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The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
State media are dead — long live state media
With the final elimination of public funding for National Public Radio as part of a $9 billion savings package, the era of the American state media will technically come to an end. However, what makes for state media is not state support alone. So, the state media is dead — long live the state media. That variation of the traditional mourning cry of the British monarchy will be heard more in whispers than proclamations this week in Washington. The government subsidy for NPR has long been a subject of controversy. Many opposed NPR for its open bias in reporting news, a record that thrilled the left and outraged many on the right. Just before the final vote, NPR CEO Katherine Maher gave another interview that left many agape. She denied any such bias and asked whether anyone could point to a single story that showed a political or ideological slant. Ignoring a myriad of such examples, Maher then went from defiant to delusional, insisting that NPR was trying hard to 'understand those criticisms.' It was a bit late for Maher to feign surprise or confusion, particularly as a CEO whose selection to take over the struggling NPR many of us opposed. Her glaring and overt bias did not seem like the antidote to NPR's shrinking audience and revenue. The board would have done better to select a neutral journalist. Instead, it doubled down on the bias. In 2024, NPR had a window to actually 'understand' the criticism and make adjustments. Instead, it treated the government subsidy as an entitlement, backed by Democratic members in Congress. The board would have done better to select a neutral journalist. Instead, it doubled down, hiring a candidate with a long record of far-left public statements against Republicans, Trump, and others. This is the same CEO who attacked respected senior editor Uri Berliner when he tried to get NPR to address its bias and restore greater balance on the staff. Berliner noted that NPR's Washington headquarters has 87 registered Democrats among its editors and zero Republicans. Maher slammed the award-winning Berliner for his 'affront to the individual journalists who work incredibly hard.' She called his criticism 'profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.' Berliner resigned after noting how Maher's 'divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR' that he had been pointing out. But I have argued that NPR's well-established bias and publication of baseless conspiracy theories are not the real reasons for taking away its federal funding. The truth is, NPR represented an embrace of a state media model used in other countries that Americans thoroughly reject. Maher bizarrely tried to rally support for government funding by insisting that we must 'keep the government out' of the media. Congress just did precisely that by clawing back NPR's funding. The government has occasionally supported the media, but generally to benefit all media outlets. For example, in 1791, Madison declared that Congress had an obligation to improve the 'circulation of newspapers through the entire body of the people' and sponsored the Post Office Act of 1791, giving newspapers reduced postage rates. Notably, those same Democrats in Congress who decried the reduction of funding for NPR would have revolted over funding for more successful radio outlets, such as Fox Radio. Indeed, some of the same members had previously pushed cable carriers to consider dropping Fox News, the most popular cable news channel. What Congress did with NPR was wrong. Liberals and Democrats fought to protect the funding even though NPR's shrinking audience is now overwhelmingly white, affluent, and liberal. However, the end of government subsidies will not necessarily mean the end of an effective state media. As I noted in my book ' The Indispensable Right,' we have seen how the media can create the same effect as state media by consent rather than coercion. For years, media outlets have echoed the same party line, including burying negative stories and repeating debunked stories. Actual readers and listeners abandoned the mainstream media in droves. 'Let's Go Brandon' became a national mantra mocking journalists for their inability even to see and hear if the sights and sounds don't fit their preconceived narratives. Just as Maher has expressed utter confusion on how anyone could view NPR as biased, these editors and journalists will cling to the same advocacy journalism, rejecting the principles of objectivity and neutrality. However, there is still one hope for restoring traditional journalism: the market. Now that NPR is off the public dole, it will have to compete fairly with other radio outlets for audiences and revenue. It is free to alienate most listeners who have center-right viewpoints, but it will have to sustain itself on a smaller share of the market. Other outlets are facing the same dire choice. Recently, the Post encouraged writers and editors to leave if they were unwilling to get on board with a new direction at the newspaper. Previously, Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis had told his writers that the newspaper was experiencing massive losses in readers and revenues because 'no one is reading your stuff.' It triggered a revolt on the staff, which would have rather run the paper into insolvency than return to objectivity and neutrality. The same preference was seen with the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's late-night show. What had been David Letterman's formidable program had become a shrill echo chamber for the far left as Colbert engaged in nightly and mostly unfunny diatribes against Trump and Republicans. As its ratings and revenues fell, Colbert was unmoved. At the same time, Fox's Greg Gutfeld continued to crush the competition as viewers abandoned CBS and other broadcast networks. The year's second-quarter ratings showed Fox News's 'Gutfeld!' drawing an average of three million viewers. Gutfeld's more conservative takes on news remain unique among these late-night shows. In comparison, 'The Late Show' with Stephen Colbert came in second last quarter with an average 2.42 million viewers, despite being a far more costly program. As liberals expressed outrage over the cancellation and alleged that CBS's owner, Paramount, was seeking to garner favor with the Trump Administration, even CNN admitted that the show under Colbert had become ' unfortunately unprofitable.' Paramount issued a statement insisting that Colbert's cancelation was 'not related in any way to the show's performance.' Perhaps, but media companies are hardly in the habit of cancelling profitable, popular programming. Ultimately, the market is correcting what the media would not. Roughly half of this country is center-right, and 77 million people voted for Trump. They are turning to social media and new media rather than remain a captive audience to a biased legacy media committed to advocacy journalism. As media outlets fail, there may also be more pressure on journalism schools to return to core principles rather than crank out social justice warriors no one wants to read or hear from. In the meantime, Maher and NPR can continue to stay the course and try to make up in pledge drives what they lost in public subsidies. However, the whole thing will now have to pay for itself without passing along costs to the rest of the non-listening country. .'
The Hill
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
On NPR and at elite universities, liberals should openly admit their biases
I am a professor at a major research university. You'll be shocked to learn that I'm also a liberal Democrat. And here's another surprise: I listen to National Public Radio. Everyone knows that NPR caters mainly to liberals, just like our elite universities do. We just don't usually say it out loud. That's because we're afraid we might corroborate President Trump, who has repeatedly distorted what we do. But the only way to fight his lies is to be honest ourselves. Back in May, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which Congress created in 1967 — to stop funding NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service. According to a White House social media post that accompanied the order, NPR and PBS 'spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'' That's a propaganda statement in its own right. There is no evidence — none — that NPR spreads 'radical' falsehoods in its news coverage. But it does have a liberal bias. Indeed, it caters to people just like me. According to a 2019 Pew survey, 87 percent of people who name NPR as their main source of news are Democrats. Only 12 percent are Republicans. That's not a skew — it's a chasm. And yes, audience-capture influences NPR's news coverage. In a blockbuster piece last year, business editor Uri Berliner showed how the network's political blinders affected how it reported on allegations of collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, the origins of COVID-19 and the Hunter Biden laptop controversy. Berliner was placed on leave and resigned shortly after that. NPR did damage control. Instead of acknowledging the problems Berliner identified — and pledging to correct them — his bosses charged him with aiding and abetting the enemy. 'The next time one of our people calls up a Republican congressman … they may well say, 'Oh, I read these stories, you guys aren't fair, so I'm not going to talk to you,'' said NPR managing director Tony Cavin. Unfortunately, Cavin was right. A month after his executive order, Trump asked Congress to take back the $1.1 billion it had set aside for public broadcasters for the next two years. Next week the Senate will probably take up the proposal, which will expire if it isn't approved by July 18. But it is likely to pass, because Republicans hold a majority. But if NPR had just come clean last year instead of circling the wagons, things might be different now. It's not a radical propaganda outlet, but it definitely does lean Democratic. If we just admitted that, perhaps we could buy more credibility among the skeptics. Ditto for our elite universities, which continue to pretend that they're politically neutral. But everyone knows that's not true, either. At Harvard, which has faced the most brutal attacks from the Trump administration, 77 percent of faculty members identified as 'liberal' or 'very liberal' in a 2023 survey. Only 2.5 percent called themselves conservative. At Yale, likewise, liberal professors outnumber conservatives by 28 to 1. And if you think that doesn't influence the way we teach, you just haven't been listening. In a recent study of college syllabi collected by the Open Syllabus Project — which has amassed over 27 million syllabi from around the world — scholars at Claremont McKenna College showed that professors who assign left-leaning texts rarely couple them with readings that are critical of those interpretations. Between the World and Me, the best-selling memoir by African-American journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, has been assigned in over 2,500 syllabi in the OSP database. But almost none of those syllabi also require readings from John McWhorter, Thomas Chatterton Williams, or the other prominent Black authors who have taken issue with Coates' claims about race, criminal justice and more. None of that means that universities are 'dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics,' as Trump has falsely alleged. Over half of the undergraduates at my university enter careers in finance or management consulting. If we're trying to make them into Marxists, we're doing a very poor job of it. But we are promoting a version of political liberalism. If we want to stave off Trump's lies — and, especially his vindictive cuts to our research grants — we need to tell the truth ourselves. I know some of my fellow Democrats will bridle at the idea of making any concessions in this battle. Admitting the political imbalances at NPR and at our universities can only feed our MAGA foes, or so the argument goes. But that gets things backwards. The job of journalists and academics is to critique the world, openly and honestly. And that includes critiquing our own institutions. If we stop doing that, to save our skins, we'll be granting the ultimate concession to Trump. He wants to stifle inquiry, debate and the free exchange of ideas. It would be a tragedy of we did the same, all in the guise of resisting him.
Local Germany
07-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Local Germany
German phrase of the day: JWD (janz weit draussen)
What does it mean? JWD , pronounced "Yot vee dey", stands for janz weit draussen which means "way out in the middle of nowhere". If you're an urban type, it's the sort of thing you might say with a shudder at the prospect of spending a weekend "in the boonies" or "the back of beyond". If you're a rural type, it's an expression which perfectly captures everything that's wrong with urban types. Janz isn't actually a word, of course, but a nod to the Berliner dialect which often swaps a "G" at the beginning of a word for a "J". In correct German it would be ganz weit draussen. Similarly, S's are often pronounced as T's in Berlin. So " was " becomes " wat ", and " das " becomes " dit ". Why do I need to know janz weit draussen ? If you're in Berlin, it never hurts to make nice with the locals. Dropping the expression JWD into conversation not only lets them know you're making an effort to learn German – it lets them know you're making an effort to learn their German. READ ALSO: 10 words that will make you sound like a real Berliner Advertisement If you're anywhere else in Germany, you can use it ironically to inspire a moment of bonding over the strange eccentricities of folk in the capital. Alternatively, you can use the expression Am Arsch der Welt, which translates as "the arse-end of the world" and is the term used in Germany by everyone who isn't from Berlin. Here's how to use it As an acronym: Ich möchte nicht so JWD wohnen, ich brauche eine gute Anbindung an die Stadt. I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I need a good connection to the city. JWD ist für mich alles außerhalb des S-Bahn-Rings. For me, anything outside the S-Bahn ring is the middle of nowhere. As a phrase: Ob Sie sich im Stadtzentrum oder "janz weit draußen" befinden, Sie können Ihre Testergebnisse bekommon, sobald Sie dafür bereit sind. Whether you're in the city centre or in the middle of nowhere, you can get your test results as soon as they're ready. Everywhere except Berlin: Denn der Flughafen liegt nicht, wie man meinen möchte, in der Nähe von Frankfurt, sondern 120 Kilometer entfernt am Arsch der Welt. Because the airport isn't near Frankfurt where you'd expect, but 120 kilometres away in the middle of nowhere.
Chicago Tribune
26-06-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage
Today is Thursday, June 26, the 177th day of 2025. There are 188 days left in the year. Today in history: On June 26, 2015, in its 5-4 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country, ruling that state-level bans on same-sex marriage violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Also on this date: In 1917, U.S. troops entered World War I as the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force landed in Saint-Nazaire, France. In 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco. In 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he delivered his famous speech expressing solidarity with the city's residents, declaring: 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ('I am a Berliner'). In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced the U.S. had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of 'compelling evidence' Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush. In 1996, in the case of United States v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admission policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. (VMI enrolled its first female cadets the following year.) In 1997, the first Harry Potter novel, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' by J.K. Rowling, was published in the United Kingdom. It was later released in the United States under the title 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.' In 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia as it affirmed, 5-4, that an individual's right to gun ownership is protected by the Second Amendment. In 2013, in the case of United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation's legally married same-sex couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans, and cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California in a separate decision. Today's Birthdays: Jazz musician-composer Dave Grusin is 91. Singer Billy Davis Jr. is 87. Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician Gilberto Gil is 83. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer is 72. Musician Mick Jones (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite) is 70. Musician Chris Isaak is 69. Cyclist Greg LeMond is 64. Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe is 57. Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is 55. Actor Sean Hayes is 55. Actor Chris O'Donnell is 55. Actor Nick Offerman is 55. Country musician Gretchen Wilson is 52. Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter is 51. Actor Jason Schwartzman is 45. Actor Aubrey Plaza is 41. Actor-author Jennette McCurdy is 33. Singer-actor Ariana Grande is 32. Actor Jacob Elordi is 28.
Boston Globe
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Today in History: June 26, US Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage
In 1917, US troops entered World War I as the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force landed in Saint-Nazaire, France. In 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco, Calif. In 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he delivered his famous speech expressing solidarity with the city's residents, declaring: 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ('I am a Berliner'). In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced the US had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of 'compelling evidence' Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush. In 1996, in the case of United States v. Virginia, the US Supreme Court found that the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admission policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. (VMI enrolled its first female cadets the following year.) Advertisement In 1997, the first Harry Potter novel, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' by J.K. Rowling, was published in the United Kingdom. It was later released in the United States under the title 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.' In 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the US Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia as it affirmed, 5-4, that an individual's right to gun ownership is protected by the Second Amendment. In 2013, in the case of United States v. Windsor, the US Supreme Court gave the nation's legally married same-sex couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans, and cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California in a separate decision. In 2015, in its 5-4 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country, ruling that state-level bans on same-sex marriage violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
