Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Bias at National Pretentious Radio????

I know Uncle Pete isn't going to want to believe this, but check out the following BLATANT case of liberal anti-gun bias being spouted forth by Pete's hero Nina Totenberg:

Civil Liberties Advocates, Not ‘Gun Advocates’

Posted By David Boaz On March 2, 2010 @ 10:54 am In General, Law and Civil Liberties | Comments Disabled

In this NPR story [1] Nina Totenberg gives both sides their say. But twice she refers to the people advocating Second Amendment rights as “gun advocates” (and once as “gun rights advocates”). That’s not the language NPR uses in other such cases. In 415 NPR stories on abortion, I found only one reference to “abortion advocates,” in 2005. There are far more references, hundreds more, to “abortion rights,” “reproductive rights,” and “women’s rights.” And certainly abortion-rights advocates would insist that they are not “abortion advocates,” they are advocates for the right of women to choose whether or not to have an abortion. NPR grants them the respect of characterizing them the way they prefer.

Similarly, NPR has never used the phrase “pornography advocates,” though it has run a number of stories on the First Amendment and how it applies to pornography. The lawyers who fight restrictions on pornography are First Amendment advocates, not pornography advocates.

And the lawyers who seek to guarantee our rights under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should be called Second Amendment advocates, or advocates of the right to self-defense, or civil liberties advocates. Or even “gun rights advocates,” as they do advocate the right of individuals to choose whether or not to own a gun. But not “gun advocates.”


Article printed from Cato @ Liberty: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org

URL to article: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/03/02/civil-liberties-advocates-not-gun-advocates/

Pete, I know your entire worldview is NPR-formed, but dude, you've got to get a different radio station. imho

4 comments:

Alex Metcalf said...

And deciding that reconciliation is worthy of rabbit ears is representative of completely unbiased reporting. This is the source you cite?

Oops.

Alex Metcalf said...

In related news, I laughed long and hard when Glen Beck said at the CPAC conference he'd "educated himself" about the dangers of socialism and communism at the library, 'cause, "book are free." At public libraries found at some address on a public road, I assume. Marxist, fair, and balanced demon.

Path Walker said...

huh? Nina puts on rabbit ears for Glen Beck? Radio has its advantages.

Dr. Dirt said...

Sheesh, if you hadn't mentioned my name I would never have found this post amidst all of your late winter output. Eat more fiber or get out of the house now that the snow is melting!

I feel so brain washed. Thanks for thinking for me. I promise to derive my world view from this blog only.

With that said, we're all stuck in the middle of the rural/urban culture divide. Your ribbing comes at a time when I find myself taking barbs from environmental and ag communities. So, your barbs into my flank join the arrows that protrude from my back and front sides.