A Critique of Nightline, MacNeil/Lehrer and NPR

Jeff Cohen is the Executive Director of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), a media watch group based in New York. FAIR has published stinging reports on Nightline and MacNeil/Lehrer. FAIR charges that these two highly-touted TV news programs overwhelmingly rely on white male present and former government officials. Dissident and minority voices are consistently given short shrift. Cohen is also very critical of National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He contends that NPR “has become more and more mainstream.” Like Nightline and MacNeil/Lehrer, NPR churns up the same “golden rolodex” crowd of “experts.”

Interview by David Barsamian.