• logicbomb@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Okay, I started reading it, and I had to stop because he lost his credibility to me. Here are the notes I made for the beginning of the article.

    First, he cites statistics to show how the demographics of listeners moved left between 2011 and 2023. He mentions Trump as related, but doesn’t consider how Trump’s lies about “fake news” caused a massive shift in what news people consume. And he doesn’t mention how during that time all news outlets were being affected by the rise of social media.

    But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.

    This is what Burr’s summary of the Mueller report said. It’s right wing propaganda. The report actually found all sorts of evidence, but concluded it couldn’t call them crimes because of a policy of the DOJ.

    There was really no point in continuing reading once I got to actual lies. It’s not journalism and the author doesn’t come off as credible to me.

    • SpaceBishop@lemmy.zip
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      7 months ago

      Same, bro. I wanted to know what they had to say, so I read a couple paragraphs of “I’m a liberal elite democrat, just like you” followed by “Trump did nothing wrong” and knew I had to stop. It is dishonest to look at the Mueller report and come to the conclusion that there was nothing worth investigating when Mueller explicitly said that he recommends charges against the then president – specifically several counts of obstruction by him and his administration that effectively stonewalled the investigation about collusion with Russia.

      If that’s how they felt was the strongest opening argument, it reveals how weak that whole angle was. It certainly did reveal a bias, but not on the part of NPR, and it is certainly clear that this author deserves no more time or attention.

      • logicbomb@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        If that’s how they felt was the strongest opening argument, it reveals how weak that whole angle was.

        Well said. I can’t believe how long that article was for the quality.

        I have this strong suspicion that nobody read the whole thing, even the guy who challenged us by saying “Have you read his essay?” and linked it.

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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      7 months ago

      Yeah it’s interesting because I actually agree with his overall point that coverage there could try to be a bit more balanced but his essay does a very poor job of supporting this idea and does more to reveal his own biases than NPR’s.

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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        7 months ago

        and does more to reveal his own biases than NPR’s

        And what biases are those? He’s a legit award winning Journalist, a registered Democrat and he voted against Trump twice.

        I don’t know this guy at all but from the outside looking in it really appears as if he’s being tossed under the bus and silenced simply because he’s saying something that his boss, and and quite a few people online, don’t want to hear.

        • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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          7 months ago

          I mean, one of his main complaints is that NPR tried to improve racial equality internally and in their coverage. To me that is common sense and opposition indicates bias. That’s just one example, but I think the way he describes other stories and issues here also reveals a biased viewpoint on the world.

          That’s not to say his point is completely incorrect. As I said, I somewhat agree with him, mainly from my own experience of npr coverage. But he does a poor job of supporting his thesis.

          I agree that he’s getting punished for speaking out, but unfortunately that’s the way corporate power structures operate (including at non-profits like NPR). And I think he should probably have been more thoughtful in his criticism if he wanted people to defend him.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      7 months ago

      Well, you are entitled to your opinion. Strange world we live in though when someone with a Peabody Award is being silenced and ignored because they’re not toeing an imaginary line.