[evollove]

To get started with a recap...

Juan Williams reported for NPR (National Public Radio, 98% listener supported with 2% coming from gov't) and also shows up on Fox News (100% satan supported). The skism was too much and he got fired from NPR. Here's what a "Juan Williams" search brings up today:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&r...lliams&spell=1

There are a lot of issues swirling around this story, and feel free to comment on any of them. ex: Is NPR really liberal? Is this good or bad? Should there be a publicly funded conservative channel?

But what interests me most is: should gov't fund any sort of political media--news, art, whatever? I wonder how this is dealt with in other countries.

-If yes--gov't funds should go to wherever its needed, no matter the political content--then what about the gov't supporting some pro-government art/propaganda?

-Is there a difference between the gov't throwing a few dollars to a radio station and to a newspaper? In other words, are media equal?

-Can anything be politically neutral? If not, can it be perfectly balanced between left and right? NPR does a lot more than news--game shows, Fresh Air, a car repair show, music programs, This American Life, etc. Are ALL these shows leftist?


I'm rambling. There's just too much in this story for me to digest and exrete in a clean manner.

[hevusa]

There is nothing liberal or conservative about going on Fox news and acting like a paranoid asshole. It is simply douchery and he should have been fired.

[tesla69]

I'm sorry but if you think NPR is "left" then you really have no idea what you are talking about.

[Glice]

America is generally fairly conservative; that a public organ should express that is hardly surprising.

Government 'control' of a media organ needn't be affiliated in any specific place on the political spectrum - the BBC (which operates in a grey area of state control, I'd argue) definitely has a bias, but there's plenty of representation of a fair amount of political middle-ground.

I'd say the government has a duty to represent and support many areas of culture. 'The media' (which is a very broad term) should definitely factor in that.

The American government (by my understanding) has plenty of statutory bases for avoiding 'propaganda' in its most transparent form. Of course, it's difficult to seriously know, but I would generally rather trust the state over the private sector on these sorts of things, even if that state involves, say, Mugabe.

[space]

when I see a menacing group of brown people hanging off the second floor of the hotel, I lock the door.

when I see a white person wearing his hood up when it's hot, I make sure the alarm is set.