I used to look forward to listen to NPR

In and of itself it isn't a bad segment. Very insightful the first 15 or so times they run an iteration of it. That's been my problem

 

This should be proof enough that NPR doesn't have a "liberal" agenda, its basically letting conservative preoccupations drive much of the conversation and their reporting. Like they've probably done a million stories about trans athletes, inflation and the border in the last couple of years, not reporting on the miracle of Bidenomics or something lol. They've probably helped liberals move right on all those things too TBH, so they are clearly failing at propaganda lol.

 

We finally agree!!!!!

My Spotify playlists are littered with 70s rock. It’s the greatest escape music.

 

I agree. Just because there are 87 registered Dems and 0 registered GOP on their editorial staff doesn't mean there will be a bias. Why does everybody assume the worst??

 

I'm not sure where those numbers come from, but if it were true, this is probably because anyone can find a much more lucrative gig if they want to sell out and do conservative media or basically any kind of private sector work. Its like wondering why there arent many Republican teachers or social service workers. What in the Republican/conservative ethos is celebrating working for little money to serve the public good? Conservatives can just cash rich people's checks and do YouTube videos about how poor people smell different or The Little Mermaid is "too woke" vs. adhering to basic journalism standards.

 

They barely get any money from the government. Most of their operating money is from the McDonald's guy's widow's endowment and donations.

 

Yeah we definitely want to get away from the idea of a public interest, towards pure oligopoly paid for by predatory billionaires. It's not like we're not close to that already

 

Admittedly op-ed does a good job of providing specific examples and background. Since Covid I’ve worked from home and no longer listen to npr on my commute. I’ll be interested to give it a try.

 

Regarding HB, who the F cares really? I mean you have the son of an ex-VP trying to peddle his influence. Woop de do!! It isn't even a crime. Yet the Right is laser focused on it as if it is some impeachable offense for the kids dad. Meanwhile, they are turning a blind eye to everything that Diaper Don and his kids have been up to. $2 Billion to Jared from the Saudies? Who cares about that... lets dig into why Hunter was earning a $100K as a consultant.

Regarding the virus, your report is one of many many analyses that have been done. Reading how this particular one was done doesn't give me a lot of confidence it is valid. They ranked how rare the virus is, and if it had asymptomatic effects. It was a novel virus that had never crossed over to humans before. So yeah, it was rare (except in the bats) and we had no data on what it did to humans before it crossed over, so how would they no what was asymptomatic? Furthermore, I don't believe anyone said it was a "conspiracy" and dismissing it outright. From my recollection, it was reported as one way it could have happened, but other possibilities were also possible.

 

As to the laptop there has been no evidence linking Joe Biden. What evidence that was presented has been shown to be baked. If there were even marginal evidence, don’t you think the House Republicans would be charging forward with their “investigation”.

As to the lab leak, listening to some detailed accounts from actual virologists, including a couple that were very plugged into the early stages of the virus and goings on in Wuhan, there is little doubt in their mind that it was of natural origins, and there is no evidence that really links it to the lab. There is evidence that links it to the wet market. So either you believe the virologists involved who are by far the most qualified on the issue, or you think they are all involved in a conspiracy to cover it up, which strikes me as total nonsense.

 

The only people saying Covid came naturally are those scientists who want to cover up the fact they were doing GoF research. The whole “wet market” coverup is ridiculously unbelievable.

 

Re lab leak

The below are conversations among virologists with the first one with Eddie Holmes gives a very compelling account of why it is over natural origins.





lab leak | This Week in Virology

lab leak hypothesis | This Week in Virology

 

See, I am always suspicious when the people in charge(Fauci, Daszak) were trying to take down anyone who tried to bring up the "Lab Leak" theory back in 2020. That tells me they had something to hide. Anyone thinking that a High Level Virus lab located right down the street from where the pandemic began and not putting 2 + 2 together either has an ulterior motive or is ignorant.

 

Used to listen to Car Talk and then Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on Saturday mornings working in my shop and on home projects. Also listened to Prarie Home Companion with my Dad before he passed while playing Cribbage.

NPR and Public Radio in general leans to the liberal side, don't think anyone can argue that, but it also isn't offensive enough for me to not listen to it. Just have to have to have your own opinions, not let someone else do your thinking for you and take what you can from the stories.

 

I'm replying to your post because reading it made me realize something and this is not necessarily directed at you.
I find it amazing from the years of reading and posting on THFSG, that if an event happens and the side of politics you lean towards believe it then it must be true. All the while, the side that doesn't believe it calls it some wild a$$ conspiracy theory. Many from both sides may not recognize this but if you can take an honest look at the politics of most of the posters here, before ever reading their response, you know what side of the "conspiracy" they are going to align with. Again, not pointing fingers at anyone because I am guilty also, just food for thought as we try to navigate through very politically trying times!!!

 

This phenomenon has long disturbed me, agman. Not only does it suggest that we might be simply partisan automatons, but it calls into question our relationship with truth. Do we believe things not because they are justified by reason and evidence or just because they are accepted by our side? I think it’s clear that if someone takes the conservative or liberal position on nearly 100% of debates, regardless of whether the underlying issue is philosophical or empirical, they are wrong on many of their contentions. The problem it isn’t usually clear which positions are the mistaken ones.

If the debates are centered on matters of values or ideology, I understand someone would adopt a consistent position, but I see no reason whatsoever why all Democrats or all Republicans should be guilty of illegal behavior. Or why only one sides’ views on empirical science should be accurate. It makes little sense that one’s views on the morality of abortion should correlate with one’s views on the merits of the theory of anthropogenic climate change.

I have no great solution to this problem, but I think the best of our mediocre options should include a few aspects: First, try to minimize the level that our identity is wrapped up in our political party. E.g. Instead of thinking of ourselves as “a Republican”, it’s better to see ourselves as “a person who holds some Republican values.” Second is to build respect and curiosity for the cognition of other people. Why does that otherwise normal-seeming person see this matter so differently? Ask questions to see if we can understand what they are seeing that we are missing. They too are people after all. Building on that, third is to defer judgement on some matters to institutions of knowledge. Not that one must always blindly accept what the academy or mainstream media tells us. Surely, the medical profession can be mistaken on a medical claim, but I see no reason to assume that I am less likely to error in this domain. After all, if we are going to argue that the millions of people that disagree with us are suffering from some cognitive delusion, we have to ask what makes us think we are different?

 

What you are saying is totally true. The set of “facts” we are exposed to and believe is heavily influenced by the media we choose to consume. So it isn’t shocking that the two sides can’t come to agreement on anything, because they are operating in a different set of facts.

There are definitely biases on both sides and you won’t get all the facts if you consume just one media or the other. However, from my perspective, the media on the right is much worse than mainstream media. Mainstream media is left leaning, and they steer coverage and perceptions by what they cover and how they cover it. What they cover is influenced either directly or indirectly on how they feel it affects their particular biases.

Much of right wing media is now just reporting pure nonsense. Stolen elections. Anti vax lies. They report this because that is what their audience wants to hear.

Obviously like everybody else I have biases, but I really try to take in the actual facts of the situation. If you pay attention to some of my posts I don’t always please those more left leaning posters with some inconvenient facts (the small number of unarmed blacks killed by cops each year, the high overlap of trans and other mental illness, the obviously baked fatality numbers put out by Hamas)

So when I state my view of the facts of the case on Russiagate, Covid origin theories, and Hunter Biden, I’ve tried to educate myself on the actual facts of the issue. Maybe all my facts aren’t all correct, but they represent a reasonable effort to get to the right place.

Often once I’ve arrived at certain facts, I will logic test them to see if they hold up.

As to Russia gate, the whole investigations started with James Comey and then given to Robert Mueller. Both Republicans. Democrats think Comey cost Hillary the election. Clearly neither of those guys are shills for the left.

You can go back and read what Mueller wrote. It was not at all an exoneration. It came to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to convict Trump of criminal conspiracy with a foreign government to tamper with election. That’s a high bar and hard to prove. There was absolutely “collusion” at some level, but it could be argued it was superficial. Collusion isnt a crime per se. Now Mueller did think there was obstruction (there clearly was) but said it was up to congress to decide whether to act on that. It’s all spelled out in the document.

So you can believe that, or you can believe Republicans and democrats are engaging in a giant conspiracy to frame Trump. I tend to go with the obvious over conspiracy theories.

As to Hunter, I don’t follow every detail, but I do know congress has not been able to find any substantial evidence of Joe Biden being involved. Yes, Hunter is a drug addict and a grifter and influence peddler. But if there were anything at all to pin on Joe you know they absolutely would.

The logical conclusion is there is nothing there. Or, you can believe that there is a conspiracy to cover crimes up in spite of the lack of evidence.

As to the lab leak, I found those videos / podcasts of virologists very compelling. That isn’t political. It’s a straight up explanation of the known facts, by the people who were closest to the issue and are the most knowledgeable. So you can believe them and their stated facts, or you can believe they are all involved in a conspiracy to cover up a lab leak.

 

So the OP is a 25 year veteran of NPR who spoke with several people within the organization about how they've missed their calling of attempting to report objective truth vs. confirming their biases before writing this commentary. So, what follows in THFSG? Primarily a lecture of how much worse "Right Wing media" is. Great, the beatings will continue until morale improves. I cannot understand why were so polarized! LOL.

FWIW, I tend to believe 100% the opposite of everything that the Chinese government says. They closed down Wuhan for travel domestically but were just fine allowing people to leave internationally, essentially giving the whole world a big fat dose of COVID without notifying anyone until it was too late. I believe the CCP claims the leak was through the market; ergo, it's lab leak for me.