Is NPR Skipping Over the Murder of Private William Long?

June 5th, 2009 8:08 AM

Just like audio offered on the National Public Radio website, NPR transcripts in Nexis do not include top-of-the-hour newscasts. But a quick Nexis search finds there is no mention of the Monday shooting of Private William Long at a Little Rock recruiting station by a Muslim convert. I searched for "William Long," "army private," and "Little Rock."

Meanwhile, Nexis lists NPR has aired seven full stories or interview segments on the Sunday shooting of late-term abortionist George Tiller.

This is the only listing for Little Rock in the last week: a Tuesday story on master accordionist Steve Jordan:

The backroom studio is crammed with all the equipment they need to mix and produce albums on their own. The first CD will be titled "Carta Espiritual," "Letter to God;" quite different from earlier compositions like "Piedrecita," "The Little Rock," a paean to cocaine, but you won't hear a sample of it here. I tried. Jordan is famously paranoid about people ripping off his music.

Shouldn't it be expected that a government-funded broadcasting outlet would have the decency to acknowledge that the murder of an American soldier on an American street is newsworthy?

Correction: I originally listed eight stories or segments on Tiller. But one was a coming-up promo on Talk of the Nation before the actual interview with a Wichita Eagle reporter. There's more of that in the Bozell column.