NPR UPDATE: Boy have I gotten a lot of mail on NPR. But as my slowed posting rate may illustrate, I’ve been kind of busy. But here are some comments from reader Thomas Castle:

I’m an NPR listener and fan, and also a Republican (not party-line, though). Although I believe mainstream media are for the most part biased, I have to say that NPR is usually balanced and fair.

However, I grant you that NPR can be, occasionally, astonishingly biased. Maybe 5% of the time. (Don’t even get me started on Daniel Schorr, the Anthony Lewis of radio.)

So, on balance, I’d say NPR is unbiased 95% of the time, and ridiculously biased 5% of the time. That probably beats CBS, NBC, and ABC.

Tom

PS: Actually, NPR does seem to have a more pronounced bias against Israel, now that I think about it…

But even if NPR were very biased, I’d still listen to it during my commutes, because what else is there on the radio? In my town, nothing but fart jokes and obsessive sports shows. Not my bag. In the land of fart jokes, NPR is king.

“In the land of fart jokes, NPR is king.” I’m sure they’ll post that one in the newsroom. . . .

Reader Mark Manela writes:

On O’Reilly’s decorum:

Your facts “I could barely get a word in edgewise” don’t square with your apology: “He’s not rude — he just can’t keep quiet”

The Oxford English Dictionary (page 866) defines Rude: … 4. Unmannerly, uncivil, impolite; offensively or deliberately discourteous: a. of speech or actions.

If Rehm had “barely [let you] get a word in edgewise” could you have been so forgiving?

No one escapes bias.

Well, yeah, it’s rude to talk over people, I guess, but it’s not like calling them names. It’s inconsiderate, not abusive. And if someone treats all guests that way, it’s not bias.