NPR asked Mara Liasson to leave Fox due to their so-called “political bias”

Via the Politico:

Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party.

One source said the White House’s criticism of Fox was raised during the discussions with Liasson. However, an NPR spokeswoman told POLITICO that the Obama administration’s attempts to discourage other news outlets from treating Fox as a peer had no impact on any internal discussions at NPR.

Of course it didn’t. / sarc

NPR’s Juan Williams has also taken heat for appearing regularly on Fox, but it’s unclear as to whether or not they have asked him to “reconsider” his appearances on the network. Even when they have defended him from criticism, they were still embarassed enough to insist that Fox not note that he was a news analyst for NPR when he is on certain Fox News programs:

Williams brings a valuable viewpoint to NPR. Sometimes it is that of an African-American, but it is also that of someone with a long track record of covering politics. Some think he is a conservative because he’s on Fox. Others think Fox uses him as a liberal voice because, whether true or not, a perception exists that NPR is liberal.

The assets that make Williams valuable to NPR are his knowledge, his perspective and that he is rarely predictable.

But in the end, NPR must decide — as it apparently already has — whether giving its listeners the benefit of Williams’ voice is worth the cost of annoying some listeners for his work on Fox.

As a result of this latest flap, NPR’s Vice President of News, Ellen Weiss, has asked Williams to ask that Fox remove his NPR identification whenever he is on O’Reilly.

Joe Scarborough, during today’s Morning Joe program on MSDNC, suggested NPR look in a mirror when it came to the issue of “biased programming”:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well I just want to say, I love NPR and I listen to NPR, but I’ve been listening to reformed, pot-smoking hippies for the past thirty years on NPR with a very substantial left-wing bias – and I don’t care that they eat tree bark like Euell Gibbons, and I don’t care if they are still smoking pot in their sixties. They put on great radio. But for NPR – for NPR, the leadership at NPR to question the bias of Fox News is a joke. They have been biased – again, I still listen to them, because like “The New York Times” they are the best at what they do. But, please, that is a laugh. NPR –

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: It’s very soothing listening, too.

SCARBOROUGH: It is soothing, it is very soothing. Just put a mirror to your face, NPR.

“Best at what they do”? NPR? NYT? Sounds like the “pot-smoking hipppies” aren’t confined to NPR, Joe.

Related/Flashback:

11/6/09 – WH pressures Democrat political strategists not to appear on Fox News

16 Responses to "NPR asked Mara Liasson to leave Fox due to their so-called “political bias”"

NC Cop says:

December 7, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Gosh, it sounds like the “big tent” dems and tolerant, open-minded liberals are having a hard time dealing with anyone who doesn’t think like them.

I’m shocked………really.
Carlos says:

December 7, 2009 at 12:56 pm

The only conceivable reason I can think a liberal outfit would want to keep their viewpoint off a “conservative” show is that the liberal arguments are too weak to withstand scrutiny or rebuttal.

And FOX is conservative only in relation to the MSM. In reality, Fox has moved only slightly leftward from its origins, while the MSM in general has headed toward the left field bleachers at something just short of light speed.

But then, when one considers oneself “normal” or “moderate” because the only political views one hears are an echo chamber for one’s own views, one can understand why NPR doesn’t consider itself a “left wing mouthpiece”.

BTW, the only time I get to see Liasson or Williams is on Fox News Sunday, because there isn’t enough worth watching on either satellite or cable to justify the expense. I do enjoy some of their thoughts and they do help make that program worth watching.
Lorica says:

December 7, 2009 at 1:11 pm

Others think Fox uses him as a liberal voice because, whether true or not, a perception exists that NPR is liberal.

The top portion of this statement is absolute truth. Juan Williams has some moments of brilliance that amaze me. But he is a classic liberal who actually uses his mind, not this echo chamber liberal who only repeats what supposed smart people think.

NPR is a liberal organization and for that reason it should not receive any Federal funding. It should be forced to run Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to make up for the other liberal programming. Seems only fair. – Lorica
Timbok says:

December 7, 2009 at 1:29 pm

The problem with Liberalism – Shows, websites, networks, etc. that espouse the opposite opinion are biased hacks, however, their own coverage is not.
Bill says:

December 7, 2009 at 1:29 pm

I listen to NPR almost every night at work only because its the only talk radio station I can get on my little radio in the building because of poor reception (and my only source of news while at work). NPR is way out-of-the-closet partisan left-leaning liberal. You will be hard pressed to find a more left-leaning, intolerant of opposing views person than Terry Gross and her program Fresh Air.

In the past 4 years I’ve been listening, I’ve heard not one guest speaker, or her, criticize anything or anyone liberal or left leaning on her program. Instead, she generally parades one “Bush basher” after another on her program, even still almost 1 year after Bush has been out of office.

I like Mara Liasson and Juan Williams because they are both pros. I listen to both on the news portion of NPR often and I watch both on Fox. Both strike me as closer to middle-of-the-roaders except Williams might lean a tiny bit left of center. Obviously, NPR is angry because both are “giving aid to the enemy” in their minds. This is just another good reason, in addition to their blatant left-leaning partisan programming, why NPR struggles to collect enough donations to keep their operations going and why Fox continues to kick all the liberal networks in their back sides in the ratings.

No wonder my co-workers say NPR stands for “Namby Pamby Radio”.
Brian says:

December 7, 2009 at 1:30 pm

NPR is so partisan that it should lose all government funding and its non-profit status. In addition, the government should consider giving one of NPR on-air channels to Fox News. That would at least go some way towards leveling the playing field.
Anthony says:

December 7, 2009 at 1:40 pm

However, an NPR spokeswoman told POLITICO that the Obama administration’s attempts to discourage other news outlets from treating Fox as a peer had no impact on any internal discussions at NPR.

And those bruises that appeared on Dick Meyer after he had a private chat with Rahm Emanuel were only a coincidence. Really….
Carolynp says:

December 7, 2009 at 1:47 pm

I totally agree with Lorica. Williams and Liasson are both really very intelligent and worth listening to. I doubt I would want to listen to them badly enough to endure the crap they run on NPR. It’s not just that they just spew the DNC talking points, it’s that they do it in the most boring possible way. NYT and NPR may have been the best at what they do once, but they certainly can’t compete with more modern news sources.
Transplanted Lawyer says:

December 7, 2009 at 2:04 pm

NPR is out of line. And shooting itself in the foot.

Like Bill and I suspect like most of the readers here, I am able to distinguish between a reporter conveying a fact and editorialization. Nor do I expect people who learn about something (like public policy) to refrain from forming opinions about the subject that they learn about – so when a reporter learns something about a subject(like public policy), it’s only natural that this person will form an opinion and that opinion will show through. Forming your own opinions about something is an inherent part of thinking critically about it and I for sure want reporters to think critically about the government they are assigned to cover.

Some people form left-leaning opinions and some people form right-leaning opinions. While I think FOX’s bias to the right does show through from time to time, it isn’t qualitatively or quantitatively different than the bias to the left that periodically shows through on MSNBC — or that of NPR. I do not expect 100% unbiased reporting from anyone. What I expect is that they get the facts right, and FOX is just as good at that as its competitors. In the meantime, FOX has a big audience and both Liasson and Williams are good journalists who should take their place among their peers on these sorts of public affairs shows — something which, if it happens, reflects well on NPR.

Telling its people not to appear on a FOX show, however, reflects badly on NPR.
arcman says:

December 7, 2009 at 2:26 pm

I always liked Scarborough, but he has been too influenced by the loons a MSNBC. NPR, “is the best at what they do.” Come on Joe, NPR is not only biased radio, it’s bad radio. Every time I listen to it I feel like I need to scrub my brain. That’s what happens when an entity is run by the government. There is little to no accounting to the people.
Neo says:

December 7, 2009 at 4:18 pm

I think this YouTube will give a flavor of NPR as done by SNL .. brings a new meaning to teabagging and captures Joe Scarborough’s intent.
JoJo Dog says:

December 7, 2009 at 4:41 pm

NPR claims Fox is bias, but Fox is the only news broadcaster that doesn’t refer to the Tea Party movement as teabaggers. Even on NPR, they have used the term teabagger and their website reprints articles, such as from The Nation, that use the teabagger slur.
Alcove-One says:

December 7, 2009 at 5:03 pm

National Pretentious Radio has a great deal of damn nerve to accuse other media outlets of political and cultural bias. In NPR’s case, we all get to pay for pompus liberal prigs in radio interviewing liberal newspaper people, politicians, authors and artists and they call it balanced.
I hope Juan Williams and Mara Liasson have the courage to tell NPR to walk south until their hat floats.
Alcove-One says:

December 7, 2009 at 5:08 pm

Why are the ~~marxists~~ liberals at NPR doing this? The seven most terrifing words at NPR;
“Rahm Emanuel on line one for you”
Never forget, NPR is state run radio.
Jo says:

December 8, 2009 at 8:47 am

The only thing I listen to on NPR is Garrison Keillor and often wonder why he is such a self-described bleeding heart liberal but the rest of the pseudo-intellectuals and their snarkiness are entirely too much for me. Someone tell me, why are we funding them?
Carlos says:

December 8, 2009 at 11:14 am

Jo, it’s because it’s the only way they can get their leftist views out to a mass audience that doesn’t depend on capitalism.

Air Anti-America is in the toilet financially because potential advertisers know there’s no audience there. It’s only by robbing productive people to pay the haters that such radio can exist.

In other words, they ain’t good ’nuff to make it in a competitive world.

Comments are closed.