Here's an interesting question for station programmers: to run, or not to run, news stories that openly express the views of, and in fact are produced by, advocacy groups. For most "mainstream" public radio stations, it's not a question at all. This is a report on a water pollution issue by "NRDC's Dan Hinerfeld," meaning, I guess, that Mr. Hinerfeld works for the National Resources Defense Council. For stations that maintain basic standards of journalistic independence, it would be no more appropriate to air this report than to run a piece on the Brady Bill by a correspondent from NRA Radio.
That said, for stations with a clear political identity and an audience that expects as much (such as Air America, which airs the environmentalist-funded Ecotalk show for which this piece was produced), this is fair game. Stylistically, this is a news-magazine-style piece. It explores allegations that a company is polluting an important (and, to Native Americans, sacred) acquifer beneath the Hopi and Navajo reservations. It's an important story, clearly told. Not surprisingly it suffers from being one-sided. We hear only from a former Hopi leader and one of the reporter's colleagues at NRDC, though we're told that federal regulators and the accused corporation declined to comment.
Review of Black Mesa: Coal against Water
John Biewen
Posted on July 12, 2006 at 06:38 PM
Here's an interesting question for station programmers: to run, or not to run, news stories that openly express the views of, and in fact are produced by, advocacy groups. For most "mainstream" public radio stations, it's not a question at all. This is a report on a water pollution issue by "NRDC's Dan Hinerfeld," meaning, I guess, that Mr. Hinerfeld works for the National Resources Defense Council. For stations that maintain basic standards of journalistic independence, it would be no more appropriate to air this report than to run a piece on the Brady Bill by a correspondent from NRA Radio.
That said, for stations with a clear political identity and an audience that expects as much (such as Air America, which airs the environmentalist-funded Ecotalk show for which this piece was produced), this is fair game. Stylistically, this is a news-magazine-style piece. It explores allegations that a company is polluting an important (and, to Native Americans, sacred) acquifer beneath the Hopi and Navajo reservations. It's an important story, clearly told. Not surprisingly it suffers from being one-sided. We hear only from a former Hopi leader and one of the reporter's colleagues at NRDC, though we're told that federal regulators and the accused corporation declined to comment.