Much as global warming was relabeled climate change to wallpaper over erroneous predictions, the phrase fact checking is now obsolete. The term is overused, not very sexy, and doesn’t sound intelligent when uttered in a sentence. Instead, the new catchphrase is disinformation, embraced by nearly every corporate-owned activist network. So we now have a taxpayer-funded Disinformation Reporting Team installed at National Public Radio.
The far-left-leaning network is empaneling a cadre of people presumably devoted to the progressive cause to flag what they think could be misinformation, a task that is purely speculative at best. The new team’s targets include the 2020 presidential election, COVID-19 vaccines, and “climate-change denialism.” That’s rich since NPR actually, publicly, and loudly refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop news story.
NPR Disinformation or No Information?
You may remember that scandal: a rogue laptop forgotten at a repair shop that uncovered some troubling information regarding the Biden family exploits. Ah, yes, that very laptop. When confronted about this inconsistency, NPR’s managing editor, Terence Samuel, indignantly rebuffed the idea his organization suppressed a valid account of ignominy:
“We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not real stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions. And quite frankly, that’s where we ended up, this was … a politically driven event and we decided to treat it that way.”
(Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
In fairness, it was a politically driven event: One side wanted to get the truth from the Biden campaign, and no one associated with the activist media wished to deliver the facts. But NPR must have cogitated on how to recapture trust as a news organization after being fingered as a progressive Democrat sympathizer. Its solution? Create a Disinformation Reporting Team and publicize the bejesus out of it. Yep, that’s the ticket: pure distraction.
Other outlets, the middle-of-the-road guys, and conservative sites were not impressed. Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis nearly barked that NPR’s “entire organization is a disinformation team.” The Washington Examiner’s Byron York snarkily suggested, “Perhaps the NPR Disinformation Team will begin its work by examining NPR.” Robert Jonathan of BizPac Review suggested this move is “another example of progressive cognitive dissonance or projection, i.e., engaging in the very behavior that the left supposedly seeks to denounce or root out.”
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld could not stand the irony:
“But how thoughtful of them. Yeah. Apparently, NPR was doing people a favor by filtering out stories that might disturb them, but they really weren’t filtering at all. They were blocking, cherry-picking, censoring, then acting as if it was a favor to you. Pulling that tote bag over your head and saying it’s for your own good, sister.”
Well, you get the gist.
A Biased Fact Checker by Any Other Name
NPR has been sliding down the slippery slope of state-run media tactics. Of late, it has thrown out the traditional Fourth of July reading of the Declaration of Independence in favor of a conversation about equality. In addition, the network has blasted the decisions of the Supreme Court, claiming the institution's reputation has been sullied by self-inflicted poor rulings. Steering directly into the radical progressive skid, be on the lookout for National Propaganda Radio and its new Disinformation Reporting Team: the latest superheroes of our time.
