Of All Things to Consider, Consider Repealing Public Broadcasting
Victor J. Massad (exclusive to gopbriefingroom.com)
I have a fairly long commute to work each day, and being somewhat of a political junkie, sometimes I listen to NPR to gain some insights into what the minority half of the country is thinking. Make no mistake. When I am listening to NPR, I am strictly listening to much less than half the country. During the presidential campaign a “balanced” panel on NPR consisted of one radical leftist, two ultra-progressives and a “conservative” NeverTrumper. All anyone who depended on NPR heard during the election was that (1) Trump was a racist and sexual predator who stood no chance to get the votes of Republican women; (2) the GOP was completely ignoring demographic reality, and that the African-Americans, Latinos, Millennials and women assured it was impossible for Hillary Clinton to lose the election; (3) Trump being the product of a fractured Republican party ensured that the senate was going to be Democratic, and even the lower house was in play; and (4) Republicans live in a “media bubble” driven by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the Drudge Report, and so they are not told the harsh truth that demographics have rendered them dinosaurs.
Now that the Republicans control the presidency, senate, congress, the majority of governorships and statehouses around the country, it is no wonder leftists are rioting in the streets. Their worldviews and expectations have been shaped by media so biased, but competent at propaganda, that their listeners actually think most people agree with them. Instead of beating up innocent Trump supporters in the streets, the Occupy Whatevers should go after people like Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish for gross negligence and outright fraud in journalism.
I dare say there never was uttered one positive word about the Republican Party on any NPR program to which I listened. All of the news and commentary, whether it be All Things Considered, Fresh Air or the Diane Rehm Show was unequivocally slanted to Clinton. The so-called “conservative” voices on the station beat up on Trump, while the liberals beat up on Trump and propped up Hillary. On the entertainment programs, such as Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me and Prairie Home Companion, the jokes ridiculing conservatives, Trump and evangelicals were rattled off one after the other, to the delight of the oh-so sophisticated, urbane audiences. There is a slight pretense of balance, but no actual balance whatsoever on NPR. It is radio of, by and for the urban liberal, and no one else.
Not that I dislike listening to public radio. I find it very provocative and refreshing in comparison to say, Fox News. Two of my particular favorites are Terry Gross and Diane Rehm. Both of these women are expert interviewers with the capability to extract the unexpected from their guests. They are both intelligent and empathetic, and over the years I have heard both illicit amazing things from their guests. But both of these remarkable women are blind to the varying points of view of people who are right of center. They dismiss anything that challenges postmodernism, secularism and existentialism as archaic and out-of-touch. The problem is that Diane Rehm has 2.4 million listeners and Terry Gross has 4.5 million listeners; whereas Rush Limbaugh has 22 million listeners. Even right wing flamethrower Michael Savage has 11 million listeners, twice that of Terry Gross. So who is really out of touch?
I would love to hear Terry Gross interview Michael Savage. Or vice-versa. Unfortunately, left wing media stays in its bubble, and right wing media stays in its bubble, and so we just don’t get much variance in point of view from any one media vehicle today. In the digitally-driven media age, people who want to hear varying points of view must choose them on their own. It is my impression that if one were to examine the internet bookmarks of most conservatives, one would find Breitbart, The Drudge Report, Huffington Post and Democratic Underground. If one were to examine the bookmarks of most liberals, one would find the latter two only. Based on what I hear on NPR, liberals simply do not want to hear alternative points of view. In fact, they would want to stifle them through government regulation or political correctness. I theorize that the smartest liberals intuitively understand that their worldview is convoluted, but they hope that if the people they regard as stupid would just stop listening to snake oil salesmen like Rush Limbaugh the world could be changed for the better. It never occurs to them that Garrison Keilor might also be a snake oil salesman.
NPR and PBS are both funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a relic of the Lyndon Johnson Great Society era. CPB spends about $500 million per year of federal taxpayer funds, which admittedly is a drop in the bucket of the nearly $4 trillion federal budget. Nonetheless, it has become a $500 million machine for the propagation of liberal indoctrination, and it continues relentlessly year after year, decade after decade, serving a small, elitist portion of the public. Talk about regressive taxation and government spending. What do you suppose the mean income of the average NPR listener is in comparison to that of the average American citizen? According to NPR’s own website “NPR listeners are 74 percent more likely to earn $100K+ in household income.” After the NPR commentators are done talking about how the rich simply do not pay their fair share, why don’t NPR’s commentators lament the fact that the $500 million in public funds spent by their network to entertain people who can afford caviar might better be used to feed the hungry?
The problem, of course, is this. I can choose whether to support Rush Limbaugh, but I am forced to pay for NPR whether I want to or not. I feel like an Obamacare victim. Not only do I have to pay for my own health care, but I have to pay for that of everyone who smokes, drinks, takes drugs or otherwise refuses to take care of themselves. Like Obamacare, NPR and public broadcasting are the manifestation of the socialist dream. They take my money to propagandize the country to turn against the things I treasure most, including the first few amendments to the Constitution; you know, little things like rights to religion, speech, arms and property. I completely support their right to this point of view, and I unequivocally support their right to express it. I manifestly oppose their presumed right to put a gun to my head and take money from my pocket so that they may continue to do so.
Given the plethora of available media to the public, and given the absolute and undeniable bias of public broadcasting, and given the fact that both PBS and NPR are well-endowed and sponsored, isn’t it time the congress defunded them? At long last?
