[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 19 (Thursday, February 28, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      NPR BREAKS TRUST WITH AMERICANS WITH IRRESPONSIBLE REPORTING

  (Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, in a report already mentioned today on 
Morning Edition, NPR implied, as we have already heard, that a 
conservative group, the Traditional Values Coalition, was involved in 
the anthrax mailings to the Senate because they disagreed with two 
members of that body on a religious issue.
  The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States 
establishes the freedom of the press, forbidding the Congress to make 
any law abridging the right of the press to speak freely.
  I, like all of us, am a true believer in the Constitution and what it 
stands for. However, I believe that with this freedom comes 
responsibility, the responsibility of the press to report accurately 
and in an unbiased manner the facts of an issue. This trust is 
compounded in the case of public television and public radio in that 
they receive taxpayer dollars to fund part of their operations.
  On the morning of January 22, NPR broke their contract with the 
American people by reporting hearsay as fact. They did their fellow 
journalists and their listeners a grave disservice. In this case, the 
United States taxpayers did not get what they paid for. This report was 
completely inaccurate and irresponsible.
  As I have stated, the press has a responsibility to report the facts, 
not unproven accusations. Two results should emerge from our 1-minutes 
today: one, NPR should issue an equally public apology to the 
Traditional Values Coalition; and, two, Congress should look long and 
hard at the recipients of taxpayer dollars.

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