NPR's "Balance" Serves To Normalize Trump's Highly Abnormal Cabinet Picks
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
November 21, 2024
Donald Trump hasn't taken office yet, but he has wasted no time naming cabinet members and other nominations for his incoming administration.
They must be confirmed by the Senate -- unless Trump manages an unprecedented end run around the Senate's power to advise and consent -- which means the media play an important role in helping bring to light their records and qualifications.
Clearly Trump is trying to see how far he can push the limits of the country's democratic institutions with these nominations, which include an anti-vaxxer to oversee the country's public health infrastructure, and a congressmember investigated for sex trafficing to be attorney general.
A look at NPR's coverage so far suggests that the public radio network has no interest in using the power of the so-far- still-free-press to preserve those limits.
In it's reporting on Trump's picks over the seven days from November 13 through November 19, NPR's Morning Edition has featured eight guest sources offering commentary, in the form of either soundbites or lengthier interviews, according to a FAIR search of the Nexis news database.
All but two were current or former Republican officials, including one current Trump advisor.
The other two were a representative from the right-wing Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, and a political risk consultant (who offered a perfectly neutral assessment).
All of them were white men.
More:
https://fair.org/home/__trashed-3/
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