A Misguided Message of Frustration

I just submitted this email to NPR's All Things Considered.

"To the hosts of NPR’s All Things Considered:

I have a bone to pick with you.

In 1991, I was a young college student in Rexburg, Idaho, working at the Ricks College NPR affiliate, KRIC. Public Radio was entirely new to me then and I was deeply impressed by the news reporting I heard every day. Its integrity and fairness was far above any broadcast news to which I had previously been exposed. I came to trust NPR over any other news source, confident that at last I was hearing thoughtful, objective reporting on the events of the day.

That trust came to an end during this past election cycle.

I was fully awakened to NPR News’ political agenda during the primaries. Suddenly, descriptors became glaringly obvious in reference to the various candidates. Certain candidates became known as the “front-runner” or “Republican favorite”. Others were the “dark horse” or even the “long shot”. The use of the “front-runner” descriptor in connection with the names Trump and Clinton became so pervasive that it was impossible not to notice the bias accorded them and be angered by it. These were not harmless words employed to make the prose pop or the sounds sizzle. They were subtle forms of electioneering on the part of NPR News which has no business playing politics in any way. Perhaps this occurred in past elections, but this is the first time it was so obvious it jolted me out of my trusting complacency.

What would have been preferable? What would have ensured that NPR maintained its trusted status in the ears of this listener? To begin with, if descriptors had to be used, it would have been better to say things like “presidential hopeful” or “Democratic candidate”. Terms like these are purely factual, with no weight added to them. They leave the value judgments to the listeners, just as they should be.

Perhaps I’m naïve in supposing that you are different than the commercially-controlled news outlets. Perhaps I’m tilting at windmills to expect that you would serve the people with ironclad integrity, reporting the news in a manner as unbiased and as truthful as is humanly possible. Do you remain servants of the public or have you completely sold your soul? Up until now, I ignored the not-quite-commercials disguised as underwriting that bookend NPR news modules. Perhaps I should have been paying much closer attention to them.

I have been considering my words since the defeat of Bernie Sanders. Though I now address this missive to All Things Considered as you are the flagship of NPR News, my words are intended for the entire NPR News organization. You have lost my trust and support. I am confident I am not alone. Since November 9, I haven’t been able to listen to NPR News in any form without being physically sickened by the sound of it. The gambit played in which you took part to ensure the victory of one candidate over another has backfired and now all of us will suffer the consequences. (Are you listening, Ari Shapiro? You should be especially worried about this.) Given the incoming administration’s view of public entities, it is questionable whether you have the time to regain your integrity before the karmic axe hanging high above your heads starts its descent and it’s too late to save you or any of us. It might be already."