If you think NPR Tell Me More is real journalism, see this. (illegal immigration propaganda, Michel Martin)

24Ahead.com: Immigration and Politics
Mon, 12/12/2011 - 14:58

If you think NPR's Tell Me More and host Michel Martin engage in real journalism, keep reading because I hope to change your mind.

For years, the media have been printing very similar stories designed to tug at peoples' heartstrings to promote an anti-American bill called the DREAM Act (see that link). These stories - appearing in news outlets from coast to coast - differ from one another in little more than the names of the people involved. You can see a collection of such stories on the PIIPP page. For examples of how similar these stories are to one another, see the side-by-side comparisons here and here.

Now, see the table below which compares the recent Tell Me More segment "Stiff Immigration Laws, No Bar To Big Dreams" [1] with two other highly similar stories from 2007. Is your idea of journalism to publish cookie-cutter propaganda? None of the three stories in the table are real journalism: they're simply propaganda designed to enable illegal immigration and to promote the anti-American DREAM Act.

Obviously, some organization must be planting these stories with reporters, because there's no other realistic explanation for how similar these stories are. Is your idea of real journalism to publish planted propaganda?

Now, I realize that some NPR listeners might sympathize with the subject of their story. Hers is an edge case, something supporters of the DREAM Act excel at finding. And, there might be some sort of private relief for extreme cases like hers. But, make no mistake: the DREAM Act is very bad policy: the illegal aliens covered by it would deprive citizens of college, it would harm foreign countries who need all the smart people they can get, and it would encourage even more illegal immigration and even more instances of bad parenting.

And, no matter their position on the DREAM Act, I would hope that most NPR listeners would agree that NPR shouldn't be broadcasting planted propaganda.

Please take a moment and let NPR know what you think about their low level of journalism: contact them via npr.org/blogs/tellmemore or tweet them at @TellMeMoreNPR.

Something that would perhaps be even more effective would be to contact their ombudsman: @SchumacherMatos. Even if you think the DREAM Act is a good thing, hopefully you'll help oppose planted stories. Ask NPR to explain the remarkable coincidence that their story is so very similar to all the others, and ask them to reveal who planted that story.

Here's the table comparing NPR's story with two from 2007:
Tim Padgett of Time, August 2007 Douglas McGray of NAF, September 2007 NPR Tell Me More, December 2011

(You'll have to go to the source link to view the table comparison as it doesn't transfer well.)

http://24ahead.com/if-you-think-npr-tel ... illegal-im