|
A
note from the search for the infamous "Liberal Media"
January
22, 2002
by Tyler Durden
In my continuing naïve and fruitless search for the "Liberal
Media," I am occasionally lulled into a false sense of security
by National Public Radio.
I sometimes forget that Don Gonyea used to shill for the
auto industry at Public Radio WDET in Detroit. After all,
I am only human. Nevertheless, should not National Public
Radio hold to a little more, at the very least, neutral
point of view?
I was spoiled a while back: I lived in a city with a Pacifica
station, and I got used to a style of broadcasting that was
a lot to the left. Very refreshing; I miss it terribly, but
as every politico since invention of the concept has said,
we have an election to win. The media is supposed to be a
public trust due to the nature of FCC Licensing, and that
means if they want to air Paid Political Commercials, then
they should not do it under the aegis of the news. That is
why there is a place given for editorial opinion.
As a Democrat, I find NPR coverage is usually fairly close
to centrist, but a bias on the part of Don Gonyea is starting
to show. The reporting on the travels of the President have
strayed from objectivity into commentary, making it look less
like a news story and more like an ad for the policies of
the Republican Party.
I realize that Don Gonyea travels with the President as part
of his job, and thus must walk a narrow line to retain his
press access. However: his recent on air work is straying
into administration cheerleading. It is not his job to follow
the "rah-rah" of Mr. Bush's sound bites on more tax cuts as
evidence of his dubious expertise in "…Economics 101…" (Morning
Edition, 7:25 a.m., 1/15/02) with his own editorial comment
regarding the motives of Congressional Democrats.
Following comments about opposition to the latest skewed
"tax cuts" with statements such as "After all, it is a Congressional
Election year…" infer that Democrats are motivated solely
by the election with no other motive: this is obviously not
true. Perhaps it is based in their opposition to Corporate
Welfare tax cuts and the return of the "Voodoo Economics"
of the Reagan Administration. Mr. Gonyea should stick to reporting,
and leave the campaigning to the President: the intention
of Mr. Bush's latest "Tax Cut Road Trip" are transparent enough.
Mr. Gonyea should at least try to be an impartial reporter
and keep his "digs" to himself, or he should go to work for
CNN or perhaps FOX.
Don Gonyea isn't a complete media whore yet, but as this
is not the first or the worst example of his reporting, he's
definitely signed up for the course and is in line to buy
the books. Perhaps he wishes to apply for Ari Fleischer's
job; I would be happy to write him a reference.
|
