So the House Republicans voted to end taxpayer funding for PBS and NPR. NPR CEO Katherine Maher has repeatedly claimed, in the face of avalanches of evidence, that she has never witnessed any bias at NPR. That's beyond ridiculous. You can find it, day after day, hour on the hour. This week's Los Angeles rioting provided plenty of exhibits.
On the June 11 "Morning Edition," Los Angeles-based co-host A Martinez told listeners, "We want to get a sense of how the community around Los Angeles is feeling about the decision to mobilize the military against civilians." Notice how there's no mention here of responding to violence or unrest by "civilians."
The NPR host turned to Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, and these two Latino journalists engaged in a riotous defense of the protests against immigration enforcement. Arellano began by claiming, "People feel like Trump doesn't see them as Americans, that he sees us as prisoners, basically."
Martinez turned to the defense of foreign flag-wavers: "Protesters are carrying flags from Mexico, from El Salvador, also carrying American flags, too. But what is the significance of the flags not being stars and stripes?"
Arellano ripped Team Trump: "These people are not speaking to young folks who will say, well, you don't consider me an American. I'm going to wrap myself in something that at least I have comfort in knowing I'm proud of, that this is the culture of my parents. And by the way, I am still American, but you wouldn't know, because you don't want to talk to me because you see me as subhuman."
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The cartooning here is gaudy and demented.
Martinez said the criticism was odd because "people on the East Coast wave Italian flags or wave flags from France or Greece or wherever they're from in Europe." This is silly because if Greek Americans wave a flag on Greek Independence Day while they pass around the dolmas, that's nothing like waving a flag on the hood of a smoldering car at a protest against immigration enforcement.
Arellano jumped in and said these Trump guys, "you're never going to hear them criticize anyone who waves a Confederate flag." That's fascinating. But NPR incessantly discussed Confederate flags at the violent protest at the Capitol on Jan. 6. So maybe they should consider the parallels they're trying to make.
Martinez continued with the flag banter: "Does the argument that not waving an American flag at these protests makes the protest inherently un-American? Does that argument hold any water?" Naturally, Arellano said "no." He blamed all this on the Proposition 187 referendum in 1994 -- which aimed to deny taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens. Arellano said that was the end of any Republican foothold in California. OK. Maybe that would explain Democrat enthusiasm for wave after wave of "undocumented" people.
The only feint toward a non-liberal point was asking about the violence. Arellano claimed: "At the protests that I've been to with my colleagues, 99.99% of the people protesting are perfectly safe. But also, to just accuse Antifa or anarchists are doing it -- that's not the case at all." It's just a few "teenagers hurling rocks and water bottles at the police."
If someone threw a rock at an NPR reporter or lit an NPR studio on fire, they might be less sanguine about what percentage of a city is non-violent. NPR and PBS should never be seen as America's oasis of civility. They're not. They fiercely hate Republicans, and they'll defend almost anyone against them. In the face of defunding, they couldn't stop the bashing and trashing.
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