NPR’s Cuddly ‘War Preacher’

Blogger Mytwords’ monitoring (NPR Check, 11/10/08) of National Public Radio finds Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon

putting a shine on those two pillars of nationalism–God and country. He was having a little chat with two of Billy Graham‘s shysters grandchildren who have written a book glorifying their humble grandpa who lived in a “log cabin” and who we find out “used to preach to squirrels and rabbits.” Funny how the corporate/mainstream media like NPR love books that lionize Billy Graham but just can’t seem to find the time to cover books that are well researched (and critical of America’s greatest war preacher).

For instance, NPR could have cited Ben Bagdikian‘s invaluable Media Monopoly, which has the following to say about Graham’s influential media role:

In 1949… William Randolph Hearst, head of one large publishing empire, and Henry Luce… were both worried about communism and the growth of liberalism in the United States. They personally created an international personage who, for two decades thereafter, would become a powerful voice preaching doctrines they approved of. The voice was that of Billy Graham, an obscure evangelist holding poorly attended tent meetings in Los Angeles until the intervention of Hearst and Luce…. Within two months, Graham was preaching to crowds of 350,000.