NP - NPR'S MASTER CLASS IN WHITEWASHING THE STEVE BANNON APPOINTMENT

[David Morris]

http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2016/11/nprs-master-class-in-whitewashing-steve.html

If you're going to cover Donald Trump's decision to make Steve Bannon his
chief White House strategist, you at least have to explain why that choice
makes a lot of people very nervous. *The Washington Post*'s Jose DelReal,
for instance, gets to the point:
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/13/trump-draws-sharp-rebuke-concerns-over-newly-appointed-chief-white-house-strategist/>

The announcement has produced intense hand-wringing in Washington and sharp
denunciations from political observers and strategists critical of
Breitbart News's close association with the alt-right, a fringe
conservative movement saturated with racially insensitive rhetoric and
elements of outright white nationalism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate-watch group, has accused Breitbart
of explicitly embracing ethno-nationalism. After Bannon's elevation was
announced, the law center tweeted several controversial stories written by
Breitbart under Bannon's control, including a piece published two weeks
after a mass killing at a black church in Charleston, S.C., last year:
“Hoist it high and proud: the confederate flag proclaims a glorious
heritage.”

Now consider the disgracefully incomplete report
<http://www.npr.org/2016/11/13/501938174/reince-priebus-stephen-bannon-picked-for-key-white-house-posts>
 that appeared on NPR's *All Things Considered* yesterday. Host Michel
Martin talked with Domenico Montanaro, NPR's lead politcal editor, about
Bannon's appointment. Here's what Martin and Montanaro said about Bannon:

MONTANARO: ... Of course, Bannon will still sort of be, you know, chief
inspiration (laughter) at the White House. And that could mean that if
things go wrong - you know, Bannon is no fan of the Republican leadership
in Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell, that he'll have sort of the - you know,
the macho back for Donald Trump in order to fight back, if need be.

MARTIN: Well, let's talk a little bit more, though, about Steve Bannon. He
came into the campaign late but seemed to have a very large effect. Many
people attribute the conspiracy theories that were pushed - about Hillary
Clinton's health, for example, which were also fanned on the Breitbart
website that Bannon led. Can you talk a little bit more about him?

MONTANARO: Yeah. Unquestionably, he's a take-no-prisoners operative. You
know, a former Hollywood producer, a Goldman Sachs managing director as
well. He ran the website Breitbart, as you said, which has, you know,
become kind of synonymous with the alt-right and certainly, like I said, no
fan of the establishment Republicans. And establishment Republicans are no
fan of them, so they're going to have to figure out a way to get along.

Um, there's going to be more about that alt-right business, isn't
there?    Nope.
  Martin and Montanaro are through with that. All they can focus on is the
possible political infighting.

NPR's preferred approach seems to be letting loyalists come on one at a
time, and allowing them to spin and spin and spin.

At a time when basic American freedoms are under threat, and unfavored
groups are at serious risk, I want to be told about the dangers. I want to
hear about more than political power games -- and I don't want to hear one
spin doctor after another telling me that everything's going to be all
right.
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