Power Line News

In preparing a post here yesterday (Did 60 Minutes Identify a Strategy to Unify Dems? ) I ran across a comment from NPR talk show host, Diane Rehm. During a post-mortem of Hillary’s victory in Pennsylvania, one of Rehm’s guests suggested that a continued Democratic primary tussle could fracture the party. “Fracture the party,” Rehm exclaimed. “Fracture the country!”

What is most revealing about Rehm’s assertion isn’t just that she equated the Democratic Party with the entire country, but that the comment was omitted from the transcript of the show. You can find both the transcript and the audio show]here.

Rehm’s comment is 30 minutes, 58 seconds into the show. Yet, it wasn’t included in the transcript of the show.

So, not only is taxpayer-funded NPR providing biased programming, transcripts--in this case, at least--have been edited to hide that from the non NPR listening public, i.e. the vast majority of us.

How many other times does this happen?

-Wm Tate

Wm Tate is the author of the new book, A Time Like This, http://www.atimelikethis.us/

I’m shocked.

Here’s a news bulletin for you media watchdogs: Diane Rehm’s show is about opinions. It’s not a news program. Diane Rehm makes no secret of her political inclinations, but her show is one of the very best at getting the most articulate voices on all sides of an issue. If you listened to it once, you wouldn’t make the silly mistake of regurgitating somebody else’s talking points on this forum.

Wouldn’t it be silly if I complained that John McLaughlin said something that sounded like a conservative opinion?

vladimir estragon - 04 May 2008 05:39 PM

Here’s a news bulletin for you media watchdogs: Diane Rehm’s show is about opinions. It’s not a news program. Diane Rehm makes no secret of her political inclinations, but her show is one of the very best at getting the most articulate voices on all sides of an issue. If you listened to it once, you wouldn’t make the silly mistake of regurgitating somebody else’s talking points on this forum.

Wouldn’t it be silly if I complained that John McLaughlin said something that sounded like a conservative opinion?

The point was that the transcript was edited to disguise the true opinion/bias of the hostess.

The point was that the transcript was edited to disguise the true opinion/bias of the hostess.

So what? SO WHAT? It’s an opinion program, try not to get upset when people express their opinions.

vladimir estragon - 06 May 2008 02:43 PM

The point was that the transcript was edited to disguise the true opinion/bias of the hostess.

So what? SO WHAT? It’s an opinion program, try not to get upset when people express their opinions.

Not to upset you any further but why would you edit an opinion if it means so little??

vladimir estragon - 06 May 2008 02:43 PM

The point was that the transcript was edited to disguise the true opinion/bias of the hostess.

So what? SO WHAT? It’s an opinion program, try not to get upset when people express their opinions.

It could indeed be considered a “news program”, as “This Week” and “Meet the Press” are considered news programs. After all, she does a weekly news roundup panel discussion exactly like those shows:

“News Roundup

Every Friday from 10 a.m. to noon, Diane hosts a roundtable discussion of the week’s top news stories, devoting one hour each to domestic and international topics. Listeners join in with questions and comments in the second half of each hour.”

Regular panelists-notice the preponderance of Democrats and liberals:

Jodie Allen, US News & World Report
Jim Angle, FOX News
Tony Blankley, Washington Times
Eleanor Clift, Newsweek
David Corn, The Nation
Jeanne Cummings, The Wall Street Journal
E.J. Dionne, The Washington Post
Jim Fallows, The Atlantic
Tom Gjelten, National Public Radio
John Harwood, The Wall Street Journal
Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard
Doyle McManus, The Los Angeles Times
Alan Murray, The Wall Street Journal
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune
Susan Page, USA Today
Steve Roberts, syndicated columnist
Daniel Schorr, National Public Radio
Gerrald Seib, The Wall Street Journal
Frank Sesno, WETA-TV’s “Sesno Reports”
Barbara Slavin, USA Today
Karen Tumulty, Time
Martin Walker, United Press International
Robin Wright, The Washington Post

Regular panelists-notice the preponderance of Democrats and liberals:

How often do you listen to her show?