Lessons Learned at National Public Radio

I have been thinking about the role of journalists and what is appropriate journalism, and now this issue is in the news. I listen to Rush Limbaugh every chance I get, and I actually learn a lot from the show. As a matter of fact, I published an article about Donald Trump based on an interview he did on the Limbaugh show. Rush Limbaugh obviously practices opinion journalism from a conservative point of view. He has been doing this forever and people accept it. When other journalists and other media outlets do the same thing, they are frequently lambasted. It is fascinating to compare and contrast the articles that were written about the turmoil at National Public Radio (NPR) and the passing of journalist David Broder.

Journalists and journalism are in the news today, as there is turmoil at NPR, and David Broder, one of the most respected journalists in the world has passed away. I was struck with the contrast between the two stories as one was about successful journalism and the other was about troubled journalism. My local newspaper, The Citizen's Voice published an article by the Scranton Times Tribune Washington Bureau about NPR, and on the opposite page an Associated Press article about the death of respected journalist David Broder.

Turmoil at NPR

Vivian Schiller resigned as president and chief executive of NPR, as Republicans in Congress are fighting to cut their federal funding. Schiller resigned on March 9, a day after a video was released in which a former fund-raising executive at NPR lambasted the tea party movement as a group of gun owning, racists, and Christian fundamentalists. He said the tea party movement had hijacked the Republican Party.

Schiller's resignation was an attempt to show the Congress that NPR could hold itself accountable. Schiller's performance became controversial last summer, when NPR fired Juan Williams. Schiller admits she made mistakes and mishandled the Williams firing, and says that the ability of NPR to continue broadcasting will be profoundly and negatively impacted if federal funding is cut off.

While working for NPR, Williams also worked for FOX News, and he had a lot of conservative friends. While broadcasting on FOX News, Williams said he was apprehensive when he saw Muslims in traditional clothing on airplanes. His firing rallied conservatives and led to the current drive to de-fund NPR. The furor led to the resignation of Ellen Weiss, NPR's former top news executive. Weiss resigned in January.

David Broder

While NPR is in turmoil, the late David Broder is being praised for his fair, objective, and even-handed reporting. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at the Washington Post. He was fair with liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans alike. At his death he was praised by liberals and conservatives. President Obama praised him from the left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised him from the right.

Lessons Learned

The logical question one must ask is why is one journalist so respected, while NPR is in turmoil and some of their journalists are resigning? As I analyzed the question, I began to realize that there is an obvious answer. David Broder practiced the time honored objective journalism which was fair and balanced. He reported all the facts and told the story from both points of view. NPR has dumped the traditional approach to journalism and is following the newest fad,opinion journalism. Their journalism reminded many of the liberal journalism that is so prevalent at MSNBC. They are putting a liberal left wing slant on the news, and broadcasting to a national audience. Of course, Republicans, conservatives, and some moderates were incensed with this approach to the news, and a fierce opposition to NPR developed. NPR found out the hard way that opinion journalism is appropriate for a limited number of journalists and media outlets. Opinion journalism should be left to the nation's op-ed pages and a few media outlets that developed the modern tradition. Everyone else should stick with traditional fair and objective journalism.

Source: 1. James Oliphant, Tribune Washington Bureau, NPR chief's resignation fires up tea party types, The Citizens' Voice, March 10, 2011.

2. Charles Babington and Matthew Barakat, Associated Press, Veteran political reporter David Broder dies, The Citizens' Voice, March 10, 2011.