Rep. Frank Pallone calls out the hypocrisy of the right's attacks on NPR
Pallone: “Public cynicism about the media doesn’t come from NPR. It comes from the right-wing media.”
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From the May 8, 2024, House of Representatives’ Energy & Commerce subcommittee hearing titled, “Examining Accusations Of Ideological Bias At NPR, A Taxpayer Funded News Entity”
REP. FRANK PALLONE (D-NJ): If Republicans were truly concerned about journalism and editorial integrity, they would have to recognize that it is actually the vast landscape of right-wing media organizations that have a long history of peddling misinformation, disinformation, promoting partisan agendas, and sowing fear and division. Major conservative networks have paid out vast legal settlements and lost on-air talent who refuse to abandon impartiality and continually lie about our democracy and elections. Why aren’t we having a hearing about conservative media and their efforts to stifle alternative views?
Just last year Fox News paid over $787 million dollars to settle a defamation lawsuit after its anchors repeatedly and knowingly lied on-air about Dominion’s voting machines. Its owner even admitted under oath that those lies were to help Donald Trump overturn the election he lost. Fox News, One America News, Sinclair, and Breitbart are all examples of media organizations that air biased, false, harmful, and damaging content. Public cynicism about the media doesn’t come from NPR. It comes from the right-wing media.
This hearing is particularly worrisome because we have a Republican candidate for president who spends a good amount of his time peddling unfounded attacks on the media and the freedom of the press. There are so many other things that we could be focused on today that could improve the lives of the American people, and this is not one of them.