National Public Radio (NPR) used to be seen as a reliable source of unbiased news, especially when it came to coverage of U.S. politics. However, in recent years, NPR has shifted towards a more progressive and left-leaning ideology.
This shift has caused many Americans to stop listening to NPR, and the organization's attempts to appear politically neutral have fallen flat. A recent interview highlighted NPR's bias when the organization seized on the Republican party's poor performance in the 2022 midterms as an opportunity to promote a left-wing agenda.
Certainly, or so the programming executives thought, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would be mad at certain members of his party. The former Republican congressman has voiced his disappointment over the overwhelmingly disappointing midterm results.
NPR thought that Gingrich would attack current members of Congress, and especially former President Donald Trump. In all reality, NPR thought Gingrich would continue to drive a wedge between conservatives by pitting one side against the other.
However, and certainly to NPR’s dismay, the interview didn’t quite work out the way they planned. From the start, anchor Mary Louise Kelly tried to bait Gingrich with loaded questions. She obviously wanted the former Speaker to bash President Trump.
It didn’t work. During Friday’s “All Things Considered” interview, Gingrich did agree with the idea that Republicans need to stop underestimating Biden. That was where NPR thought the direction that the interview would go. It didn’t.
When Gingrich made a reference to the “rigged” 2020 presidential election, one might think the host would take advantage of it as a way to attack the former president. However, Kelly opened up a can of worms that she probably wishes she wouldn’t have opened.
Kelly pressed Gingrich on the topic of a “stolen election.” He didn’t bite. Gingrich stressed the election was “rigged”, maybe not flat-out stolen. He quickly pointed to the manipulation by social media companies like Twitter and Facebook.
In perfect liberal NPR form, Kelly tried to insist that dozens of courts have denounced the claims by refusing to hear cases. But Gingrich immediately made an important distinction. He said these courts were hearing arguments about a stolen election, not a rigged one.
Gingrich and millions of Americans believe there is a profound difference. As more evidence is revealed through the “Twitter Files,” it’s obvious that big tech and the federal government manipulated the election. That’s when Kelly proceeded to drive the interview off the cliff.
People can call it what they want, but it was cheating. Attacking someone for saying the election was stolen instead of rigged is resorting to semantics instead of the truth. Kelly did ask the direct question, “For the record, do you believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected president?”
To NPR’s surprise, Gingrich was ready. He answered bluntly, “For the record, I believe that he won under the terms that were set up, and I think that the entire elite system cheated in every way they could to defeat Donald Trump.”
Oops! Certainly, that was not the answer NPR wanted or expected. This would almost be comical if NPR wasn’t taxpayer-funded. One would think a publicly funded source of news would be unbiased. It’s not. NPR is not unbiased, as it rightfully should be.
In fact, it’s almost as bad at NPR as it is at the likes of MSNBC and others. Maybe it’s time for taxpayers to pull the plug on National Public Radio. At best, we could rename it “VGTRK” or “Radio Moscow!”
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
