NPR’s ombudsman concludes that reporter Karen Grigsby Bates’ appalling biased piece on the Prop 8 “backlash” wasn’t “balanced” and that it was missing something critical: the voices of the gay activists whose actions were being criticized.
But, by far, the biggest criticism was that the backlash piece did not quote a gay rights activist. The piece opened with a sound bite of a demonstrator and quoted a man who said he refused to eat at a restaurant owned by Prop 8 supporters. But it did not give either man a chance to explain his views.
“I kept waiting for the reporter to interview one of the protestors or anyone from the gay community in order to explain why they were so angry,” emailed Robert Wright. “But not one voice was allowed along these lines.”
Bates pointed out that NPR had spent more air-time reporting on opposition to Prop 8 activities because initially the Yes On 8 people were less accessible. She saw this piece as a chance to balance things out, noting that it was intended to follow the Newsom interview.
“I do understand that people outside NPR don’t listen to radio the same way we do at the network,” she said. “If I’d known there wasn’t going to be some linkage between the two in the introduction I would have included a point of view from the LBGT (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender) community in my piece.” …
Even so, the piece would have been more effective, more balanced and less subject to criticism had she included a gay rights viewpoint.
Agreed: the piece could’ve been more effective, and less subject to criticism, if it had it included the “gay rights point of view.” But including a gay rights point of view would not have made Bates’ piece “more” balanced. The piece that aired was biased and unfair and devoid of balance. An interview with a gay rights activist would’ve introduced balance to it; it couldn’t enhance balance that wasn’t there to begin with. I mean, if I showed up at NPR headquarters this morning and peed in Bates’ coffee I wouldn’t be “enhancing” the pee in Bates’ coffee, I’d be introducing pee to her coffee.
Yes, an interview with SF mayor Gavin Newsom, a supporter of same-sex marriage, immediately preceded Bates’ report when the piece was broadcast. But as I pointed out to NPR’s ombudsman (and as she laid out in her report), the opposition point of view was present in the Newsom interview; the Morning Edition host articulated the bigot POV. Bates, on the hand, merely handed a mic to “devout” Catholics and “faithful” Mormons and allowed them to pretend that they, and not California’s same-sex couples, were the real victims of Prop 8.
I don’t know Dan. How often do you address the failings of your writers when it comes to bias or lopsided arguments or lack of research in their articles? It doesn’t seem like it happens at all.
@1, have you addressed your concerns about the particular instances you doubtless have in mind to A. Birch Steen, the Public Editor of the Stranger? I’m sure you’ll get the response you deserve.
It’s amusing to watch Dan whine to an ombudsman about bias and lack of fairness and balance in a news report.
gay buttfucking wherein a man puts his dick into another man’s anus hole is the most important thing on earth!
@2, Doing so would be a second full-time job.
I love NPR. I don’t see a lot of other “news” shows, radio or tv, as devoted to balance as NPR. Sure, they fuck up once in a while, but they do try to be balanced, God love ’em.
What’s really amusing is to watch the Dan-obsessed-trolls comment just minutes after Dan posts something on SLOG. What’s not amusing at all, but very tiresome and silly, is the parade of silly names under which said posts appear.
If you aren’t entertained, why do you still read?
When I was about 12, I produced a biased news report that made it seem like bigoted Catholics and Mormons were the real victims of homophobic laws. I was so scared my mom or somebody would find out, but nobody ever did. I haven’t told anyone until now.
It’s cool, really. Everybody has done it.
The difference is that hate crimes against gays and lesbians are up in California and reporting like the NPR piece can add to the problem. If The Stranger does an unbalanced report about nutty old nurses calling 911 to complain about noise nobody gets hurt.
@10
Except the nutty nurse.
Have any of the Slog writers ever claimed it was a source for balanced, unbiased, unfiltered news? NPR makes that claim all the time. Web logs are not the equivalent of a national news source.
@12, you got us. We shouldn’t hold The Stranger to any standard because they don’t have one themselves.
13, Yep, that’s exactly what I said. You’re a sharp one, you.
But then, pissing in her coffee would have made it more urine-y; thus, adding gay rights voices adds balance. 0 + 1 still equals 1 last I checked. So stop quibbling over semantics and give credit where credit is due: they copped to writing a crappy story, basically. It happens sometimes; you of all people should understand that.
Hear hear, @12. Slog is clearly the opinions of Stranger writers about the news, and they don’t pretend otherwise. NPR, on the other hand, bends over backwards to present all sides of an issue in most cases, so when they slip up, it should be pointed out.
If you think your statement stands on its own then you’re clearly not used to interacting with people on the internet.
@ Rob in Baltimore!
http://essentials.baltimoresun.com/micro…
There have been 46 homicides in 2009 in the Baltimore area. 33 of the victims were black. According to the USDOJ, at least 93% of all blacks murdered in the USA are murdered by other blacks. Therefore, there is an almost 100% chance that the murderers of these 33 black victims (out of 46 for the year-to-date) are black themselves.
Just thought you might like this interactive tool for finding out facts about crime in your city, so you won’t be such a naive douche.
18, Oh, you poor confused thing. This thread is about NPR.
Yes but you stopped responding in the Gavin Nuisance thread, because you had no logic or facts to argue your points with, so I had to come here.
20, Much like your severe confusion here, you were speaking about everything but Gaven Newsom. So, If you don’t have anything about NPR, my job is done with you here as well.
“Yes, an interview with SF mayor Gavin Newsom, a supporter of same-sex marriage, immediately proceeded Bates’ report when the piece was broadcast”
preceded.
Rob in Baltimore can only think about subjects when they are packed neatly into little boxes with no connections to anything else.
Still throwing mud. What a sore loser.
celebrate divershitty