Deputy Opinion Editor Jacob Stewart’s column, “Public media funding cuts create fair competition for local news in Indiana,” ignores reality.
We need look no further than recent events involving the capitalistic and capitulatory decision by CBS to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to see the value of public media.
Stewart points out that 87% of people who name NPR as their main source of news are Democrats or Democrat-leaning but fails to understand why this is the case.
In the 1980s, President Reagan eliminated the Fairness Doctrine from television and radio and right-wing propagandists like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity capitalized on this. It takes only a few minutes of listening to NPR to understand that it is not the left-wing equivalent of conservative talk radio. Rather, it is a purer form of news and information.
Do we also not trust C-SPAN since the government funds it as a public utility?
Even Stewart acknowledges that NPR did not deliberately attract a more Democratic-leaning audience. It just happened that way because conservative talk radio and networks like Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax have found a great deal of profit in confirming their viewers’ and listeners’ biases.
I, for one, am grateful that we have some media outlets that are focused on informing and educating the public, not turning a profit.
As Stephen Colbert said at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which aired on C-SPAN, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”
Daniel Dougan lives in Indianapolis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Public media isn’t partisan — reality just leans left | Letters
Reporting by Daniel Dougan / Indianapolis Star
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