I completely agree. We know, don't we?, that NPR's listeners, overall, lean left. I would think, substantially so. Naturally, NPR, wants to remain in touch with their audience. Nevertheless, the NPR correspondents make an effort to present both sides. And I would say it is almost painful sometimes to experience the obviousness of their overtures to the right while recognizing how clearly feigned their interest is. What they do a great job of, by comparison with the mainstream, commercial media, is covering stories in greater depth. But again, it's clear, despite their best efforts to remain so, they are not neutral-- not completely anyway. They lean left.
So should we be asking a questions here? Should we be asking, why do their listeners, by and large, lean left? Is it because the peculiar collection of folks responsible for public broadcasting lean left, and therefore NPR attracts left-leaning listeners? I hope that is not the case. I, personally, would find it more interesting if the reason was that the supporters of NPR lean left, and therefore NPR tilts that way. Because then I would ask, "Is there is a connection between left leaning politics and the Arts -- visual, musical (the opera!, jazz), theater -- and also, perhaps, between NPR and old money and old institutions. That's a far more interesting question. The answer could be exceedingly enlightening, but also useful, if we thought it worthwhile to lift our species further above its instinctual nature -- the nature that was central to E.O. Wilson's concern in, "The Social Conquest of Earth."
