NPR’s Conservative Bias

A detailed analysis of political coverage by National Public Radio reveals a distinct partisan bias.  The following article provides irrefutable numeric evidence to support this conclusion.

While biased news coverage is commonplace in today’s media, most of us have come to expect better from NPR, which strives to garner paid memberships through its open-minded capacity to “consider all things” as it were.  We expect National Public Radio to make a conscious effort to provide nonpartisan news coverage.  Indeed, most people, if asked, would probably say that National Public Radio is subject to a liberal bias.  But numbers don’t lie; and the numbers say that NPR’s coverage of politics is heavily slanted in favor of the conservative viewpoint.  If you don’t believe my calculations, I invite you to visit NPR’s online archives, create a spreadsheet, and draw your own conclusions.  The data is there for anyone who wishes to parse it.

Requests for Comment

I contacted NPR’s Talk of the Nation repeatedly with requests for comment for this story, but they chose not to respond.  After several days I then went over their heads and contacted NPR’s corporate office directly; but NPR corporate likewise did not respond, much to my disappointment.

Premise

It would not have been practical to comb through every single news story on every program that NPR has aired over the past year.  For the purpose of this analysis, NPR’s overall political leanings are represented by “The Political Junkie,” a regular feature specifically dedicated to coverage of politics and the political arena.  Readers who feel that a single show about politics does not fairly represent the organization’s overall political bias (even though it features NPR’s senior political editor) may simply choose to read the following as an indictment of that particular program.

Background

National Public Radio’s two-hour call-in program Talk of the Nation airs at midday every weekday (the precise hour depends on your time zone; on the West Coast it begins at 11am).  Each Wednesday, Talk of the Nation opens with a segment called The Political Junkie.  The Political Junkie segment usually features NPR’s senior political editor Ken Rudin, although others occasionally fill in when he is away.

Ken Rudin is a controversial figure who has repeatedly called President Obama’s birth certificate into question on the air, thereby aligning himself with some of the most extreme voices in the conservative movement.  (See here and here .)[1] As related above, NPR did not even bother to decline to comment on this story; they made no response at all; but if it were possible to get a reply out of Ken Rudin, he might explain away his comments as a joke.  I for one was not laughing.

Methodology

In order to determine whether or not The Political Junkie demonstrates a political bias, I analyzed transcripts posted on NPR’s website http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5 .  I created a spreadsheet, and in it I noted all the guests who have appeared on the show for the past year, and their political affiliation where applicable.

Guests on the show included politicians, activists, journalists, pollsters, analysts, and academics.  Candidates and party officials were identified by their affiliation.  (I counted Arlen Specter as a Democrat, even though he is a recently Republican turncoat.)  Guests from think tanks were identified by their institution’s known affiliation.  Lobbyists and campaign workers were identified by political affiliation if it was stated in the piece.  Otherwise, no effort was made to determine the political affiliation of journalists, pollsters, analysts, or academics.

The only guests counted were formal guests who had been invited by the program’s producers to provide commentary.  I did not tally the individual callers or their political affiliation, although a comprehensive analysis of who gets past the screeners might also be telling.

In addition to the guests themselves, my spreadsheet noted the following:

• Titles of the shows from the past six months
• Specific groups who were asked to call in over the course of the past six months; for example, “Voters in Delaware, we want to hear from you, give us a call.”

Finally, I went through and counted all the political advertisements played on the show over the course of the past month.  This was very time consuming, as it requires reading each transcript in detail; but a month’s worth of shows seemed like a reasonable sample, especially since the month in question is the lead-up to an election, a time period when news outlets should be trying harder than ever to provide balanced coverage.

All source data is posted at the bottom of this article for reference.

Guests on The Political Junkie

In the past year, The Political Junkie has featured 23 guests who were either conservative or extremely conservative.  In the same time period, the show has featured 18 guests who were moderate or progressive.  The Political Junkie featured 27.8% more conservative guests in the past year. If this had been an election, it would have been a landslide.  (Incidentally, the number was skewed even more heavily towards conservatives when I began writing this piece; but the show brought another Democrat on while I was waiting for a response from NPR.)

The astute reader may note that for the September 29 air date, I included two show titles.  The Political Junkie show itself varies in length but often lasts 45 minutes.  The September 29 show was the only Political Junkie show in the entire year to follow an initial half-hour segment with a fifteen minute “Op-Ed” piece.  Since the Op-Ed piece was specifically about politics, I considered it a continuation of The Political Junkie, which was how it sounded when I originally heard it aired live.

A year’s worth of Political Junkie guests are listed here.

Political Junkie Show Subjects in the Past Six Months

In the past six months, there were 11 shows that were specifically dedicated to discussion of the Tea Party or to various Republican races. During the same time there were just 5 shows specifically covering Democrats and Democratic issues.  The remaining 12 shows during this period were not specifically related to a given political affiliation.

The Political Junkie aired 120% more shows covering conservative issues. That’s right: more than twice as many.

Of the relatively few shows that did discuss Democrats specifically, 3 of them were highly critical.  By comparison, of the much larger number of shows that discussed the Tea Party and Republicans, none of them were critical: none at all.

Show topics are listed here.

Voter Groups Whose Input Was Requested in the Past Six Months

In the past six months, The Political Junkie has twice specifically asked for Republicans to call in (May 12 and April 14).  Within this same time period the show has never specifically asked for Democrats to call in.  (On several other occasions, voters from a specific state were asked to call in, usually in connection with a primary race featuring a Tea Party candidate, although on those occasions the show’s host did not name a particular political party when asking callers to pick up the phone.)

Political Advertisements Played on The Political Junkie in the Past Month

The number of political ads played on The Political Junkie in the past month is a crucial metric for several reasons.  The time period considered here is essential, because it is the lead-up to an important election.  By playing these ads, the radio show is communicating the messages contained within the advertisements to NPR’s listening audience.  The groups involved get the benefit of having their message rebroadcast to a much larger audience at no additional cost.  As long as there is some balance between the number of advertisements for each faction, it is reasonable to argue that the advertisements are presented for discussion.  However, any imbalance amounts to free political advertising.

The imbalance is staggering.  In the past month, The Political Junkie has aired 9 Republican advertisements (either ads for a Republican, or ads against a Democrat).  In the same time period, the show aired only 3 ads from the other side (either for a Democrat or against a Republican).  The show played three times as many Republican advertisements. This single statistic alone blows any question of balance out of the water.

The simple fact is that Talk of the Nation’s Political Junkie show, and by extension National Public Radio itself, is overtly promoting the Republican agenda.

Political advertisements aired by The Political Junkie in the past month are listed here.

Conclusion

NPR has become Fox News for the radio. There is no semblance of balance in their coverage of politics.

Political Advertisements Aired by The Political Junkie

10/6/2010	ad by Meg Whitman, Republican
10/6/2010	ad by Jerry Brown, Democrat
10/6/2010	ad by Rand Paul, nutcase
9/29/2010	ad by Meg Whitman, Republican
9/29/2010	ad AGAINST Michael Bennet, Democrat
9/29/2010	ad AGAINST Daniel Webster, Republican
9/29/2010	ad by Harry Reid, Democrat
9/29/2010	ad AGAINST John Boehner, Republican
9/29/2010	ad AGAINST Nancy Pelosi, Democrat
9/29/2010	ad AGAINST Obama and Democrats in general
9/29/2010	ad by Carly Fiorina, Republican
9/22/2010	ad by Lisa Murkowski, Republican

Show Topics on The Political Junkie

Date	Show Title
10/6/2010	Boxer, Fiorina At Odds in Calif. Senate Race
9/29/2010	Op-Ed: Conservatism does not equal racism
9/29/2010	Political Attack Ads Work, But Are They True?
9/22/2010	Tea Party Victory Shakes up New York Politics
9/15/2010	Big Tuesday for Tea Party Candidates
9/8/2010	Tea Party sets sights on Delaware
9/1/2010	The Big Issues of the 2010 Elections
8/25/2010	Is There A Sarah Palin Effect?
8/18/2010	Sunshine State Political Campaigns Heating Up
8/11/2010	Remembering Sen. Stevens and Rep. Rostenkowski
8/4/2010	2010 Political Primaries Update
7/28/2010	Bennet, Romanoff Vie for Colo. Senate Seat
7/21/2010	Charged Atmosphere Surrounds Sherrod Accusation
7/14/2010	Rep. Bob Inglis on Republican "Demagoguery"
7/7/2010	Immigration Lawsuit Sends Candidates Scrambling
6/30/2010	Remembering Robert Byrd, Longest Serving Senator
6/23/2010	McChrystal Resigns, Obama Names Petraeus
6/16/2010	The Political Junkie Takes New Hampshire
6/9/2010	Women Won Big in Tuesday Primaries
6/9/2010	How Emotive should a president be?
6/2/2010	The 2010 Primary Season, Coast to Coast
5/26/2010	Blumenthal Taking Heat for "misstatements"
5/19/2010	Primary Voters Send Anti-Establishment Message
5/12/2010	Ky. Race for Sen. Bunning’s Seat heats up
5/5/2010	Specter the Incumbent, but not the shoo-in
4/28/2010	Ark. Candidates for Senate Look to May Vote
4/21/2010	Republican Crist May Run as Independent In Fla.
4/14/2010	Republicans: Who’s Your Candidate for 2012?
4/7/2010	Court Watchers Speculate Over Potential Vacancy

Political Junkie Guests

show date	guest	affiliation	more information
10/6/2010	Barbara Boxer	Democrat	Senator
10/6/2010	Carly Fiorina	Republican	challenger
9/29/2010	Gerard Alexander	conservative	American Enterprise Institute
9/29/2010	Evan Tracey	analyst	Campaign Media Analysis Group
9/22/2010	Carl Paladino	Tea Party	gubernatorial candidate
9/15/2010	Mickey Carrol	pollster	director of University Polling Institute
9/15/2010	Andy Smith	professor	professor of political science
9/8/2010	Amy Kremer	Tea Party	"director of grassroots and coalitions for the Tea Party Express and… a keynote speaker at the Tea Party convention earlier this year in Nashville"
9/8/2010	Tom Ross	Republican	chair of the Delaware Republican Party
9/1/2010	Anna Greenberg	moderate	Worked on Clinton and Gore campaigns.
9/1/2010	Alex Vogel	Republican	lobbyist
8/25/2010	Tom Rath, Michael Barone, Libby Casey	reporters
8/18/2010	Susan MacManus and Ted Robbins	professor and reporter
8/11/2010	Libby Casey	reporters
8/4/2010	Steve Kraske, Marcus Pohlmann	reporter and professor
7/28/2010	Andrew Romanoff	Democrat	senatorial candidate (challenger)
7/28/2010	Michael Bennet	Democrat	Senator (incumbent)
7/21/2010	Donna Brazile	Democrat	political strategist
7/14/2010	Bob Inglis	Republican	Congressman from South Carolina
7/14/2010	Mark DiCamillo	pollster
7/7/2010	E. J. Montini	reporter
6/30/2010	Jon Ralston, Robert Rupp	columnist and professor
6/23/2010	Tom Gjelten, Robert Dallek, Major General Mike Davidson, BradWarthen	reporter, historian, military, political blogger
6/16/2010	Ovide Lamontagne	Republican
6/16/2010	Bill Binnie	Republican
6/16/2010	Kelly Ayotte	Republican
6/16/2010	Arnie Aneson	reporter
6/16/2010	Josh Rogers	reporter
6/9/2010	Jon Ralston, Julie Rose	columnist and reporter
6/9/2010	Scott Horsley	reporter
6/2/2010	Cathleen Decker	reporter
5/26/2010	John Dankosky	news director at WNPR
5/19/2010	Don Gonyea	reporter
5/12/2010	Trey Grayson	Republican
5/12/2010	Rand Paul	right-wing extremist whack job
5/5/2010	Arlen Specter	Benedict Arnold
5/5/2010	Joe Sestak	Democrat
5/5/2010	note that they attempted to get Republican Pat Toomey on the show but he was unable to participate because his wife had a baby.
4/28/2010	Bill Halter	Democrat
4/28/2010	Blanche Lincoln	Democrat
4/28/2010	Mike Thompson	reporter
4/21/2010	Beth Reinhard, Janine Parry	reporter and professor
4/14/2010	Don Gonyea	reporter
4/7/2010	Amy Howe	blogger
3/31/2010	Lou Frey	Republican	former Congressman
3/31/2010	Scott Horsley	reporter
3/24/2010	Vin Weber	Republican	political strategist
3/24/2010	Anna Greenberg	Democrat	pollster
3/17/2010	Andy Stern	presumably Democrat	president of SEIU
3/10/2010	Ruy Tixeira, Matt Continetti	reporters
3/3/2010	Mitt Romney	Republican
3/3/2010	Danny Hakim	reporter
2/24/2010	Wayne Slater	reporter
2/17/2010	Brian Howey	analyst
2/10/2010	Rick Pearson	reporter
2/3/2010	Rick Pearson	reporter
1/27/2010	Peter Robinson	Republican	presidential speechwriter (reagan)
1/27/2010	Paul Glastris	Democrat	presidential speechwriter (clinton)
1/20/2010	Billy Vassiladis	Democrat	political strategist
1/20/2010	Dick Wadhams	Republican	chairman of the Colorado Republican Party
1/13/2010	John Heilmann	reporter
1/6/2010	Colin McEnroe	journalist
1/6/2010	Dave Thompson	journalist
1/6/2010	Dick Armey	Republican	former Majority Leader in the US House of Reps
12/30/2009	no political junkie segment this Wednesday
12/30/2009	no guests
12/16/2009	Marc Mutty	conservative	former chair of Stand for Marriage Maine
12/16/2009	Joe Solmonese	moderate	president of Human Rights Campaign
12/16/2009	Irene Jay Liu	reporter
12/9/2009	Dan Payne	Democrat	media consultant
12/9/2009	Faiz Shakir	progressive	Center for American Progress
12/2/2009	Fred Thys, Shaila Dewan, Don Gonyea	reporters
11/25/2009	Fred Barbash	reporter
11/25/2009	Deepak Chopra	no obvious affiliation
11/18/2009	Matthew Continetti	Republican	nominally a reporter, but there to talk about his book, "The persecution of Palin: how the elite media tried to bring down a rising star"
11/11/2009	Nancy Keenan	liberal	president of NARAL Pro-Choice America
11/4/2009	Hendrik Hertzberg	reporter
11/4/2009	Mike Huckabee	Republican	former Arkansas Governor & presidential candidate
10/28/2009	Irene Jay Liu	reporter
10/28/2009	Robert Holsworth	analyst
10/28/2009	Jon Corzine	Democrat	Governor of New Jersey
10/28/2009	Chris Daggett	Independent (conservative)	gubernatorial candidate
10/28/2009	Joe Kyrillos	Republican	Chairman of the Chris Christie for Senate campaign
10/21/2009	David Carr	reporter
10/14/2009	Ezra Klein	reporter
10/14/2009	Beth Reinhard	reporter
10/7/2009	Taylor Branch	reporter	author of "the clinton tapes"

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[1] Incidentally, that second Ken Rudin “birth certificate” comment cited above was made on NPR’s program Tell Me More, hosted by Michel Martin, who is the only NPR host or reporter who I have ever heard explicitly identify their own political affiliation on the air: of course she is a Republican.  If I had been cherry picking a show to demonstrate NPR’s political bias, I would have picked hers; Tell Me More does not even pretend to be a balanced program.  It is extraordinarily slanted; so much so that I won’t even bother to get into it here, other than to note that Martin regularly forces her religious views on her audience.