Today, in a Politico story entitled “NPR reporter pressured over Fox role,” reporter Josh Gerstein about the apparent attempt by NPR execs to stop their experienced reporter, Mara Liasson, from appearing as a guest on Fox News. Liasson, who is one of the most knowledgeable reporters in Washington, frequently appears as a guest on the straight news programs “Special Report with Bret Baier” and “Fox News Sunday.” To build on the discussion about the story, the Politico folks raised “NPR vs. Fox News?” as a topic in the Arena.
Below is my response in the Arena, which you can see here on the Politico site.
Does NPR have an issue when their reporters appear on MSNBC news programs? How about the MSNBC evening lineup? I can’t say that I watch the opinion shows on MSNBC very often, so do NPR reporters ever appear with Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Ed Shultz or Rachel Maddow? If NPR reporters do participate as analysts or commentators on those programs, then NPR – by not calling on all of their reporters to stay off all cable news channels completely – is creating the very bias perception the source in the Politico story claims they are trying to avoid. From the POLITICO story : “NPR has its own issues in trying to convince people that, ‘Look, we’re down the middle,’” the source said.
I watch Mara on Special Report with Bret Baier regularly. I think Special Report is one of the best straight news programs on television today. On the panel, Mara offers insights and analysis from her years as a top flight reporter in Washington. Now, if NPR believes its reporters should retreat and not provide insights on the news on other platforms (cable news, newspapers, blogs, etc), then that is their choice. If they do that, they should apply that standard uniformly to all news outlets. If they don’t, NPR is simply agreeing with the White House’s ridiculous, self-serving assertion that Fox News is not actually a news organization.
The media landscape is evolving quickly and I imagine NPR execs could spend all day, every day examining other outlets for twinges of opinion. As a taxpayer who unwillingly provides them funding, my advice to NPR execs would be to allow your best and brightest to appear wherever and whenever they can. That might build more interest in your product, thereby making it possible for you to be completely listener supported in the future.
