Most NPR sources are Republicans, watchdog group says

By Peter Goodman
Newsday

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Despite a perception that National Public Radio is politically liberal, most of its sources are actually Republicans and conservatives, according to a survey released today.

"Republicans not only had a substantial partisan edge, individual Republicans were NPR's most popular sources overall, taking the top seven spots in frequency of appearance," according to a report accompanying the survey by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a left-leaning media watchdog.

In addition, representatives of right-of-center think tanks outnumbered their leftist counterparts by more than 4-to-1, FAIR reported.

Citing comments dating to the Nixon administration in the 1970s, the report said, "That NPR harbors a liberal bias is an article of faith among many conservatives." However, it added, "Despite the commonness of such claims, little evidence has ever been presented for a left bias at NPR."

The study counted 2,334 sources used in 804 stories aired last June for four programs: "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition," "Weekend Edition Saturday" and "Weekend Edition Sunday." For the analysis of think tanks, FAIR used the months of May through August 2003.

Overall, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 61 percent to 38 percent. The figure is only slightly higher now than during a previous survey in 1993.

"Some people may think (NPR) is too left of center because they are contrasting it to the louder, black-and-white sloganeering of talk radio," said FAIR's Steve Rendall. "It could be that, just by contrast, the ... slower pace and lower volume of NPR makes many people think it must be the opposite of talk radio."

NPR spokeswoman Jenny Lawhorn responded: "This is America; any group has the right to criticize our coverage. That said, there are obviously a lot of intelligent people out there who listen to NPR day after day and think we're fair and in-depth in our approach."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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