Public media like NPR play a crucial role in the American information ecosystem that is otherwise drowning in a sensationalism and soundbytes. It’s no secret that newspapers — the primary source of journalism — are slashing staff and cutting back on original reporting. Many small- and medium-sized communities now have barely any reporters acting as the eyes and ears of the public.
NPR and its public media cousins provide the bulk of in-depth journalism and educational programming on television and radio — and they are one of the few places currently hiring journalists and expanding their efforts to cover government and big corporations. Democracy is predicated on an informed citizenry, and never has the need for a robust public media system been greater.
But Palin and her red-meat crew aren’t interested in democracy or an informed citizenry. They are interested in headlines. They paint NPR as “far-left” and “politically correct, the handmaiden of terror” — hyperbole designed to discredit media outlets that are not left wing but rather are committed to reporting hard facts and a range of viewpoints rather than blind, partisan ideological rhetoric cloaked as “fair and balanced.”
Amen, Josh!