NPR: No Partisan Rats

"With the ratings we have, NPR should be paying us to even be mentioned on our air.” Fox spox reax to Politico's breathless blab on how NPR and Fox political contributor Mara Liasson was called on the carpet in October and encouraged to stop appearing on Fox.  That's the same line Fox used when NPR part-timer and Fox News talking head Juan Williams faced the NPR firing squad over his Fox appearances

A source leaks tells Politico: “This has been a building thing. There has been a concern in the upper regions of NPR that Fox uses Mara and Juan as cover” to defuse arguments that the TV network is populated with right-wing voices.

More likely Mara was summoned after Newsweek published a column in October by Slate's Jacob Weisberg in the heat of the Obama/Anita Dunn War on Fox:  "By appearing on Fox, reporters validate its propaganda values and help to undermine the role of legitimate news organizationsWhy Fox News Is Un-American.” “Respectable journalists — I'm talking to you, Mara Liasson — should stop appearing on its programs.”

As if she doesn't have enough to do, NPR brass ordered Mara to watch 30 days of Fox News which NPR claimed had grown "more partisan." She was hauled before NPR's Star Chamber in November to report her findings. Mara told the judges she'd witnessed "no significant changes" and would continue to appear in her Fox News political commentator roles on Fox's "Special Report" and "Fox News Sunday."

NPR execs were so pissed they broke out the Acapulco Gold and locked themselves in a closet...