Congress Asked to Stop Taxpayer Funding of National Public Radio
By Bill Fancher and Jody Brown
July 11, 2002
(AgapePress) - National Public Radio was sitting in the crosshairs of angry conservatives yesterday during a hearing on Capitol Hill. The subject of the hearing? NPR's airing of an inaccurate story linking a high-profile Christian organization to anthrax letters sent to two Democratic senators.
The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, part of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, held an oversight hearing Wednesday on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its entities. Committee chairman Fred Upton of Michigan set the tone for the hearing, especially where National Public Radio is concerned.
"For years, NPR has been dogged by allegations of a liberal bias. And when you come from a part of the country known for its Midwest, common-sense, conservative values, these allegations do not go without notice," the Republican lawmaker said.
 TVC executive director Andrea Lafferty testifying before a House Committee on July 10, 2002 |
By the time of the report, two people had died from exposure to the anthrax, and others had been hospitalized. By falsely linking TVC to the mailings, Lafferty said, NPR was accusing the group of murder.
Prior to the report, NPR reporter David Kestenbaum had contacted Lafferty, asking her if she had been contacted by the FBI about the anthrax mailings. Lafferty said she was shocked by Kestenbaum's attitude. "Kestenbaum's tone was very clear," she said. "He actually believed that Traditional Values Coalition and the conservatives we associate with would mail anthrax."
Lafferty says the anti-Christian bias of NPR did not stop with its reporter. "The attack on Traditional Values Coalition has involved all levels of NPR from the so-called Ombudsman to the highest levels of NPR's management," she said. "All of them acted in concert and closed ranks to defend the shoddy reporting of one of their own."
According to Lafferty, NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin joined the NPR "smear bandwagon" against her, her organization, and its supporters. And because of what she describes as NPR's "deep and pervasive" organizational bias against Christians and conservatives, Lafferty's organization is asking Congress to eliminate taxpayer funding for National Public Radio.
Read Andrea Lafferty's Complete Testimony
Opening for Apology
Congressman Chip Pickering of Mississippi was one of many Republican committee members upset over the incident. The Republican lawmaker said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its entities, such as NPR and PBS, do not tolerate or present conservative and religiously based views of issues. He said he finds it difficult to defend and support an entity when the values and the faith of many of those he represents are not respected.
Pickering told NPR officials at the hearing they need take steps to see that their coverage does not come across as biased, unfair, disrespectful, or even hostile. "There may need to be some ways or steps you can take to make sure that you not only have the secular, but you have the religious perspective [in your reporting] so that you can have a sensitive approach of understanding and respecting both points of view on many of the very divisive cultural issues facing our nation," he said.
Pickering opened the door for NPR to apologize to TVC for the statements made and the story broadcast. NPR president and CEO Kevin Close did just that. "Congressman Pickering [and others on the committee] has said that we should apologize. Mr. Chairman and members, I accept that invitation," Close said. "Ms. Lafferty and TVC, you have my personal and professional apology. We are sorry to have made that mistake."
But Lafferty says her group is still awaiting an on-air retraction of the story. "NPR claims they broadcast to an audience of 8 million who hear from them everyday," Lafferty told the committee. "Well, we are still waiting for those 8 million listeners to hear an apology and retraction."
© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.
E-mail this page to a friend
Printer-Friendly Version
Read all of our current headlines
