Have A Sip Of Propaganda- NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?

by Norman Solomon

While the Iraqi government continued its large-scale military assault in Basra, the NPR reporter’s voice from Iraq was unequivocal on the morning of March 27: "There is no doubt that this operation needed to happen."

Such flat-out statements, uttered with journalistic tones and without attribution, are routine for the U.S. media establishment. In the "War Made Easy" documentary film, I put it this way: "If you’re pro-war, you’re objective. But if you’re anti-war, you’re biased. And often, a news anchor will get no flak at all for making statements that are supportive of a war and wouldn’t dream of making a statement that’s against a war."

So it goes at NPR News, where -- on "Morning Edition" as well as the evening program "All Things Considered" -- the sense and sensibilities tend to be neatly aligned with the outlooks of official Washington. The critical aspects of reporting largely amount to complaints about policy shortcomings that are tactical; the underlying and shared assumptions are imperial. Washington’s prerogatives are evident when the media window on the world is tinted red-white-and-blue.
Earlier in the week -- a few days into the sixth year of the Iraq war -- "All Things Considered" aired a discussion with a familiar guest.



"To talk about the state of the war and how the U.S. military changes tactics to deal with it," said longtime anchor Robert Siegel, "we turn now to retired Gen. Robert Scales, who’s talked with us many times over the course of the conflict."

This is the sort of introduction that elevates a guest to truly expert status -- conveying to the listeners that expertise and wisdom, not just opinions, are being sought.

...

Of course there are exceptions. Occasional news reports stray from the narrow baseline. But the essence of the propaganda function is repetition, and the exceptional does not undermine that function.

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/50810

[file83]

1. The other day I was listening to NPR and it was kinda weird...

I can't remember exactly what it was, but I just remember that the piece I was listening to felt like biased, pro-war propaganda disguised as some sort of "reporting".

When I hear that stuff, it makes me feel disappointed.

[patrice]

2. One of our local NPR interview hosts let the chair of the local Fed Reserve bank sit there and say

that the trillion $ debt for Bush's War is good for the economy because of all of the tanks and weapons and other war supplies that "we" produce for that money. Frank Morris didn't ask him one question about that.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. This hit piece is all over the place and I have no...

idea what Solomon's point is except to bash NPR for no following some imaginary liberal line he thinks it should follow.

Here's another thread on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3067847

which includes this enlightening post:

Buzz Clik (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-27-08 02:07 PM
Response to Original message

7. Norman Solomon: I'm calling you out for your total BULLSHIT!

I grew suspicious when Solomon didn't give a link to the conversation, did not identify the correspondent, or even identify the program. Generally, this indicates he's hiding the truth. Here's the quote in full context:

MONTAGNE: Lourdes, a political question. Prime Minister Malaki's government is dominated by Shi'ites. His own coalition originally was formed with Muqtada al Sadr, and many have accused him of being politically beholden to the cleric. Couldn't this offensive be a sign that the government is serious about taking back the country?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes and no. Nouri al-Malaki has staked a lot of political capital on this fight. Basra has been a place that has been completely lawless, and there is not doubt that this operation needed to happen. The militias have been running Basra for quite some time. No, because the Mehdi Army and the Sadrists will tell you that they withdrew from the government coalition, and they feel that this attack on them has a political dimension. They feel Nouri al-Malaki is doing it ahead of provincial elections on October 1 because his party and parties allied to him will be facing off against the Sadrists and they feel that Nouri al-Malaki is trying to weaken them ahead of these crucial elections.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89...


She said the words, "there is not doubt that this operation needed to happen," but Solomon intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the context.

The operation was needed to happen to "be a sign that the government is serious about taking back the country."

What an asshole.

[Guaranteed]

4. I think we just need more info about what the hell is going on over there.

After five years of this garbage I only believe about 10% of what I hear about the war anyway.

[AP]

6. I don't see how that undermines Solomon's argument.

[TreasonousBastard]

16. What argument? He took a few quotes out of context...

and lied about them.

His point is apparently trashing NPR, but he lied and the lie is moving at lightspeed throughout the left end of the internet.

People seem to love this NPR bashing, and even FAIR is getting on the bandwagon. Methinks there is more to the bashing story than there is to the bashing itself.

[AP]

17. Isn't his criticism that an NPR reporter is editorializing in favor of military force as a solution

to policy problems?

And that's what the quote and the context shows?

[TreasonousBastard]

18. No.

[AP]

19. that's very convincing!

[leftchick]

23. yes

and he is exactly right.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

20. They're not bashing they are countering propaganda

NPR is a pro-war propaganda outlet and has been for years.

Do a tally of how many generals et al that they've had on over the last 5 years (20 years would also reveal the truth of this fact) versus the number of dissenters.

It has been done and the numbers are grotesque. In fact I think it was FAIR that did that research.

NPR is awful I'm not sure how anyone can consider themselves informed if that is where they get their information.

Here's another example of NPR propaganda:

One of the bitterly entertaining aspects of listening to NPR is to wonder how outrageous, ridiculous, and/or stupid the script handed to the on-air "personalities" would have to be before they would balk at reading it. Inskeep had a doozy on Monday morning, introducing NPR's story on Mosul, Iraq:

"We can argue whether it's better or worse, but there's no doubt that Iraq is different than it was five years ago this week."
That is rich indeed! We can argue - challenge accepted.

The case for worse: One million plus civilians killed, over four million Iraqis displaced, almost four thousand US troops killed (tens of thousands wounded), half a trillion dollars spent and counting, the nation of Iraq utterly fragmented and heavily armed, and - of course - all that security that Iraq has brought us...

The case for better: ___________________________________? Maybe Professor Inskeep can come up with something; I'm just drawing blanks.

The story on Mosul also had a notable quote. Montagne was talking to Lourdes Garcia-Navarro about how dangerous Mosul still is. Out on embedded patrol with the US military recently, Garcia-Navarro's convoy came under fire. She described it to Montagne this way:

"And five years later I'm sitting in the middle of a Humvee taking fire from all sides from al-Qaeda in Iraq."

It may sound like quibbling, but how on earth does she know that the fire came from al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)? It might have been any armed Iraqi group, the US isn't exactly welcome in Iraq after all. And if you think this oft repeated distortion of who the US is fighting in Iraq is not a propaganda issue, consider the take of the Weekly Standard and the White House on "al-Qaeda in Iraq." They would have us believe that the fight in Iraq is against AQI. Of course, the reality is far different.

http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2008/03/quote-of-week.html

Notes and analyses monitoring rightwing, pro-government, and corporate bias on National Public Radio News

The examples of NPR propaganda are countless and daily. They do their jobs well in promoting the National Security State and championing the causes of big business.

[cynatnite]

11. That's been my thinking, too...

Thanks for those quotes.

The link to the NPR site gives a 'page not found' message, BTW.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Try this...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89140765


The full link didn't come through when I C&P'd the post.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

24. How Public Is Public Radio? A study of NPR’s guest list

In addition to studying NPR ’s general news sources, FAIR looked at the think tanks NPR relies on most frequently, and at its list of regular commentators. To ensure a substantial sample of these subsets, we looked at four months (5–8/03) of think tank sources and commentators on the same four shows.

The elite majority

Elite sources dominated NPR ’s guest-list.

These sources—including government officials, professional experts and corporate representatives—accounted for 64 percent of all sources.

Current and former government officials constituted the largest group of elite voices, accounting for 28 percent of overall sources, an increase of 2 percentage points over 1993. Current and former military sources (a subset of governmental sources) were 3 percent of total sources.

Professional experts—including those from academia, journalism, think tanks, legal, medical and other professions —were the second largest elite group, accounting for 26 percent of all sources. Corporate representatives accounted for 6 percent of total sources.

...

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1180

[Orwellian_Ghost]

25. Kicking

[OwnedByFerrets]

5. Yeah, all this week

the propaganda has been flowing freely.

[AP]

7. I've also noticed the "McCain is a maverick" mantra coming over and over again from NPR reporters

and guests.

[Twist_U_Up]

8. NPR flipped when Moyers left

I remember the whole about face, it was blatant and now I have stopped listening.
The Nazification of America.

[AP]

10. Wasn't Moyers on PBS, not NPR?

[Perry Logan]

9. I avoid U.S. media news sources on general principles. It's all enemy propaganda.

[sendero]

12. NPR went down the tubes.

.... before the war started. I still listen on occasion for a laugh, their bias is only a little more polished than Fox news, but it's there.

[Earth_First]

13. Brought to you in part by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. n/t

[Echo In Light]

14. "If you’re pro-war, you’re objective. But if you’re anti-war, you’re biased."

An excellent example of corp media's bass-akward Orwellian newspeak.

[snot]

21. I agree with the general suggestion of the O.P. --

I've been listening to NPR for many years, and it seems to me to get worse all the time. On another issue, before the 2004 elections, they seemed to bend over backward featuring experts assuring us that electronic voting machines were safe; and I've heard darn little from them about all the revelations to the contrary.

Another peeve is that although they have a lot of supposed "news" shows, the majority of the time seems devoted to fluffy, a-political features, even though heaven knows that during the Bush admin, there have been so many extremely important, hard-core stories that it's hard to keep up even if you're paying attention full-time.

[OnionPatch]

22. NPR Sucks!!!

Since its takeover by neocons in Bush's first term.

If you can get Pacifica radio, it's your best bet these days. If not, I suggest getting an iPod and podcasting Democracy Now! and some of the other shows on Pacifica.

[Zorra]

26. Watchdog Group Report: Most NPR Sources are Conservative .

The study counted 2,334 sources used in 804 stories aired last June for four programs: "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition," "Weekend Edition Saturday" and "Weekend Edition Sunday." For the analysis of think tanks, FAIR used the months of May through August 2003.

Overall, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 61 percent to 38 percent, a figure only slightly higher now, when the GOP controls the White House and both houses of Congress, than during a previous survey in 1993, during the Clinton administration.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0525-11.htm