NPR reporter pressured over Fox role

[sabra]

Source: Politico

Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29892.html

[Kerrytravelers]

Just appearing on Fox doesn't make one a mouth-breathing war mongering moran.

But to watch it for thirty days and not seeing what is so obvious makes Liasson completely irrelevant to any actual political discussion. Perhaps she should look for a permanent position at Fox and leave news reporting to people who can actually complete the job honestly.

[Mika]

42. Agree. NPR doesn't appreciate RW the high profile that Mara exhibits.

NPR likes to keep their RW subversion, talking points and reporters on a low profile. Its more acceptable to the librul Americans that way.

[hlthe2b]

1. She lost her credibility long ago. They should have canned her

long ago. No loss...

[totodeinhere]

12. Have you ever heard her on Fox News?

She is a rare voice of reason on that network, and she articulates many good points that the Fox audience needs to hear. IMO she has maintained her credibility.

I wonder if NPR has also called Juan Williams on the carpet. Personally, I hope they both stay on Fox.

[hlthe2b]

13. No, but good to hear.... I do not view nor listen to Faux News...

I have seen some clips with her in the past on Fox, but perhaps those were not representative. Juan Williams, likewise. Those segments with him that I have seen online were quite pandering to the RW, IMO.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

37. only in comparison. I still hear her on NPR

and that fox shit has rubbed off on her. Badly.

[FreakinDJ]

16. Hope they do can her

[totodeinhere]

38. Yes, can her and only have people on the air that you agree with. n/t

[Winterblues]

53. How about just people that show no bias?

They don't have to agree with me as long as I understand their reporting to be impartial. There are concerns about that with her. Maybe you don't recognize those concerns but others do.

[totodeinhere]

54. And who is going to define bias? You? n/t

[Winterblues]

55. Absolutely

Are you unable to determine bias in a person's reporting?

[totodeinhere]

56. Not always. I think that if I tend to agree with them I would be less likely to see any bias.

I think it's just human nature. Perhaps you are able to rise above your own biases to evaluate issues objectively. If so, I congratulate you. Most people, including me, are less gifted than that. I will freely see biases in those I disagree with, but perhaps it doesn't always work the other way around.

[Winterblues]

57. There is open bias in Countdown and Rachel Maddow

There is open bias in Glenn Beck and Hannity and O'Really. Not so much with Anderson Cooper or Jim Lehrer. Pretty easy for me to spot it and I would think for anyone that paid attention

[Peregrine Took]

2. I always wondered how she got by with those Fox appearances and keep

her NPR gig...she must be well connected up to someone.

[MH1]

7. What about Juan Williams?

isn't he pretty much the same deal?

[stubtoe]

10. Yep, he is too. And he has a regular analysis feature on WESat.

It's always a hoot listening to him and Scott Simon discussing the next "big problem" for the President.

[izquierdista]

41. NPR is pretty much the same deal

It stands for National 'Publican Radio now, and I can barely tolerate listening to it.

[stlsaxman]

59. Nationalist Propaganda Radio is the "Liberal Bureau" of FOX NEWS...

[NoodleyAppendage]

3. She couldn't see the bias because the fur on her forehead finally grew over her eyes.

Just sayin'...

J

[Chris Crew]

9. She didn't say they were not biased -- just that its no change.

Fox has long been very biased. It was started as a conservative "alternative" to the mainstream media and has never been anything but that. Its hard to argue that this is new as of this last Autumn.

[HelenWheels]

4. Dump her

She is very biased.

[totodeinhere]

14. If every biased commentator was dropped by the cable news networks, there would be very few of..

them left. And that applies to all of the networks, not just Fox.

It seems that some posters here have no problem with bias coming from the left, but they can't tolerate bias coming from other points on the ideological spectrum. But as far as I'm concerned, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Let all of the biased commentators on all of the news networks stay and let the viewers evaluate them for themselves. I would probably make an exception for the hate mongers such as Beck. They should go. But in fairness, if a hate monger from the left appeared on one of the networks, that person should also go.

[Vinnie From Indy]

52. While I agree in spirit, I would simply ask you to name those "hate" mongers on the left

It seems to me that there is NOTHING on the left that even remotely resembles the bias on the right. Your comparison is not anything close to being apples to apples. The giant lie factory that is Fox News is something different than anything that has come before in America. It is the first entire network devoted to nothing but propaganda. There has never been anything like it as I can tell. I think you are greatly minimizing the scope of Fox News's extremism and role as SOLELY a propaganda platform.

[bertman]

5. I wondered what she was doing on Fux. Seemed pretty weird to see a supposedly

neutral NPR commentator on that network.

Of course, if you are a regular NPR listener, you know that they made a gigantic swerve to the right as soon as BushCo took over, so their vaunted objectivity is a relic of the past.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Ah, Mara

See ya...

[Cirque du So-What]

18. Yikes

I've heard Mara Liasson for years on NPR, but I don't watch FAUX under any circumstances, so I had no face to put with the voice. I did a bit of Googling and found that the photo you posted is NOT photoshopped:

Is Mara Liasson secretly pulling for McCain/Palin?

While watching Fox News Sunday w/ Chris Wallace (10/26/2008), I saw this micro-expression on Mara Liasson:



It lasted about as long as a bulb flash. In the above image, she was saying the 'J' in the word "just". The topic was about McCain's campaign falling short. She said, "He could have run a better campaign as a Reform-Republican. He had all of the parts. They just didn't add up to a whole."

She looks really pissed. She's snarling, her eyes are more closed, her eyebrows have pulled together in the classic angry position and her lips have tightened up. I don't know if she's pulling for McCain/Palin or she hates to see a campaign managed so poorly, but she looks mad and/or frustrated.

As a semi-baseline, the image below shows what she looked like a split-second before the snarl. She's saying the "th" in "they". What a difference. Body-language is so fascinating.

http://rustyskills.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-mara-liasson-secretly-pulling-for.html

I don't care if that expression lasted a millisecond or if bad cosmetic surgery made her face freeze like that, it's one nasty fucking snarl. Nice people don't make faces like that - even momentarily.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

25. Big Yikes!

Interesting info on her. Thanks. More below from Octafish, too.

[HopeHoops]

8. "more partisan"????

If Fox gets any MORE partisan, they can just change their name to "Fox GOP Talking Points". Never mind - they're already there.

[Wilms]

11. The only thing worse than getting news from Fox is getting it from Yuppies. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

15. Politico uses more unnamed sources than TMZ....

[Doctor_J]

17. What about Juan Williams

he's probably the most disgusting Repuke whore on the air.

[catzies]

19. Well then, she should go...like Martha Raddatz did, and Juan Williams proably should. n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. I've written to thyem numerous times saying I won't donate again until Liasson is gone from NPR or

Fox.

Her commentary is pure Republican shill in BOTH venues.

[BennyD]

27. Yeah, I'm sure their hanging on every word of yours...

:rofl:

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. "They're"

:thumbsup:

[BennyD]

30. yeah yeah

[Octafish]

21. Mara went along with SCOTUS and its 5-4 installation of the Smriking Warmonger.

An explanation from FAIR, The Most Biased Name in News

EXCERPT...

Pundit Mara Liasson--who is touted as an on-air "liberal" by Fox executives--sits on the board of the conservative human-rights group Freedom House; New York magazine (11/17/97) cited a Fox insider as saying that Liasson assured president Roger Ailes before being hired that she was a Republican.

[nashville_brook]

22. holy cow -- real journos don't play that.

hopefully this news tidbit is beginning of the end for her.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

24. **** Important Post, Octafish **** thanks for this n/t

[marshall]

23. Who's next? Alison Stewart?

Maybe NPR just doesn't want anybody who works for them to also work for the competition--whether it's Fox or MSNBC.

[Roland99]

26. Would be nice if the news networks went back to reporting NEWS

and had maybe one or two opinion shows that were blatantly advertised as being opinion.

[jtylerpittman]

28. like it or not Fox News has a tune of viewers

it is good for them to hear some different views

[BennyD]

32. Just how many is a "tune?"

[PaulaFarrell]

33. more than a murmuration and less than storytelling n/y

[Sentath]

50. *snerk* .. Ha ha ... hehehe

:spray: :rofl:



:toast: :silly: :applause:

[MineralMan]

35. It's less than a brazillion, I think.

[MineralMan]

34. Is a "tune" of viewers anything like a

"murder" of crows or a "scurry" of squirrels? I'm looking forward to seeing more of your creative use of language. It's always a treat.

[CreekDog]

31. Well, clearly there's a shortage of good reporters out there

Or else NPR wouldn't have have such problems finding someone without a conflict of interest to do her job.

:sarcasm:

[yurbud]

36. how could it have gotten MORE partisan?

[totodeinhere]

39. Joe Scarborough's take on this

Scarborough: "I love NPR and I listen to NPR, but I've been listening to reformed, pot-smoking hippies for the past thirty years on NPR with a very substantial left-wing bias."

LOL.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/reporter_asked_by_npr_to_reconsider_fox_news_appearances_145133.asp

[Jack Rabbit]

40. NPR should have done this when Ms. Liasson was shilling for Bush prior to his war

She was on FoxNews then, too. And she's right, it isn't significantly more partisan now than it's ever been. It's never been a legitimate news outlet and no one needs Robert Gibbs to tell us about it.

[Faygo Kid]

43. NPR reporter pressured over Fox role

Source: Politico

Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party. . . .

Read more: http://www.politico.com/index.html?refresh=1

---

Mara cares about $$$, nothing else. Faux News has nothing to do with "news," they may as well be owned and controlled by the Moonies, like the Washington Times. Anyway, she's a fraud.

[DebbieCDC]

44. NPR is a joke - it's getting to be the Fux News of radio

Look who's on their payroll in addition to Mara: Cokie Roberts, Juan Williams, the editor of the WSJ, etc.

[tosh]

46. But it wasn't always such a joke.

I, for one, would like my old NPR back.

[SkyDaddy7]

47. I agree!

I really did like NPR...Still do sometimes. I like PBS too. I like Dan Rather Reports and World Report on HD Net.

[SpiralHawk]

45. Well, Mara Liasson has branded herself: Republicon Homelander Propaganda Puppet

She can go on living in her fantasy world, where she sees no bias or spin...and thinking Americans can go on kissing her off as a republicon propaganda stooge-for-pay.

[vinylsolution]

48. Mara Liasson has now become....

... Moonie Liasson, so blatant is her spin and deception.

[defendandprotect]

49. GOPs/ Fox . . .

[Vinnie From Indy]

51. Liasson needs to GO!

I am still unsure whether she is really stupid or quite clever. One thing is certain, she is not a legitimate, competent news reporter if she cannot see the bias At Fox News. NPR should can her ass yesterday! I have certainly lost respect for NPR over the last decade primarily because of people like Liasson.

[stlsaxman]

58. Shit or cut bait, Mara Lyinassbitch!!!!

Hope she stays with FOX...