I think the issue here is that you no longer can have “balanced” political discussion when one side cannot help but regurgitate conspiracy theories, disinformation, and just 100% proven false statements in bad faith. The minute you platform these people any meaningful “debate” evaporates and you’re left with discussion not based on anything in reality. And trying to only works to drag the Overton Window to the right.
This is one of the reasons I stopped listening to NPR in the first place. During the Trump administration they kept letting Trump’s mouthpieces say whatever they wanted for like 15 min, and then give like 3 min to the opposition to explain how everything they said was a bold face lie. There just wasn’t any push back from the actual journalist.
That and they canceled Ask Me Another, which is pretty much the only thing I would ever give them money for.
IDK, I feel a lot of their programming, especially recently, has been pretty stern that there’s conspiracy theories with no basis in reality. I recall them having pushed back on lies by conservative interviewees as well.
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