I want my NPR

I recently did an impromptu and very informal survey of commercial radio news briefs at the top of the hour, and I was disappointed by the results.

The five-minute news briefs offered on commercial radio stations were not only uninformative, but filled with advertisements for products and services I could care less about. Instead of discussions of the latest U.S. Supreme Court decision or the current debate on health care in America, I was woefully serenaded by the latest news in Tom Cruise's public relations battle or yet another Michael Jackson update.

Switching the dial from AM to FM though, I was given at least eight to nine minutes of informative and commercial-free news that answered my questions about the topics of the day. It's nice to know the news can be heard without also hearing the latest "talk to your kids about…" or "ask your doctor about…" advertisements every two minutes.

For most of my life I have enjoyed commercial news on both the radio and on television. It wasn't until I started spending a great deal of time in my car that I began tuning to the public radio station on my dial. I've been told I'm part of a rising number of listeners who have turned the television off and tuned into public radio news. That's why the recent, and seemingly unending, onslaught of public broadcasting critics has been disturbing for me.

Sure, some of the criticisms are valid. Some public radio programs show a hint of bias in one direction or another. Show me a commercial radio, or television for that matter, news program that doesn't. Every reporter brings their own life experience to every story they cover, but most try to report each story as objectively and fairly as they can.

"Objective" and "informative" were two words I used to be able to use when describing television news programs, not any more. When cable television was an economically viable source of news, I could often be found on the couch watching the likes of Hardball or Crossfire or Hannity & Colmes. But there comes a point when viewers are no longer informed by the differing opinions of experts and politicians; I have lately felt like the child of feuding parents rather than a viewer of the infotainment when I switch on one of the big three 24-hour news networks.

Those same politicians and experts can be heard on many public broadcasting outlets, but rarely is a listener forced to try and distinguish over voices and yelling of individual screamers. Now I've found I'm getting enlightened, and not yelled at. It's a soothing feeling.

To top it off, I'm able to hear more in-depth coverage — from events like the local Lind Combine Derby — than if I were watching a segment on the 11 o'clock news. Sure, there are some programs on public broadcasting stations that I feel could go by the wayside; and I switch my radio to off every time I hear them.

Critics continue to decry that their tax dollars are going to public broadcasting that they don't agree with or don't listen to. That's a valid complaint, and I don't have much of a response. I do, however, enjoy the nine minutes of informative commercial-free news at the top of every hour. Public broadcasting seems to perpetually sit on the chopping block these days, and that makes me wonder where I would go if I lost the radio programs I've grown to love. The answer is I'd probably find another source for news, but it wouldn't be an easy transition.

Critics are always going to complain of a bias in every news story they read, hear or see; and those complaints will continue to find their way into both commercial and public news stations as long as the news is broadcast. But the question we as consumers have to take away from our favorite media outlets is, "Did I come away from this particular news program with at least some idea of what happened that day in the nation and world in which I live?"

It's a question each of us needs to answer for ourselves.

Brad W. Gary is the city reporter for The Columbia Basin Herald.