That’s my stance. Instead, the critics were immediately attacked and shut down. There could be no time for questions.
Ignored, is being too polite. Attacked by a mob of righteous, self proclaimed “experts” is more like it.
Im always pretty open to this argument. Of course, I don’t think NPR should be giving time to flat Earthers, so even here there must be limits, but I do think a lot of media has been too dismissive of minority viewpoints. I personally think ultimately the lockdowns were the right thing to do at the time because of the unknowable aspects of a novel pandemic, but certainly there some room to consider the downsides of such a measure. If NPR did not, then I am with you.
Regardless of how you feel about NPR the real question is why are you listening to the news in your car when you should be playing music?
Looks like I’m not the only one! The Most Important Thing I Teach My Students Isn’t on the Syllabus April 20, 2024 By Frank Bruni I warn my students. At the start of every semester, on the first day of every course, I confess to certain passions and quirks and tell them to be ready: I’m a stickler for correct grammar, spelling and the like, so if they don’t have it in them to care about and patrol for such errors, they probably won’t end up with the grade they’re after. I want to hear everyone’s voice — I tell them that, too — but I don’t want to hear anybody’s voice so often and so loudly that the other voices don’t have a chance. And I’m going to repeat one phrase more often than any other: “It’s complicated.” They’ll become familiar with that. They may even become bored with it. I’ll sometimes say it when we’re discussing the roots and branches of a social ill, the motivations of public (and private) actors and a whole lot else, and that’s because I’m standing before them not as an ambassador of certainty or a font of unassailable verities but as an emissary of doubt. I want to give them intelligent questions, not final answers. I want to teach them how much they have to learn — and how much they will always have to learn. I’d been on the faculty of Duke University and delivering that spiel for more than two years before I realized that each component of it was about the same quality: humility. The grammar-and-spelling bit was about surrendering to an established and easily understood way of doing things that eschewed wild individualism in favor of a common mode of communication. It showed respect for tradition, which is a force that binds us, a folding of the self into a greater whole. The voices bit — well, that’s obvious. It’s a reminder that we share the stages of our communities, our countries, our worlds, with many other actors and should conduct ourselves in a manner that recognizes this fact. And “it’s complicated” is a bulwark against arrogance, absolutism, purity, zeal. Opinion | The Most Important Thing I Teach My Students Isn’t on the Syllabus
So I found my local NPR station and listen for a bit and it was actually pretty good. There was a small mention about the Trump trial and the rest of it was about how the film industry in Florida has died. The interviewed some of the local filmmakers and talked about ways to bring back the industry. I can't say I would have heard an interview like that anywhere else
There is a podcast dedicated to the Florida film industry I listen to occasionally Episode Archive - Film Florida- Entertainment Production Association
Listener for 40 years or so. Pretty much the same. Woke news has become mainstream, NPR just reflecting the times, I'd say. Check out frequent airwave companion "Democracy Now!" if you want to experience hard left pandering.
Interesting development. As is increasingly being tracked, defamation lawsuits are becoming a tool to save democracy. Lying about public figures is essentially First Amendment protected, private figures much less so. But the combination of zeal for power/self-righteous certainty is leading to regular smearing and intimidation of private individuals as a tool of political combat. But these suits may stop that
