Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Pro-Hamas Protestors Sweep America & Dems Yawn plus Bombshell Whistleblower Exposes Radical Bias at NPR

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Pro-Hamas Protestors Sweep America & Dems Yawn plus Bombshell Whistleblower Exposes Radical Bias at NPR · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome.
0:01
Speaker 2: It is verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
0:04
Speaker 2: you and Senator it seems to be a whole other
0:08
Speaker 2: explosion of anti American rhetoric and many Americans now that
0:12
Speaker 2: are saying around the country that they're supporting Hamas and
0:16
Speaker 2: Palestinians over Israel altogether.
0:18
Speaker 1: Well, that's right.
0:19
Speaker 3: It's really a growing trend of anti Israel pro Hamas
0:22
Speaker 3: protests in many instances, anti American protests. We're seeing them
0:26
Speaker 3: in Dearborn, Michigan, We're seeing them in the United States Senate,
0:29
Speaker 3: and sadly and in today's Democrat Party they're unable to
0:33
Speaker 3: distance themselves or condemn them, because more and more it's
0:36
Speaker 3: the heart of the Democrat Party. We're going to talk
0:39
Speaker 3: about that in depth on today's pod. We're also going
0:42
Speaker 3: to get into a really stunning expose of NPR that
0:46
Speaker 3: came out from a senior journalist at NPR who described
0:49
Speaker 3: the pervasive media bias, the dishonesty, the propagandizing that NPR
0:55
Speaker 3: does on the taxpayer's dime, and it really is revealing
0:59
Speaker 3: of what is happened to a corporate media. We're going
1:02
Speaker 3: to get into that in depth.
1:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be very interesting for people to
1:05
Speaker 2: hear that exactly what's going on and what he had
1:07
Speaker 2: to say, kind of whistleblowing on NPR. In essence, I
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Speaker 2: activation nine seven to two Patriot. All right, Senator, I
3:01
Speaker 2: want to talk about what this trend is, and it
3:03
Speaker 2: is one that is not going away. Of these pro
3:07
Speaker 2: hamas protesters and protests that are happening all over the country,
3:11
Speaker 2: it seems to be organized and it seems that this
3:14
Speaker 2: is really a part of the Democratic Party now and
3:17
Speaker 2: part of their apparatus.
3:19
Speaker 3: Well, it's getting much much worse. We saw in this
3:21
Speaker 3: past week a huge protest in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn, Michigan
3:26
Speaker 3: has the largest Muslim population in the country. Unfortunately, it
3:30
Speaker 3: has a very high population of radicals there. And this
3:34
Speaker 3: was a rally they were having. It was an anti
3:36
Speaker 3: Israel rally where they were chanting death to Israel, and
3:41
Speaker 3: they were chanting death to America. And this is really stunning.
3:45
Speaker 3: This is in America. These are presumably Americans, or at
3:48
Speaker 3: least they're living here. We don't know if they're here
3:50
Speaker 3: legally or not. But here give a listen to some
3:54
Speaker 3: of what they were saying at this anti American.
3:56
Speaker 4: RALLYDD Malcolm X said, and I quote, we live in
4:09
Speaker 4: one of the rotten his countries that has ever existed
4:13
Speaker 4: on this earth. It's not genocide, Joe, that has to go.
4:16
Speaker 4: It's the entire system that has to go. Any system
4:19
Speaker 4: that would allow such atrocities and such devilry to happen
4:25
Speaker 4: and would support it, such a system does not deserve
4:28
Speaker 4: to exist on God's Earth.
4:30
Speaker 1: Centered.
4:31
Speaker 2: Not only were these anti Israel activists heard chanting death
4:34
Speaker 2: to America. They were also chanting death to Israel and
4:37
Speaker 2: saying that we don't have a right to exist and
4:40
Speaker 2: we're the worst country the world. We should be wiped
4:41
Speaker 2: off the face of the earth. This is happening in Michigan.
4:45
Speaker 3: Sadly, that's exactly right. The person speaking there is dearborn
4:49
Speaker 3: activist to Wreck Bazi, who has told the crowd quote
4:54
Speaker 3: that the chant death to Israel has become the most
4:58
Speaker 3: logical chant across the world today. And he went on
5:02
Speaker 3: to explain, he said, Imam Komani, the Ayatola who declared
5:07
Speaker 3: international Alcud's day, this is what he would say to
5:10
Speaker 3: pour all of your chance and all of your shots
5:13
Speaker 3: upon the head of America.
5:16
Speaker 1: And by the.
5:16
Speaker 3: Way, he's saying that about the former Iranian Ayatola, as
5:21
Speaker 3: chance of death to America started from the crowd. And
5:24
Speaker 3: and at that point it's it's this is when when
5:27
Speaker 3: he says it's not genocide Joe that has to go,
5:31
Speaker 3: it's the entire system that has.
5:33
Speaker 1: To go, and he goes on to side.
5:36
Speaker 2: It's not only that, it's the fact that he also
5:38
Speaker 2: is sitting there in the greatest country world saying this
5:41
Speaker 2: and the cameras are catching it while he is saying
5:44
Speaker 2: that America should cease to exist, and this is happening.
5:47
Speaker 2: A democratic representative, she leaves an area where she represents,
5:51
Speaker 2: and she will not come out and condemn this either.
5:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
5:54
Speaker 3: No, that's exactly right. And if you listen to what else, uh,
5:57
Speaker 3: this activist said at the rally, He said, any that
6:00
Speaker 3: would allow such atrocities and such devilry to happen and
6:03
Speaker 3: would support it, such a system does not deserve to
6:06
Speaker 3: exist on God's earth. So he's saying the American government
6:09
Speaker 3: does not deserve to exist on God's earth. He goes
6:12
Speaker 3: on to say, quote, so when these fools ask us,
6:15
Speaker 3: ask us if Israel has a right to exist, the
6:18
Speaker 3: chant death to Israel has become the most logical chant
6:21
Speaker 3: across the world today. And at that point his supporters
6:24
Speaker 3: began cheering a chanting death to Israel, Death to Israel.
6:30
Speaker 3: This is who these radicals are. And as you noted,
6:34
Speaker 3: Rashida Telib is an elected member of Congress. She is
6:37
Speaker 3: a member of the United States House of Representatives. She
6:41
Speaker 3: was asked what she thought about radicals, radicals who support
6:45
Speaker 3: her chanting death to America and listen to her response the.
6:51
Speaker 5: Leipox News, I don't talk to Fox shot.
6:53
Speaker 6: At a rally in your district, people were chanting death
6:56
Speaker 6: to America.
6:57
Speaker 1: Do you condemn not talk to Fox News? Do you
7:00
Speaker 1: condemn chance of death to America?
7:02
Speaker 4: I don't talk to people that use racist tropes.
7:06
Speaker 1: Why can't you.
7:07
Speaker 6: Just say whether or not you condemn people chanting death
7:10
Speaker 6: to Why.
7:10
Speaker 4: Are you afraid to talk to Fox News?
7:13
Speaker 6: Is not not listen using racist tropes, where as my community.
7:18
Speaker 1: Is what Fox chooses about. And I don't talk to
7:20
Speaker 1: Fox News Death to America racist?
7:23
Speaker 6: Fox News is chanting death to America racist, talking.
7:27
Speaker 1: About your guys racist tropes. You know, you guys know
7:30
Speaker 1: exactly what you do.
7:31
Speaker 5: I know you're flummable, but you guys got to go
7:34
Speaker 5: deal with.
7:34
Speaker 4: Me on your own self.
7:35
Speaker 1: Not gonna use me there.
7:37
Speaker 2: It is Representative Rashid to leave saying she will not
7:39
Speaker 2: condemn death to America. Chance because Fox News was asking
7:43
Speaker 2: her is the excuse, which I think really comes back
7:45
Speaker 2: to what she believes.
7:48
Speaker 3: Sadly, this is more and more the entire Democrat Party.
7:53
Speaker 3: The terrifying thing is the people screaming death to America.
7:58
Speaker 3: The people screaming death is Yes, that's the base of
8:02
Speaker 3: Rashida Telib that's who elected her. Yes, that's the base
8:05
Speaker 3: of AOC. Yes, that's the base of Ilhan Omar, that's
8:09
Speaker 3: the base of the squad. But understand, it's not just them.
8:13
Speaker 3: That's who Chuck Schumer is listening to. That's who Joe
8:16
Speaker 3: Biden is listening to. That's who Nancy Pelosi is listening to.
8:20
Speaker 3: That's the thing that's really frightening. You look at these
8:23
Speaker 3: extreme fringes. They are driving the so called mainstream of
8:29
Speaker 3: the Democrat Party. It was Chuck Schumer who demanded Benjamin
8:32
Speaker 3: att Yahoo be thrown out of office. It was Joe
8:35
Speaker 3: Biden who led a resolution in the UN effectively condemning Israel.
8:40
Speaker 3: It was Nancy Pelosi who signed a letter demanding that
8:43
Speaker 3: we cut off military funding to Israel. And you know
8:45
Speaker 3: why they're doing it. They're doing it because of the
8:49
Speaker 3: angry mobs chanting death to America and death to Israel.
8:52
Speaker 1: So there's also another part of this.
8:54
Speaker 2: It's a really weird dynamic, and that is how the
8:58
Speaker 2: Democrats are allowing so much of this rhetoric to make
9:03
Speaker 2: it into the halls. In Congress, you had gaza protesters
9:08
Speaker 2: repeatedly interrupted the Senate hearing with Pentagon leaders, and it
9:12
Speaker 2: doesn't seem to be condemned by the leadership who are
9:15
Speaker 2: in charge.
9:16
Speaker 1: On the Senate side.
9:18
Speaker 2: You also had protesters shouting at senators saying that the
9:21
Speaker 2: Senate can't eat until Gaza eats, blocking the cafeteria so
9:26
Speaker 2: that in theory centers wouldn't be able to eat. They
9:30
Speaker 2: were doing this while they were blocking the hallways and
9:33
Speaker 2: going into the cafeteria. Take a listen to these chants
9:37
Speaker 2: again in the hallways of Congress. I mean, they have
9:47
Speaker 2: completely infiltrated the Senate this week with some of these protests.
9:51
Speaker 2: And yet you don't see any of the leaders saying, hey,
9:53
Speaker 2: you guys can't stop the business of the American people.
9:56
Speaker 1: They're letting them basically run the show.
9:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's exactly right. They're shouting down hearings and
10:01
Speaker 3: and and I want you to play the audio of
10:04
Speaker 3: what they did in the Senate cafeteria. Now I will
10:06
Speaker 3: know the Senate cafeteria is actually not senators. It's not
10:09
Speaker 3: where where members eats, but it's it's where Senate staff he eats.
10:12
Speaker 3: And and so there are lots of Senate staffers that
10:13
Speaker 3: are down there. It's where they go get get lunch
10:15
Speaker 3: most most days. And a bunch of pro Hamas protesters
10:19
Speaker 3: came in chanting, and and take a listen to this,
10:21
Speaker 3: because this is happening, and and and it's being allowed
10:24
Speaker 3: to just shut things down. And by the way, this
10:26
Speaker 3: is not outside on the public streets. You can have
10:28
Speaker 3: protests on the public streets. This is inside of of
10:32
Speaker 3: of the capitol office buildings, inside of the cafeteria, and
10:35
Speaker 3: and and it's being allowed by by Senate leadership because
10:40
Speaker 3: these are their base and so give it.
10:42
Speaker 1: Give a listen.
11:51
Speaker 2: Now, Senator, I just got to ask did you eat,
11:53
Speaker 2: because they said you weren't gonna eat.
11:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually ate. And where they were is not
11:58
Speaker 3: actually where senators eat. I'm not aware of whether staff
12:01
Speaker 3: was stopped from eating or not, but they said that
12:04
Speaker 3: you And by the way, look at look at the
12:05
Speaker 3: end they said, they said, restore aid to unra Unras.
12:09
Speaker 3: Of course, the UN agency that it's now been reported,
12:13
Speaker 3: had multiple Hamos Terrists working for it that actually participated
12:16
Speaker 3: in the October seventh mass murder. These people call themselves
12:20
Speaker 3: Christians for Palestine. You know what, I don't know of
12:23
Speaker 3: any Christians who excuse mass murder. I don't know of
12:26
Speaker 3: any Christians who excuse mass rape. The idea that they
12:29
Speaker 3: pretend to wrap themselves in faith while demonstrating the absolute
12:34
Speaker 3: evil barbarism.
12:36
Speaker 1: Listen.
12:36
Speaker 3: I have watched the videos, and I got to say
12:39
Speaker 3: when I talked to these young lefties who are so ignorant,
12:42
Speaker 3: they're so sure of what they think, and they don't
12:44
Speaker 3: know a damn thing. I've watched the videos. I saw
12:46
Speaker 3: one hundred and thirty eight people being murdered. I've seen
12:49
Speaker 3: the photographs where these monsters that they raped little girls,
12:54
Speaker 3: they raped women, They cut off their breasts, they cut
12:57
Speaker 3: off their genitals, they burned them, they penetrated them with
13:00
Speaker 3: knives and foreign objects.
13:01
Speaker 1: It is grotesque and evil.
13:04
Speaker 3: And the fact that they're in there feeling all self
13:07
Speaker 3: righteous on behalf of those terrorists, I really don't have
13:12
Speaker 3: words to speak.
13:14
Speaker 1: And listen.
13:15
Speaker 3: Part of having judgment is recognizing the difference between good
13:19
Speaker 3: and evil, and the Hamas terrorists who carried out October
13:24
Speaker 3: seventh are the embodiment of evil. And what are those
13:28
Speaker 3: guys chanting give money to unrupt which included those Hamas terrorists.
13:32
Speaker 3: That is the phrase, useful idiots doesn't even begin to
13:36
Speaker 3: cover that.
13:38
Speaker 2: There's also I think a second phase that is happening,
13:41
Speaker 2: and it seems to be, as I mentioned earlier, organized
13:44
Speaker 2: around the country. But ABC News had to report that
13:47
Speaker 2: there were bags with anti Semitic messages as well as
13:52
Speaker 2: unidentified substances found on cars and buildings in Lincoln Park.
13:57
Speaker 2: The Chicago Police say they're investigating this after these dozens
14:00
Speaker 2: of anti semic messages were found on cars and on buildings,
14:04
Speaker 2: and it's not the first time. Lingonpart residents that woke
14:08
Speaker 2: up this week that saw this disturbing imidst these zipwoc
14:11
Speaker 2: bags containing these anti semic messages and what appears to
14:14
Speaker 2: be a clear escalation this is from ABC seven, and
14:18
Speaker 2: an unidentified substance that some believe may have been rat poison.
14:22
Speaker 2: On every doorstep coming up the street, there were these bags.
14:25
Speaker 2: I picked up a few of them, one of the
14:29
Speaker 2: people in the neighborhood said, and was horrified to see
14:31
Speaker 2: what they were. And of course my four year old was, Mommy,
14:34
Speaker 2: what is that. It just broke my heart. I didn't
14:36
Speaker 2: know what to tell him, said one of the local residents.
14:39
Speaker 2: And this was in an area where there are a
14:40
Speaker 2: lot of Jewish people that live sadly. We're seeing this
14:44
Speaker 2: across the country. We're seeing this in Jewish neighborhoods. We're
14:47
Speaker 2: seeing this in New York City, We're seeing this in Chicago.
14:50
Speaker 2: We're seeing this all across the country. And we're seeing
14:52
Speaker 2: this especially on university campuses. And I have to say,
14:56
Speaker 2: many of the campus administrators are not willing to act
14:58
Speaker 2: to protect their Jewish student. I will tell you been
15:01
Speaker 2: one of the saddest things. I've talked with many of
15:05
Speaker 2: my friends who are Jewish who have kids who are
15:07
Speaker 2: in college, and over and over and over again, they've
15:11
Speaker 2: reported that their kids are afraid for their physical safety.
15:16
Speaker 1: That's not right.
15:17
Speaker 3: Look, it is any university's obligation to protect the safety
15:20
Speaker 3: of every one of their students. And the fact that
15:23
Speaker 3: there are so many Jewish students facing threats of violence,
15:26
Speaker 3: facing harassment, facing vicious anti Semitism, with the college campuses,
15:32
Speaker 3: the administrators, and the protesters at a minimum turning a
15:37
Speaker 3: blind eye to it, in many ways, tacitly or even
15:40
Speaker 3: explicitly agreeing with it, it is a sign of an enormous
15:46
Speaker 3: corruption that has just infiltrated the Left in a way. Look,
15:53
Speaker 3: I would actually like a strong and vibrant Democrat Party.
15:57
Speaker 3: I think it's good for our country. It's good for
15:59
Speaker 3: our democratic process to have two healthy parties where you
16:02
Speaker 3: have real and substance of debate. We don't have that
16:05
Speaker 3: right now. The Democrat Party is becoming radicalized at a
16:08
Speaker 3: level that that is dangerous. And I will tell you
16:11
Speaker 3: as I travel Texas, I do with some regularity encounter
16:15
Speaker 3: people who tell me, they say, listen, I was a Democrat.
16:19
Speaker 3: I used to be a Democrat. And I'm seeing this,
16:22
Speaker 3: this anti Israel hate. I'm seeing this anti Semitism, and
16:26
Speaker 3: I can't support a party that that that welcomes and
16:30
Speaker 3: supports that. That is really bad for the country and
16:35
Speaker 3: really bad for the Democrat Party. And I wonder are
16:38
Speaker 3: there any Democrats with the courage to speak out against it.
16:43
Speaker 3: We've seen John Fetterman, and in many ways, the fact
16:45
Speaker 3: that John Fetterman is doing so it stands out because
16:49
Speaker 3: nobody else is. Is there not one other election Democrat?
16:54
Speaker 1: Yes? No, no, Look, God bless John Fetterman. Yeah.
16:57
Speaker 2: John Fetterman has really not bad down from him standing
17:01
Speaker 2: with Israel and has taken a lot of heat from
17:03
Speaker 2: a lot of protesters and a lot on the left
17:05
Speaker 2: that are like, wait, dude, you're supposed to be a
17:07
Speaker 2: radical leftist, what's wrong with you? Why aren't you doing this?
17:10
Speaker 2: And he has refused to back down on it. I'm
17:12
Speaker 2: glad you mentioned his name because it's important that we
17:14
Speaker 2: say job well done to people on the left that
17:17
Speaker 2: are saying I'm not going to be bullied into in
17:19
Speaker 2: supporting Jimas.
17:21
Speaker 3: Listen, a couple of weeks ago, I went over to
17:23
Speaker 3: the Democratic cloak room where John was there, and I
17:25
Speaker 3: just said, hey, I wanted to tell you thank you.
17:28
Speaker 3: I really appreciate the courage you've shown on Israel on
17:31
Speaker 3: speaking out.
17:32
Speaker 1: Thank you.
17:33
Speaker 3: It matters, and I recognize it's not easy, it's not
17:36
Speaker 3: without costs, and I will say, look, to his credit,
17:39
Speaker 3: he viewed it as various matter of fact. He's just like,
17:41
Speaker 3: it's the right thing to do, and I respect that.
17:45
Speaker 3: It is not what I anticipated. And you know what's sad, Bennett.
17:49
Speaker 3: It shouldn't be alone. I mean, in any normal world,
17:53
Speaker 3: you and I should be listing a dozen Democrats that
17:55
Speaker 3: have the courage to denounce the radical screaming death to America,
17:59
Speaker 3: that have the courage to stand up and say no,
18:01
Speaker 3: we stand with Israel that have the courage to say,
18:03
Speaker 3: you know, there is a difference. There is a moral difference.
18:07
Speaker 3: There is a fundamental difference between psychotic, genocidal terrorists who
18:14
Speaker 3: are murdering civilians, who are raping little girls, who are
18:17
Speaker 3: murdering women, who are desecrating corpses. There is a fundamental
18:22
Speaker 3: difference between that and the IDF Israeli defense forces that
18:26
Speaker 3: are defending civilians and killing terrorists. They are not the same,
18:30
Speaker 3: They're not morally equivalent. And I can tell you one
18:34
Speaker 3: Democrat saying that, John Federman, to be honest, I don't
18:37
Speaker 3: have a second name, I can tell you right now.
18:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that tells you about the Democratic Party. And also,
18:42
Speaker 2: I think the messaging from the White House, they've gotten
18:43
Speaker 2: really silent on supporting Israel, really silent on standing up
18:48
Speaker 2: on these issues. And yeah, the White House was asked
18:50
Speaker 2: about this, It's like, yeah, of course people shouldn't be
18:52
Speaker 2: saying death to America.
18:53
Speaker 1: That's a no brainer.
18:54
Speaker 2: But the fact that more Democrats are not willing to
18:56
Speaker 2: come out and say the same thing is truly shocking.
18:58
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20:58
Speaker 1: Center.
20:58
Speaker 2: There was another story that broke, and this is one
21:01
Speaker 2: that is for a guy that has spent my entire
21:05
Speaker 2: career in media, NPR annoys me beyond a level of
21:11
Speaker 2: frustration that most people can imagine because I don't understand
21:14
Speaker 2: why my tax dollars are subsidizing a hardcore leftist organization
21:20
Speaker 2: and why I'm paying their salaries at NPR, that's the reality.
21:24
Speaker 2: But now we've got a guy that was there for
21:26
Speaker 2: twenty five years who has blown the whistle on NPR
21:29
Speaker 2: saying that basically, when Donald Trump was elected, it completely
21:33
Speaker 2: broke in PR and they are there every day to
21:36
Speaker 2: take down conservatives, take down Trump, take down anybody like him,
21:40
Speaker 2: and our tax dollars are going to pay for MPR.
21:44
Speaker 3: No, that's exactly right, And this story is a big
21:46
Speaker 3: deal because this is, as you noted, a whistleblower who
21:52
Speaker 3: came clean and really wanted to describe what was happening
21:55
Speaker 3: in a major media institution, one of the most important
21:57
Speaker 3: media institutions of the country. And so the individual in
22:01
Speaker 3: question is a guy named Uri Berliner, who was a
22:04
Speaker 3: twenty five year veteran of NPR. He was a senior
22:07
Speaker 3: business or editor at NPR, and he wrote a column
22:12
Speaker 3: on the Free Press that came out April ninth, and
22:15
Speaker 3: I actually want to read from a good chunk of
22:17
Speaker 3: it because I think it's important what he said, and
22:21
Speaker 3: it is very much whistleblowing. So here's how he starts quote.
22:26
Speaker 3: You know the stereotype of the NPR listener, an ev driving,
22:30
Speaker 3: wordle playing, tote, back bag carrying, coastal elite. It doesn't
22:35
Speaker 3: precisely describe me, but it's not far off. I'm Sarah Lawrence, educated,
22:42
Speaker 3: was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother. I drive
22:45
Speaker 3: a Subaru, and Spotify says my listening habits are most
22:49
Speaker 3: similar to people in Berkeley. I fit the NPR mold.
22:53
Speaker 3: I'll cop to that. So when I got a job
22:55
Speaker 3: there twenty five years ago, I never looked back. As
22:58
Speaker 3: a senior editor on the businessiness desk, where news is
23:01
Speaker 3: always breaking, We've covered upheavels in the workplace, super market prices,
23:04
Speaker 3: social media, and AI. It's true that NPR always had
23:08
Speaker 3: a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here,
23:12
Speaker 3: an open minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but
23:17
Speaker 3: not knee jerk activist or scolding. In recent years, however,
23:22
Speaker 3: that has changed. Today, those who listened to NPR or
23:25
Speaker 3: read its coverage online find something different, the distilled worldview
23:29
Speaker 3: of a very small segment of the US population. If
23:33
Speaker 3: you are conservative, you will read this and say, duh,
23:38
Speaker 3: it's always been this way, but it hasn't For decades.
23:43
Speaker 3: Since its founding in nineteen seventy, a wide swath of
23:46
Speaker 3: America tuned into NPR for reliable journalism and gorgeous audio
23:50
Speaker 3: pieces with birds singing in the Amazon. Millions came to
23:54
Speaker 3: us for conversations that exposed us to voices around the country,
23:58
Speaker 3: the world radically different from our own, engaging precisely because
24:02
Speaker 3: they were unguarded and unpredictable. No image generated more pride
24:06
Speaker 3: within an NPR than the farmer listening to Morning Edition
24:10
Speaker 3: from his or her tractor at sunrise. Back in twenty eleven,
24:14
Speaker 3: although NPR's audience tilted a bit to the left, it
24:18
Speaker 3: still bore a resemblance to America at large. Twenty six
24:22
Speaker 3: percent of listeners described themselves as conservative, twenty three percent
24:27
Speaker 3: as middle of the road, and thirty seven percent as liberal.
24:31
Speaker 3: By twenty twenty three, the picture was completely different. Only
24:35
Speaker 3: eleven percent described themselves as very or even somewhat conservative,
24:40
Speaker 3: twenty one percent as middle of the road, and sixty
24:43
Speaker 3: seven percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal.
24:47
Speaker 3: We weren't just losing conservatives, we were also losing moderates
24:50
Speaker 3: and traditional liberals. An open minded spirit no longer exists
24:55
Speaker 3: within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience
24:59
Speaker 3: that reflects America. That wouldn't be a problem for an
25:03
Speaker 3: openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience, but for NPR,
25:08
Speaker 3: which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for
25:13
Speaker 3: its journalism and its business model.
25:15
Speaker 2: You listen to that, and it's a guy that's almost
25:18
Speaker 2: like he's coming clean, realizing just how damaging what NPR
25:24
Speaker 2: is doing to the country, and he's in paving it.
25:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's in pain.
25:29
Speaker 2: He also did an interview he set down talking about this,
25:33
Speaker 2: and I want you to hear what he had to
25:35
Speaker 2: say on honestly with Barry Rice.
25:37
Speaker 1: Take a listen to this.
25:39
Speaker 6: Everyone knew that NPR had a liberal bent. It was
25:42
Speaker 6: like saying these days, like Fox has a conservative bent.
25:44
Speaker 6: That was obvious to anyone. But you argue that it's
25:47
Speaker 6: really gone from having a liberal bent or a liberal shading,
25:51
Speaker 6: to really a bias. Here's one thing you write in
25:53
Speaker 6: your essay. You write for the majority of your time
25:56
Speaker 6: at NPR, despite the liberal bend, an open minded, curious
26:00
Speaker 6: culture prevailed we were nerdy, but not knee jerk activists
26:05
Speaker 6: or scolding ori. When did that start to change? When
26:09
Speaker 6: did the thing that everyone sort of recognized as sort
26:13
Speaker 6: of a liberal bias start to shift into something harder
26:16
Speaker 6: than that until what you call a knee jerk activist
26:20
Speaker 6: and even scolding quality.
26:22
Speaker 5: Well, I think it was a accumulative I don't think
26:25
Speaker 5: it was one event. I mean, I think part of
26:27
Speaker 5: it was Trump's election. You know, I think, like every newsroom,
26:31
Speaker 5: every Legacy meeting, is when we were shocked, disturbed, distraught,
26:35
Speaker 5: really troubled. We assumed Hillary Clinton was going to win
26:39
Speaker 5: and she didn't, and it was really an unsettling experience.
26:46
Speaker 5: But I also think to me it revealed that we
26:48
Speaker 5: didn't really understand a lot of what was going on
26:51
Speaker 5: in America, that we were out of touch. But I
26:55
Speaker 5: think also we kind of locked down after a while.
26:59
Speaker 5: I think for a while we started covering Trump in
27:04
Speaker 5: a way that that, like a lot of the Legacy
27:07
Speaker 5: news news organization, that we were trying to damage his
27:09
Speaker 5: presidency to even it's flying, anything we could to harm him.
27:13
Speaker 5: And I think what we latched onto was Russia collusion.
27:16
Speaker 5: Like a lot of news organizations which was, as I write,
27:19
Speaker 5: sort of catnip. Although it was just rumors and a
27:23
Speaker 5: lot of it based on pretty shoddy documents. Evidence there
27:30
Speaker 5: wasn't It wasn't really solid, but I think it was.
27:33
Speaker 5: It was compelling and for us, you know, I think
27:36
Speaker 5: a lot of newspapers you know, used documents or anonymous sources.
27:42
Speaker 5: We really latched onto Adam Schiff. He was like our
27:44
Speaker 5: muse to the Trump collusion story. We had him on
27:47
Speaker 5: constantly a lot. I think I counted twenty five times,
27:50
Speaker 5: you know, and in most of those conversations he sort
27:52
Speaker 5: of alluded to evidence he may have had or sort
27:55
Speaker 5: of teased out, yeah, Russia, you know, he was coluding
27:58
Speaker 5: or the campaign was colluding with Russia. And then the
28:01
Speaker 5: Muller report came out and no collusion, and you know,
28:05
Speaker 5: I think we sort of went to sort of the
28:08
Speaker 5: story kind of disappeared. But to me, that was like
28:10
Speaker 5: a time for like what went wrong? Why did we
28:12
Speaker 5: miss this? Like, you know, despite our feelings about Trump,
28:16
Speaker 5: this is a story we should have sort of treated differently.
28:20
Speaker 2: You hear him say that they he said they were
28:22
Speaker 2: trying to harm Trump. Now that is shocking for him
28:26
Speaker 2: to say this because in translation center.
28:29
Speaker 3: That means and stop, stop and repeat that for a second.
28:31
Speaker 3: Stop and stop and repeat that for a second. This
28:34
Speaker 3: is a senior editor at NPR. Mind you, they're finding
28:38
Speaker 3: funded by US taxpayer dollars, and he is admitting the
28:42
Speaker 3: entire institution and his words, was trying to harm Trump.
28:48
Speaker 3: I mean, that is a damning admission. And at some level,
28:53
Speaker 3: as he noted in what I read a minute ago,
28:55
Speaker 3: it was obvious to any conservative, but it says something
28:58
Speaker 3: for a senior editor to go and blow the whistle
29:02
Speaker 3: like this.
29:03
Speaker 2: This NPR reminds me of Twitter before Elon Musk bought
29:07
Speaker 2: it in many ways, where it's bloated, it's out of control,
29:11
Speaker 2: it's activism. It's not run like a business because it's
29:15
Speaker 2: subsidized by government taxpayers.
29:18
Speaker 1: I'm fine with MPR existing center.
29:20
Speaker 2: They should figure out how to do it the same
29:21
Speaker 2: way that everybody else does in media, which is to
29:24
Speaker 2: make money instead of us giving them our tax dollars
29:29
Speaker 2: to them, as he described it, try to hurt Trump
29:32
Speaker 2: every time they could, and it won't just be Trump
29:35
Speaker 2: in the future, it will be any other conservative based
29:38
Speaker 2: on what he's saying.
29:39
Speaker 1: It's not like they just went in against Trump. And
29:41
Speaker 1: that was it.
29:42
Speaker 2: They're going in against every conservative on every story out there.
29:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me focus on two other segments of what
29:50
Speaker 3: Uriberliner wrote. Quote, concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity,
29:57
Speaker 3: I looked at voter registration for our newsroom in DC,
30:02
Speaker 3: where NPR is headquartered and many of us live. I
30:05
Speaker 3: found eighty seven registered Democrats working in editorial positions and
30:12
Speaker 3: zero Republicans.
30:15
Speaker 1: None.
30:17
Speaker 3: Now, that's not vague or ambiguous, that's not equivocal. That
30:22
Speaker 3: is explicit. Let me read this other segment.
30:25
Speaker 1: Quote.
30:27
Speaker 3: In October twenty twenty, the New York Post published the
30:30
Speaker 3: explosive report about the laptop hunter Biden abandoned at a
30:34
Speaker 3: Delaware computer shop, containing emails about a sordid business deals.
30:39
Speaker 3: With the election only weeks away, NPR turned a blind eye.
30:45
Speaker 3: Here's how NPR's managing editor for News at the time
30:48
Speaker 3: explained the thinking, quote, we don't want to waste our
30:51
Speaker 3: time on stories that are not really stories, and we
30:54
Speaker 3: don't want to waste our listeners and readers' times on
30:57
Speaker 3: stories that are just pure distractions. But it wasn't a
31:02
Speaker 3: pure distraction or product of Russian disinformation, as dozens of
31:07
Speaker 3: former and current intelligence officials suggested the laptop did belong
31:13
Speaker 3: to Hunter Biden, its contents revealed his connection to the
31:18
Speaker 3: corrupt world of multimillion dollar influence peddling and its possible
31:23
Speaker 3: implications for his father. The laptop was newsworthy, but the
31:30
Speaker 3: timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was
31:35
Speaker 3: being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues I listened as
31:40
Speaker 3: one of NPR's best and most fair minded journalists said
31:44
Speaker 3: it was good we weren't following the laptop story because
31:48
Speaker 3: it could help Trump. When the essential facts of the
31:54
Speaker 3: post reportings were confirmed and the emails verified independently about
32:01
Speaker 3: a year and a half later, we could have fessed
32:04
Speaker 3: up to our misjudgment, but like Russia collusion, we didn't
32:08
Speaker 3: make the hard choice of transparency.
32:12
Speaker 2: Why fix it if it's your ideology, right, If this
32:15
Speaker 2: is what the ideology is, and it's being funded by taxpayers,
32:19
Speaker 2: why stop?
32:20
Speaker 1: Which brings me to my final question on this.
32:24
Speaker 2: I've heard about this, and we've talked about this for
32:26
Speaker 2: I hate to say it.
32:27
Speaker 1: Twenty years.
32:28
Speaker 2: How on earth are they getting this type of government funding,
32:31
Speaker 2: especially now if we know this from someone that worked
32:34
Speaker 2: there for twenty five years.
32:35
Speaker 1: Is there any way to say the NPR. That's fine.
32:37
Speaker 2: If this is what your mission is, go and do it,
32:40
Speaker 2: but you're not going to do it subsidized by taxpayers.
32:43
Speaker 3: Listen, I would eliminate the funding for NPR tomorrow. That's
32:47
Speaker 3: the right thing to do. We shouldn't be in the
32:49
Speaker 3: business of funding NPR. The problem is every Democrat wants
32:54
Speaker 3: to spend your taxpayer dollars funding NPR because why wouldn't
32:57
Speaker 3: you if you're a leftist, why wouldn't you be willing
32:59
Speaker 3: to to use taxpayer dollars to fund a propaganda outlet
33:04
Speaker 3: for your view? And I got to tell you in
33:06
Speaker 3: the budget battles, too many Republicans are scared of taking
33:10
Speaker 3: on NPR, and so between the two it keeps going. Look,
33:14
Speaker 3: I actually think it speaks volume that where Uri Berliner
33:20
Speaker 3: wrote this was the free Press. The Free Press was
33:22
Speaker 3: started by Barry Weiss. Berry Weiss resigned from the editorial
33:27
Speaker 3: board of The New York Times and wrote a letter.
33:30
Speaker 3: If you haven't read the letter, we may do a
33:31
Speaker 3: podcast where we just read the letter, because it's something
33:34
Speaker 3: I actually think should be taught in every journalism class
33:37
Speaker 3: in America. It is a letter where and listen Bury,
33:40
Speaker 3: by our own description is left of center. She's a
33:43
Speaker 3: liberal Democrat or voter for Obama twice, but she was horrified.
33:47
Speaker 3: And actually Barry's resignation letter reads very much like Urie
33:52
Speaker 3: Berliner's article. They are both people left of center who
33:56
Speaker 3: actually believe in some modicum of free speech, some modicum
34:00
Speaker 3: of fairness, and they look at the corruption of institutions
34:03
Speaker 3: they respected. I look at Uriy Berlinner, and I'm reminded
34:07
Speaker 3: of John F. Kennedy's famous speech at the Berlin wall
34:11
Speaker 3: Ick ben I and Berliner, which which he thought meant
34:15
Speaker 3: that that that he was a Berliner, a resident of Berlin,
34:19
Speaker 3: but actually it was poorly translated German. And what the
34:22
Speaker 3: better translation was is I am a jelly donut, which
34:26
Speaker 3: which was not JFK's finest moment. But nonetheless I feel
34:30
Speaker 3: the same sentiments. Urray Berlinner and I may disagree on
34:33
Speaker 3: a lot of things, but I'm proud to stand with
34:35
Speaker 3: Ariray Berlinner for daring to speak the truth, because free
34:40
Speaker 3: speech matters, and I actually think it matters. I met
34:43
Speaker 3: recently with the CEO of a major journalistic enterprise. I
34:48
Speaker 3: won't say who it is, and I told him, I said, listen,
34:53
Speaker 3: I actually believe in a free press. I defend you
34:56
Speaker 3: even when you kick the crap out of me, even
34:57
Speaker 3: when you attack me, because I think it's in I's
35:00
Speaker 3: portant to democracy and free speech to have a real
35:02
Speaker 3: and vibrant press. But when you guys are just corrupt ideologues,
35:07
Speaker 3: when you're just propagandists, it hurts the entire country. And
35:12
Speaker 3: so I give a big shout out to Urib Berliner,
35:15
Speaker 3: like Barry Weiss, on whose platform he wrote this, There
35:19
Speaker 3: are a handful of liberals, and I actually want to
35:21
Speaker 3: call out Listen. I don't know that many fair minded
35:26
Speaker 3: liberals in the media listen to Verdict, although we're close
35:28
Speaker 3: to a million listeners, so maybe there are. If you're
35:32
Speaker 3: a fair minded liberal working in the media and you
35:34
Speaker 3: don't like the bias and propaganda, and I'm not saying
35:37
Speaker 3: you're suddenly conservative and a right winger, that's.
35:39
Speaker 1: Okay, that's okay.
35:41
Speaker 3: We can have reasonable discussions. But when people speak out
35:47
Speaker 3: like Urie Berliner and Barry Weiss, it makes a difference,
35:50
Speaker 3: and we need more people to do that.
35:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, don't forget.
35:53
Speaker 2: We do this show Monday Wednesday, and Friday we have
35:55
Speaker 2: our week in review. If you miss anything during the week,
35:58
Speaker 2: we put those stories together for you on Saturdays as well.
36:02
Speaker 2: Make sure you hit that subscribe, follow, or auto download button,
36:05
Speaker 2: depending on where you're listening to this. You also say hey,
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Speaker 2: Siria Alexa, play Verdict and with Ted Cruz and it
36:10
Speaker 2: will play it. And on those in between dates, make
36:13
Speaker 2: sure you grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts wherever
36:16
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts, and then Senator and I will
36:19
Speaker 2: see you back here for a Week in Review tomorrow