NPR and Time Magazine are defending and protecting their liberal reporters’ public disdain and hatred for conservative journalists. NPR affiliate KCRW’s Sarah Spitz andTime’s Michael Scherer emailed their personal hostility for conservative views to their cohorts in the liberal cabal called “Journolist.”
Scherer is the White House correspondent for Time Magazine. Spitz is the publicity director for public radio station KCRW and producer of radio shows “Left, Right & Center” and “Politics of Culture.”
Spitz openly expresses her vile dislike for conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. “I never knew I had this much hate in me,” she wrote in the emails obtained by The Daily Caller. “But he deserves it.”
Her hate language rises to the level of openly wishing for Limbaugh’s death. She wrote that if Limbaugh were having a heart attack, she would “laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out.”
When called for comment, NPR spokesperson Anna Christopher vehemently denied Spitz is associated with NPR. “She’s not an NPR employee,” Christopher told HUMAN EVENTS. “We at NPR do not have any affiliation with her.”
NPR seems to be splitting hairs. The network lists KCRW as an affiliated station in the Los Angeles area.
Also, Christopher denies that Spitz’s political show “Left, Right & Center”—hosted by Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley, Matt Miller and Robert Scheer—is part of National Public Radio. “It’s a KCRW production and airs on its station,” she said.
Blankley, the conservative on “Left, Right & Center” defends Spitz, saying her comments are out of character. “I’ve known her for years,” Blankley tells HUMAN EVENTS, “and she’s always been fair.” He says Spitz’s personal political views do not affect the production of the show. “The topics each week reflect my conservative views as well as the liberals views,” Blankley said in an interview. Also, he point out that KCRW has always produced and financed the show, so it is not an NPR product.
Asked if the show was syndicated on the NPR network, Christopher denied any knowledge, saying, “I don’t know where it’s broadcast.” In fact, the show is actually syndicated on 39 stations across the country, according to the station list.
Neither Spitz nor her boss, KCRW General Manager Jennifer Ferro returned repeated calls for comment. However, NPR posted a pseudo-news story which was actually a public relations gambit to defend the network from Spitz’s comments. TheNPR story cites a statement issued by Spitz—which was only issued to NPR—in which she wrote of making “poorly considered remarks about Rush Limbaugh.”
In the statement, Spitz attempts to defend herself, claiming that the Journolist cabal is a “private-email discussion group,” and that she sent the death wish from her “personal-email account.” Conceding an ethical lapse on her part, she wrote: “I regret these comments greatly; they do not reflect the values by which I conduct my life.”
Also in NPR’s pseudo-news story, Ferro seeming towed the line from the network’s publicity department. “Sarah is a longtime employee of KCRW. Please note that she is not affiliated or employed by NPR, nor does she work as a journalist, as has been incorrectly reported in the media,” wrote Ferro.
Tellingly, Ferro does not discipline Spitz for her actions. “She spoke in the heat of the moment without consideration to the impact her words would have,” Ferro writes in defense of Spitz’s fantasy of laughing as Rush Limbaugh dies of a heart attack.
Meanwhile, another member of the Journolist cabal, Time’s Michael Scherer denies the legitimacy of his fellow White House correspondents. Scherer writes that Fox News is not a “news organizations,” but rather a “less respectable hybrid of news and political advocacy.”
Scherer writes, “The Fox News gambit is based on courting such criticism. [Fox’s President Roger] Ailes understands that his job is to build a tribal identity, not a news organization. You can’t hurt Fox by saying it gets it wrong, if Ailes just uses the criticism to deepen the tribal identity.”
Agreeing with Scherer on Journolist, UCLA Law Professor Jonathan Zasloff writes in capital letters to express his hostility for the network: “Fox is NOT A NEWS ORGANIZATION, Michael: it is a wing of the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement.” Zasloff—who apparently skipped his Yale Law School class on constitutional law—asked “if there is any reason why the FCC couldn’t simply pull [Fox News’] broadcasting permit once it expires?”
A Time spokesperson released a written statement in response to the emails: “Michael Scherer fully disputes The Daily Caller’s account, which selectively quotes his emails and takes his comments about the changing news landscape entirely out of context. In his emails, he vocally opposes any suggestions to restrict Fox News.”
Scherer did not return repeated calls and emails requesting information on the “context” of his emails. Time’s Washington Bureau Chief Michael Duffy and Managing Editor Richard Stengel’s both refused to comment on Scherer.
Asked if Stengel would keep Scherer employed at Time, Associate Director of Public Relations Caitlin O’Neill told HUMAN EVENTS, “I imagine so, but I’m not sure.”
O’Neill said she would ask whether or not Scherer would face any disciplinary action for his emails and call back. Instead, she emailed: “Our statement is our response, and we’ll not be responding to any further questions.”
The exposure of the Journolist cabal’s emails demonstrates that the media-elite’s liberal agenda is well-coordinated and openly accepted at the executive levels of the mainstream media.
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