
The article says the Donald Trump has vowed to cut off funding to NPR. The fact is he can't cut off funding to anything. The president has no control over the federal budget. Congress does. There is no line item in the budget for NPR. The federal funding goes to CPB, which is disbursed to the stations, that in turn buy programming from NPR.
W.Va. journalist let go after reporting on abuse allegations
A West Virginia journalist lost her job after she reported about alleged abuse of people with disabilities in state care.
apnews.com
Some of Trump allies like in West Virginia have been accused of political interference at the local NPR affiliate which got one of their reporters fired. There have been local NPR and PBS affiliates that gotten political interference when it came to funding their educational systems.
In recent weeks, West Virginia has put the public broadcasting stations under direct control of the governor:
West Virginia Public Broadcasting supporters still concerned over bill weakening EBA
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The nonprofit group that helps raise money for West Virginia Public Broadcasting remains concerned about a bill on the desk of Gov. Jim Justice that will weaken
They also have the ability to pick and choose from among the segments of the marquee news programs, as I recall Fybush explaining in an earlier post. (Don't recall if it's this thread or another, but it was a recent post.) It's a plug-and-play system. If there's coverage a local station doesn't want to carry, they can cover it with a local story or local feature. If there's a story (e.g., Hunter's laptop) they think their audience is invested in but isn't getting enough coverage from the network, they're free to cover it themselves in more depth.
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