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allegorical oracle

(5,443 posts)
1. I worked for several years as a local NPR freelancer. One summer, a very experienced,
Sun Jul 20, 2025, 11:08 AM
Jul 20

fulltime colleague took sick leave for a couple months and I was offered the job to substitute for that person. I would schedule and produce a half-hour local news 'cast that led into All Things Considered.

Things went okay, and one day I was summoned to the station's news director. The director asked if I planned to announce that China had just reported that it had the __-billionth birth. I said I did not plan to report that. The director was pleased. Before I left, I asked, "Why wouldn't we report that fact?" The reply was, "Because it might prompt some women to have abortions."

NPR stations are not left-leaning news outlets. Those stations report facts -- and news directors keep a tight rein on what is reported. They actively assess what is straight down the middle.

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