I've written to NPR to express my disappointment and disapproval of what I'm perceiving to be a conscious and deliberate blackout of coverage of Bernie Sanders' campaign for president of the United States.
I am a longtime listener of NPR, and a longtime supporter of both Vermont Public Radio and New Hampshire Public Radio, and a member of the left fringe of the Democratic party. I live in New Hampshire, but just across the river from Vermont, and have chosen to support both networks for nearly 20 years running.
I've been a supporter for decades in fact, even when my friends panned NPR as overly conservative. Now, I'm really finding myself frustrated with what seems to me like a deliberate marginalization of Bernie Sanders in its coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign
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I've long come to rely on NPR as a source of unbiased news coverage for many decades now, from the Carter years, the Reagan presidency, the George H.W. Bush term, the Clinton years, and the George W. Bush and Obama eras.
I've listened through numerous misguided foreign wars and domestic political turmoils. I've always appreciated the political pressures that NPR has had to fend off from congressional and conservative opponents. We all know NPR has to constantly guard its funding from them. I have accepted NPR's attempts at a balanced approach to political coverage.
But never in my 40-plus years of listening to and supporting NPR have I ever heard the type of consistent blacklisting - the ignoring and belittling - that I'm now hearing (or not hearing) when it comes to Bernie Sanders' campaign for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America.
But to me, this just doesn't explain the kind of blanket blackout of Sanders coverage that I'm hearing across the board these days at NPR. Frankly, I've never heard anything like it before in 40 years of listening to this network.
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While Sanders' campaign increasingly captures the united support of the progressive wing of the Democratic party, NPR's coverage of Sanders has differed little from that of the major corporate-owned commercial news media.
And it's not just Mara Liasson's recent report that made not one mention of the Sanders' campaign. It seems to be every single show and commentator that I hear on NPR these days.
It appears to me every bit of an orchestrated policy of “See No Sanders, Hear No Sanders, Speak No Sanders” on the part of National Public Radio.
I expect this from the corporate-controlled media, not from NPR. Is NPR now part of the corporate-controlled media? It certainly sounds that way to me!
I'm more than disappointed. I am shocked and disgusted.
My friends are increasingly suspending their support for NPR affiliates, and I have to confess: I am currently considering doing the same.
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NPR should be assured: neither I nor other longtime NPR supporters are seeking endorsement or favoritism toward the Sanders' campaign!
But, I neither can I ignore nor sanction what amounts to a media takedown.
I'm really wondering what's up with the news coverage at NPR. So far, I think its coverage of this election cycle, and a large part of its political reporting for the last several years, have been really pathetic, and increasingly unlistenable.
What I am hearing on NPR these days amounts to a virtual blackout of media coverage, which to my mind is a remarkable departure from the type of political coverage that I've come to expect from public radio over these many years.
And yes - it's sufficiently disturbing for me to call out NPR in public over this question, and to consider withdrawing my present and future support from the network.
Having relied on this network for so long, I'm finding it really painful.