"All Things Re-Considered" Premieres Wednesday

NPR, formerly known as “National Public Radio,” used to be one of my main sources for news and cultural information. I listened to Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Car Talk on occasion, and a variety of other programs offered by my local public radio station. I thought the reporting was more or less accurate, reasonably fair, and while it had a definite bias, I found it to be a step far above other news outlets. Over the past several years, programs produced by and for NPR have fundamentally changed.  

NPR has been ideologically captured. Its content and messaging are in lockstep with the orthodoxy known as “Wokeism” or “Critical Social Justice.” It concedes no space for information or viewpoints that challenge or even question its tenets. This is why my team and I created the YouTube show All Things Re-Considered, where we take a close look NPR content and, in plain language, dissect its news stories.

The stories NPR produces matter because the public is being misinformed about issues necessary for citizens to make informed public policy decisions, particularly regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, and trans concerns. NPR has bartered facts, evidence, and even reasoned discourse for an unexamined deference to the dominant moral fashion of Critical Social Justice.

In All Things Re-Considered, I explain how this ideology permeates NPR reporting and delegitimizes this once venerable news organization. Through five episodes, former NPR supporters talk about why they stopped listening; an award-winning journalist who worked for NPR affiliate stations offers behind-the-scenes perspectives; and I analyze NPR content along with my friend Matt Thornton, author of The Gift of Violence and 5th-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu.  Matt and I look at how NPR reporters craft narratives that make listeners think they are being informed on crucial social and political issues, when in fact they are worse off than if they had never listened. 

Before conservatives engage in a feeding frenzy to “defund NPR,” let me be crystal clear that defunding is not my objective. My goal is to start a conversation about how NPR can improve by asking hard questions, presenting diverse viewpoints, and providing data-driven analysis. Public radio stations are supported by tax-payer dollars through grants from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and they use that money to purchase NPR programs. One key objective of the CPB is to serve the American public with content that is “accurate, fair, balanced, objective, transparent, and produced in a manner that is consistent with editorial integrity.” It is essential that NPR adhere to CPB standards. We must have news on public broadcasting that every American—regardless of political affiliation—can trust. For that to happen, the public must demand it. My hope is that All Things Re-Considered will begin this conversation.  

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Join us for the premiere of All Things Re-Considered Episode 1 this Wednesday, 10/12/22, at 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET. Subscribe and click the “Notify Me” bell so you won’t miss it. Peter and other show participants will be watching and responding to comments. We hope to see you there!