On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Kenneth Tomlinson, appointed head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, may be asking journalists from National Public Radio to end projects that cast a bad light on the Republican Party. Apparently, Tomlinson wants to correct what he perceives to be a liberal bias at NPR.
It’s no great secret that national broadcast news sources are not always as “fair and
balanced” as they claim to be. Most
television and radio news stations rely on the needs of advertisers rather than the
general public when making decisions
about what is newsworthy. A conservative news station would hardly want to air
material or information that seemed to
contain a liberal bias, as this would alienate viewers, causing the station to lose
advertisers and ultimately profits. Likewise, much of the news on these stations is
compressed in order to supply viewers and listeners with the most information possible between commercial breaks.
This is exactly why news sources such as NPR remain an essential facet of free media. NPR relies on contributions from listeners and the federal government rather than commercial advertising, meaning that featured news comes from a place of true journalism rather than an attempt to appease possible advertisers or
upper-level management.
Anyone who has ever listened to NPR knows it is not a regular news station. NPR doesn’t have updates every five minutes on the Michael Jackson case or the latest
blond woman to be kidnapped. Instead, NPR airs in-depth stories on subjects from
religious schools training lawyers to the
experience of running a modern day gay brothel. Sound familiar? It’s not, and that’s what remains so important about National Public Broadcasting.
It is wrong of Tomlinson to meddle in NPR’s journalistic decisions. NPR represents one of the most balanced sources of
information in this country. NPR doesn’t
have to worry about appeasing anyone and
almost always includes in-depth analysis on all sides of a pertinent issue. When was
the last time you sat in front of CNN and watched a 10-minute program on a political dilemma that included history, pros and
cons and personal interviews? NPR relies
on actual information and investigation,
not liberal propaganda as Tomlinson would like to believe.
Most important is the precedent that will be set if Tomlinson is allowed to get away with influencing NPR programming. If public broadcasting is not allowed a journalistic integrity sans government influence, what hope is there for the rest of the media? Radio listeners have come to depend on public broadcasting as a non-biased news source. Letting the head of a corporation determine what is newsworthy will create just another media outlet ruled by a business head rather than an outlet that gives the American public what it actually needs to know.

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