NPR ceo "resigns"-- funding/bias scandal

[raccoonradio]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/09/134388981/npr-ceo-vivian-schiller-resigns

This is LPR. Liberal Public Radio. Board forces out CEO. If you love NPR great--donate voluntarily.
(George Soros gave millions to fund not-so-objective reporters)
Foundation and corporate grants help too. But this biased media source should not be taxpayer
funded. Let the FCC allow them to go commercial if need be. Now we see why Air America failed--
people on the Left could just hear their views on powerful NPR affiliates already.

Let them go commercial! Better that than mandatory tax money. As the old blues song goes, "Take your
hand out of my pocket/ Ain't nothing there that belongs to you"

 

[TheBigA]

George Soros gave millions to fund not-so-objective reporters

BS. No connection between the donation and the reporting being done. Their work is overseen by editors who'd remove that kind of thing.

Commercial stations, including Fox News, receive billions of dollars in political advertising from candidates. Does it bias their coverage? You tell me. All of the organizations I've ever worked for (and I've worked for almost all of them) have a very solid brick wall between the money and editorial.

And in all the scrutiny that NPR has been under during the last 6 months, no one has demonstrated any actual news bias.

 

[raccoonradio]

Donations are fine, but NPR was getting taxpayer money too. That's what I object to. Again,
let the FCC allow them to run ads and compete as conservative talk radio does. Run what they want.
Supposedly Soros gave the money so they could compete against the Right's domination in talk
radio, etc. Well get NPR out of my pocket and let them do what they want. "All Things Considered will be right back after these messages from Carbonite, Wal-Mart, Kellogg's, and Sony." Some, ranging from the Boston Globe's Alex Beam to the recently resigned Ron Schiller, argued they would be better off
not taking taxpayer money. Yes!!

 

[TheBigA]

Supposedly Soros gave the money so they could compete against the Right's domination in talk
radio, etc.

There are no strings attached to any donation to NPR. You can check. No strings. Period.

As I said, commercial broadcasters will not let them run commercials. And the NAB has a lot more power in DC than NPR.

Look, you're a taxpayer, so you have a right to demand they fix their bias. That's why they fired their CEO. Tell me another radio company that fired its CEO because of political bias. Did CBS fire their CEO because of Katie Couric? No. But because NPR is taxpayer supported, the public has rights. So now they have to change their ways.

 

[johnbasalla]

Hiring some good, strong well-known conservatives to provide commentary and have input on how news is covered so that any bias is erased would be a good place to start in changing their ways.

 

[johnbasalla]

They should hire Dennis Prager for commentary. He's not an alarmist, he bends over backwards to be fair, he's well read, and he's not a blow-hard like some other conservative radio talkers. He would be a perfect fit to give the network some credibility in any claims they make about being balanced in the commentary department. Balance is something that is needed if everybody's tax money is going to support this thing.

 

[Ultimajock]

...of course, both of the Schillers don't have the courage to stand by Ron's accurate assessment of the Teabaggers, so Ron skedaddles to Aspen and Vivian bails on the network. I wouldn't give them another nickel until we see how many more gutless wimps are in the NPR brass. CBC Radio One on Sirius is vastly superior anyway ;-) ...

 

[listener-in]

Hiring some good, strong well-known conservatives to provide commentary and have input on how news is covered so that any bias is erased would be a good place to start in changing their ways.

OK, if they hired some equally strong and well-known liberals for the same purpose. I don't know of any at the moment.

Besides, commentary alone doesn't cut it. The media are awash with commentary from talking heads who don't know in any depth what they are talking about. There's too much he-said, she-said without sound basis in fact. What's needed is some good investigative reporting like Moyers used to do. He made no attempt to disguise his liberal views, but he was rarely mistaken in matters of fact.

 

[johnbasalla]

I don't believe that painting with a broad brush and calling all Tea Party people racists is the least bit accurate. They are primarily fiscal conservatives.

 

[ropertex]

The tape was deceptively edited...even according to Glenn Beck.

NPR exec Ron Schiller does describe Tea Party members as “xenophobic…seriously racist people.”
But the clip in the edited video implies Schiller is giving simply his own analysis of the Tea Party.
The raw video reveals that he is largely recounting the views expressed to him by two top Republicans.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/does-raw-video-of-npr-expose-reveal-questionable-editing-tactics/

 

[MattParker]

The real reason Vivian "resigned" was money. The real reason for almost everything in radio - including public radio. After the Juan Williams firing, many stations took a hit during their subsequent pledge campaigns (so somebody had to be fired). After this "string," stations feared this would give ammunition to those who want to cut federal funding to public radio (so somebody had to be fired). Besides, as was pointed out on this board after Juan Williams, Vivian was on thin ice with the station reps on the NPR board.

@raccoonradio: You say left-wing bias - left-wing bias. Have you ever heard "left wing bias" on public radio? Do you even listen to public radio? Can you offer specific examples of "left-wing bias?" Or are you just repeating an ideological mantra?