NPR didn’t talk to anyone who agreed with people like this about fast track. (Photo: Public Citizen)
After the Senate joined the House of Representatives in granting President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements, National Public Radio aired one report (Morning Edition, 6/25/15) on the legislative action that paves the way for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and other corporate-friendly international deals. The report, by correspondent Yuki Noguchi, had three sources:
- Business Roundtable president John Engler, “president of the Business Roundtable, which represents more than 200 member companies who took to Capitol Hill armed with data.”
- National Retail Federation vice president Jonathan Gold, who “says 7 million retail jobs are directly or indirectly tied to trade.”
- National Association of Manufacturers vice president Linda Dempsey, who says the 1993 US/Mexico/Canada trade agreement “NAFTA has actually made US manufacturing overall much stronger and much more competitive.”
That’s it–according to a search of the Nexis news database, those three corporate lobbyists are all the voices National Public Radio chose to air on the victory of fast-track (or “fast-tract,” as the NPR News headline writer had it). What of the literally thousands of labor, environmental and other public interest groups that strenuously opposed giving Obama fast-track authority? They were relegated to a one-line summary from Noguchi:
Labor and environmental groups criticized the fast-track deal, calling it worse than the North American Free Trade Agreement passed two decades ago.
To which manufacturing lobbyist Dempsey was allowed to retort: “The critics are just wrong.” So much for the opponents’ perspective.
To her credit, Noguchi does correct Dempsey’s claim about NAFTA, saying, “After an initial bump following NAFTA, manufacturing employment declined.” But that raises the question: If business lobbyists are presenting a distorted picture of the impact of trade deals, why are they the only ones you’re allowing to talk to your listeners about trade deals?
ACTION: Please ask NPR ombud Elizabeth Jensen to investigate why NPR News talked only with corporate lobbyists to cover the victory of fast track.
CONTACT: You can contact Ms. Jensen via NPR‘s contact form or via Twitter: @ejensenNYC.
Jim Naureckas is the editor of FAIR.org.
Once again, NPR, in lock step with the rest of the corporate shills, celebrates something as a victory when it can not honestly say what it is that’s being celebrated. The vote for Fast Track was a procedural vote–it contained absolutely nothing substantive–its only purpose is to keep the process SECRET.
The celebration is about keeping democratic government as opaque as possible. Nothing more, nothing less.
If NPR and the rest of this decaying democracy want to tout the success of Fast Track, I wish someone would point out that they’re celebrating nothing more than an abject failure, by Congress, to do its job (consider and debate legislation prior to voting on same) and the assumption, by the executive branch, of the power to combine with corporate allies in negotiating treaties without regard to public or Congressional scrutiny.
You can’t have informed consent of the the governed if everything is done in secret. But then, few elected officials seem to think such consent is either necessary or advisable.
The Obama Legacy.
This complaint focuses on one – and only one – segment, done after-the-fact, when the legislation had already passed. Anyone who listens to NPR knows they covered both sides *extensively* prior to the vote, and it is not surprising to see that they asked business leaders about it after. (It’s impossible to perfectly balance every single segment of every single report; you need to consider the totality of the reporting, not one five minute slice.)
To Rick Starr: I don’t know what you’re listening to but the majority of people and interests who were DEAD SET against another attack on Labor, the environment and democracy in the form of another round of corporate written “trade” bills were NOT heard on NPR any more than they were ignored by the rest of major media…
“Response to Message #986217:
Dear (Vrede),
Thank you for contacting the Ombudsman’s Office; we value your opinion and have made note of it. Elizabeth has looked into the report in question, as well as NPR’s other recent coverage of TPP and fast-track, for her latest column, which you can read here: http://n.pr/1RQUZC7 (On ‘Fast-Track’ Reporting And Voices From Just The Victors)
Thank you again for taking the time to write.
Sincerely,
Annie
Office of the Ombudsman
http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman“
Yeah, NPR is fair and balanced, just like Fox “News”.
NPR deserves no respect. Boycott NPR.
Thanks for the prompt. Just sent this. I hope others who read this piece will take the time to complain.
Yuki Noguchi’s segment on Morning Edition on June 25th featured three commentators who represent pro-trade organizations, but none from thousands of organizations that opposed giving the president that authority such as labor or environmental groups. I regard this as an abuse of public trust and an indication that NPR avoids offending corporate interests. In fact, I cannot recall any segment on NPR that inquired why Fast Track is so important – that is, why the TPP legislation can’t be subject to Congressional judgdment beyond a Yes/No vote. It seems that generally NPR goes out of its way to avoid having conversations with representatives of progressive groups. Please correct this “right shift” in future programming. You are not serving democracy by marginalizing critics from the left.