National Public Radio executives say there will be “no apology” for an animated cartoon on the network’s website that has angered thousands of conservatives. The cartoon, entitled “How to Speak Tea Bag,” by satirist Mark Fiore, will remain on the NPR site, executives tell NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard.
The cartoon is a mock instructional video in which viewers are told that if they are “distracted by the confusing words of other languages” — for example, by the calm and rational discussion of health care reform — they can instead learn to speak “Tea Bag.” At that point, a figure begins to yell, “Socialist! Socialist!”
“If you’re having trouble understanding the words of others or being understood yourself, use Tea Bag’s stronger, more descriptive words,” the narrator says. The figure then yells, “Nazi! Nazi! Nazi!” The video takes brief shots at Republican Reps. John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Michelle Bachmann before envisioning a “paranoid future” in which people speak Tea Bag and walk around screaming “Nazi! — Socialist! — Baby killer!”
“Tea Bag,” the video concludes. “Because other languages are just too hard.”
Shepard, the NPR ombudsman, writes that the cartoon was originally posted on the NPR site on November 12, 2009 and attracted little attention. This week, however, it has been discovered, and NPR has gotten lots of comments, many of them from offended conservatives. (At this moment, there are 1,261 comments on “How to Speak Tea Bag” page.)
Shepard says neither she nor the NPR staffers who approved the cartoon knew that there was anything derogatory about the phrase “tea bagger.” Shepard adds that NPR has done much serious and balanced reporting on the tea party movement. Nevertheless, she concludes that there are real problems with the “How to Speak Tea Bag” video. “Chief among them is it doesn’t fit with NPR values, one of which is a belief in civility and civil discourse,” Shepard writes. “Fiore is talented, but this cartoon is just a mean-spirited attack on people who think differently than he does and doesn’t broaden the debate. It engages in the same kind of name-calling the cartoon supposedly mocks.”
Shepard sought comment from top NPR executives, who said they would not apologize for Fiore’s cartoon, nor would they remove it from the NPR site. “Opinion and satire are going to sting some members of the audience and soothe others,” NPR senior vice president for news Ellen Weiss told Shepard. “This one satire is not the only coverage on the topic and while it offends some members of the audience, I see no reason to remove it.”
But NPR has taken action. It has enlarged the word “OPINION” on the page where Fiore’s cartoon appears and labeled it his “personal take” on the issue. Shepard thinks more should be done — other cartoons to provide balance, perhaps — but there is no suggestion NPR is planning to take that step.
So there will be no apology, no withdrawal, and no further steps to provide balance in commentary. Right now, what balance there is can be found in the comments section. “This should be on the Democratic National Committee website,” one California listener wrote. “Why did NPR allow this? I’ll tell you why. The people who allowed it have the same views.”
