Tag: npr

New NPR Ethics Policy: It’s OK For Journalists To Demonstrate (Sometimes)

NPR rolled out a substantial update to its ethics policy earlier this month, expressly stating that journalists may participate in activities that advocate for “the freedom and dignity of human beings” on both social media and in real life.

The new policy eliminates the blanket prohibition from participating in “marches, rallies and public events,” as well as vague language that directed NPR journalists to avoid personally advocating for “controversial” or “polarizing” issues.

NPR’s current ethics policy was first drafted in the early 2000s, and then given an overhaul in 2010-2011.

The new NPR policy reads, “NPR editorial staff may express support for democratic, civic values that are core to NPR’s work, such as, but not limited to: the freedom and dignity of human beings, the rights of a free and independent press, the right to thrive in society without facing discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, disability, or religion.”

Is it OK to march in a demonstration and say, ‘Black lives matter’? What about a Pride parade? In theory, the answer today is, “Yes.” But in practice, NPR journalists will have to discuss specific decisions with their bosses, who in turn will have to ask a lot of questions.

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Shaming Private Ryan

NPR, man. It used to be good, though liberal, until it was taken over by woke fanatics. Now NPR’s TV critic, Eric Deggans, is attacking Tom Hanks for not being woke enough. Deggans, who is black, praised Hanks for his recent op-ed about the Tulsa race massacre, and calling on Hollywood to tell more stories like it. But now Deggans wants Hanks to do penance for having made movies about white people. I kid you not. From Deggans’s essay:

[I]t’s wonderful that Hanks stepped forward to advocate for teaching about a race-based massacre – indirectly pushing back against all the hyperventilating about critical race theory that’s too often more about silencing such lessons on America’s darkest chapters.

But it is not enough.

After many years of speaking out about race and media in America, I know the toughest thing for some white Americans — especially those who consider themselves advocates against racism — is to admit how they were personally and specifically connected to the elevation of white culture over other cultures.

But in Hanks’ case, he is no average American. Or average Hollywood star, for that matter.

Over the years, he has starred in a lot of big movies about historical events, including Saving Private Ryan, Greyhound, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Bridge of Spies and News of the World. He has served as a producer or executive producer on even more films and TV shows based on American history, including Band of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams and From the Earth to the Moon. He was an executive producer of documentaries such as The Assassination of President Kennedy and The Sixties on CNN.

In other words, he is a baby boomer star who has built a sizable part of his career on stories about American white men “doing the right thing.” He even played a former Confederate soldier in one of his latest films, News of the World, standing up for a blond, white girl who had been kidnapped and raised by a Native American tribe.

He’s not alone. Superstar director Steven Spielberg has a similar pedigree (notwithstanding occasional projects such as The Color Purple and Amistad). And fellow director Ron Howard. These stories of white Americans smashing the Nazi war machine or riding rockets into space are important. But they often leave out how Black soldiers returned home from fighting in World War II to find they weren’t allowed to use the GI Bill to secure home loans in certain neighborhoods or were cheated out of claiming benefits at all.

They don’t describe how Black people were excluded from participating in space missions as astronauts early in America’s space program. As the book and film Hidden Figures notes, even brilliant Black and female mathematicians faced discrimination in the space program during the 1950s and 1960s. If given better opportunities, perhaps they could have helped us get to the moon sooner, by putting our best minds on the problem, regardless of race.

Deggans is angry because these artists didn’t make the films he thought they should have made.

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NPR Hides Fact That Man Accused of Plotting to Kill Biden Was a Bernie Bro Who Possessed Book on Islam

NPR hid the fact that the man accused of plotting to assassinate Joe Biden was a Bernie Sanders supporter who possessed explosive material and books on bomb making and Islam, leading many to claim that the alleged culprit was a Trump supporter.

19-year-old Alexander Hillel Treisman was arrested by police after they discovered a number of weapons in his vehicle, including an AR-15 rifle, a canister of explosive material as well as books on bomb making and Islam.

However, NPR’s article on the subject, entitled ‘Man Arrested In N.C. Had Plan To Kill Joe Biden, Feds Say’ completely omits the fact that the alleged assassin was interested in Islam

While the Washington Post buried Treisman’s stated motive, that he wanted to kill Biden in order to “kill bernie,” in paragraph 15 of its report, neither NPR or the Huffington Post mentioned this crucial detail.

This left numerous HuffPost readers to conclude in the comments section of its article that the culprit must have been a Trump supporter.

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NPR: We’re Not Covering Biden Laptop Scandal Because It’s ‘Not Really’ A Story, ‘Pure Distractions’

Taxpayer-funded NPR announced Thursday on Twitter that it is not covering the Hunter Biden laptop scandal because it’s not really a story, which prompted widespread backlash online.

“Why haven’t you seen any stories from NPR about the NY Post’s Hunter Biden story?” NPR wrote on Twitter.

NPR then answered the question, writing: “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”

Almost instantly, the tweet sparked accusations of bias, which comes after one of Hunter Biden’s former business partners said in a statement on Thursday that Hunter Biden allegedly asked his father, Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden, to “sign-off” on his business deals. The statement contradicts Joe Biden’s public statements that he never spoke to his son about his son’s overseas business dealings.

Top political and media figures responded immediately to the tweet, expressing shock and disgust.

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NPR Claims That Calling a Riot a “Riot” is Racist

NPR published an article claiming that calling a riot a “riot” is offensive because it’s “rooted in racism.”

Yes, really.

The article was written by Jonathan Levinson for Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Portland NPR affiliate.

Portland has experienced 93 days of continuous rioting – last night was the first time in that entire period that the city has not seen unrest – but according to Levinson, merely calling a spade a spade is a racist dog whistle.

Levinson’s argument for this position is vague to the point of being non-existent. He appears upset that police are able to declare a riot and use crowd control measures to disperse violent BLM mobs.

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NPR promotes insane book celebrating looting and riots

Vicky Osterweil’s new book, In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action, is a social justice justification for property damage and theft. This book promoting riots is a number one new release on Amazon, a mega-corporation that benefits every time a local shop gets torched.

Osterweil’s book is a celebration of looting in the name of anti-racist action directed at dismantling whiteness and property ownership.

Speaking to NPR’s Natalie Escobar, Osterweil made the point that looting during the course of riots is a redistribution of wealth, not theft, and that property damage, too, is simply a way to reapportion assets which she deems necessary in an unequal society.

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