Testimony by
Andrea S. Lafferty
Executive Director
Traditional Values Coalition
Before Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
July 10, 2002
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| Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Mrs. Andrea Lafferty testifying before a House Committee on July 10th |
Mr. Chairman, on behalf of Traditional Values Coalition's 43,000 member churches, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today. Thank you for providing a forum to publicly expose the reprehensible and libelous actions of the taxpayer funded National Public Radio.
Traditional Values Coalition is the largest non-denominational, grassroots church lobby in America. Traditional Values Coalition has sought to empower people of faith with truth.
With over 43,000 churches, Traditional Values Coalition has a diverse membership of Bible believing churches and bridges racial and socio-economic barriers. Our diversity is seen in the Hispanic, African and Asian-American churches that we represent.
With an emphasis on the restoration of the Judeo-Christian values needed to maintain strong, unified families, Traditional Values Coalition focuses on a range of moral and social issues such as education, homosexual advocacy, parental rights, family tax relief, pornography, the right to life and religious freedom.
While Traditional Values Coalition is a lobbying organization, its sister organization, Traditional Values Education & Legal Institute, is a foundation dedicated to educating and supporting churches in their efforts to restore America's cultural heritage.
Traditional Values Coalition believes America's strength is in her churches. Pastors and their churches are not barred by law from being involved in the making of public policy. Traditional Values Coalition is a resource for Christians and pastors, providing education on the representative process.
On behalf of our members, churches, pastors and friends, Traditional Values Coalition appreciates the invitation to appear here today as this committee seeks to expose the anti-Christian, anti-conservative -and anti-traditional values behavior of National Public Radio.
We have been asked to tell this committee how National Public Radio treated Traditional Values Coalition and I appear here today to respond to the request.
What happened to Traditional Values Coalition was not an isolated, one-time slip by some low-level National Public Radio (NPR) reporter. The attack on Traditional Values Coalition has involved all levels of National Public Radio from the so-called Ombudsman to the highest levels of NPR's management. All of them acted in concert and closed ranks to defend the shoddy reporting of one of their own.
Many of you remember the Cheech and Chong comedy routine about WDRM - Dorm radio, an amateurish college radio station operated "live from the basement of the science building."
NPR is an unfunny Cheech and Chong bankrolled by unsuspecting taxpayers.
On the afternoon of January 3, 2002 I received a call from David Kestenbaum a reporter for National Public Radio who asked me if "I had been contacted by the FBI yet?" I said what are you talking about. He again asked me if I had been contacted by the FBI yet? I asked him why would I have been contacted by the FBI? Kestenbaum said "because of what's going on in the Congress with anthrax. I still could not understand what he was talking about - until he explained that Traditional Values Coalition fit the profile of who the FBI would be investigating to determine who would have sent anthrax to the offices of Senators Daschle and Leahy. I exploded. I told him of course not. How in the world would anyone at NPR come to ask a question like that of Traditional Values Coalition. Why would NPR contemplate that we would or could send deadly anthrax to anyone.
Then he asked if I knew anyone who had been contacted by the FBI. I really got angry and told him we are a Christian organization. We would not mail anthrax nor do we even know anyone who would do such a thing, including any of our 43,000 member churches.
When I asked the NPR reporter why he was calling Traditional Values Coalition he said he had seen a press release that I had issued August 2, 2001 in which I/ Traditional Values Coalition criticized Senators Daschle and Leahy over dropping the phrase "so help me God" from the oath witnesses take before testifying in a Senate committee. The NPR reporter stated that the press release made me and Traditional Values Coalition suspects in the anthrax mailings and the murders of innocent citizens.
Let me be clear about the facts
Under the majority leadership of Tom Daschle, a change took place in many committees including the Judiciary committee chaired by Sen Leahy. This change was that witnesses were no longer sworn in by saying "so help me God." We were outraged that the Senate would take God out of the oath and issued a press release on this change last summer.
Because of Traditional Values stand on this issue NPR has persecuted us, linking us to the anthrax mailings to the US Senate. Clearly we are not out of the mainstream by our comments attacking the Senate a year ago. This is evident by the public outcry over the recent 9th Circuit decision removing God from the Pledge of Allegiance. In addition the Senate unanimously voted last month to condemn the removal of God from the pledge.
The real story here is what the Senate has done to strip God from the oath.
Traditional Values Coalition has been persecuted by NPR because of our principled stand on this issue----and because of our religious beliefs.
Reporter Kestenbaum's tone was very clear --he actually believed that I, Traditional Values Coalition, our members and other Christians and conservatives we associate with would mail anthrax to those with whom we disagree.
Traditional Values Coalition issued a press release the next day alerting the American public to this malicious call. This accusatory call was not just an attack against Traditional Values Coalition but against all Bible believing Christians. Because of our political and moral beliefs, because we strongly oppose removing the words "so help me God" from the significant and important oaths in our nation, this NPR reporter construed that our public statements of belief turned our organization and our members into suspects in a criminal investigation.
I was alarmed that NPR would attempt to link acts of domestic terrorism to Traditional Values Coalition, acts which had resulted in the murder of innocent Americans.
My conversation with the NPR reporter was quite heated. In no uncertain terms I let him know I did not appreciate his insinuations that Traditional Values Coalition would attempt to murder United States Senators with whom we disagree or that Traditional Values Coalition would associate with cold blooded murdering criminals. I thought I had set this reporter straight and that would be the end of this nonsense.
The following day we released a statement condemning the biased call from NPR.
Then NPR ratchet-up their assault against Traditional Values Coalition and me.
The very person who is supposed to look out for the interests of the public, the NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin, joined the NPR smear bandwagon against me, Traditional Values Coalition and our 43,000 churches.
In an interview with CNSNews.com Dvorkin said, "My sense is that, Ms. Lafferty overstated the case. I think that Kestenbaum was just doing a normal story. He was not accusing anyone of anything."
The ombudsman is supposed to be the public's representative to NPR - not an apologist for NPR misdeeds. But certainly, that is not the role Mr. Dvorkin played in this situation.
Maybe NPR considers smearing Christians a normal story but Members of Congress do not, taxpayers do not and millions of Christians do not.
Nearly three weeks later, on January 22, 2002, without a single fact or witness or a shred of evidence or to support the accusation against Traditional Values Coalition, NPR's Morning Edition hosted by Bob Edwards aired a wholly false and defamatory story which linked Traditional Values Coalition with the anthrax mailings to the United States Senate. By this time 2 innocent people had died and others had been hospitalized.
And the basis for this linkage? The press release which I/Traditional Values Coalition had issued which stated our opposition to removing "so help me God" from the oath.
The NPR story begins with an interview of a former FBI agent who had been involved in the Unabomber case. Keying on a comment he made about tracking correspondence from criminals to their victims, NPR's libelous story segues from the Unabomber to Traditional Values Coalition to abortion clinics receiving anthrax.
The story which aired on January 22, with the headline-"Speculation on the perpetrator of the anthrax letters," contains the following statement:
Two of the anthrax letters were sent to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, both Democrats. One group who had a gripe with Daschle and Leahy is the Traditional Values Coalition, which, before the attacks, had issued a press release criticizing the senators for trying to remove the phrase 'so help me God' from the oath. The Traditional Values Coalition, however, told me the FBI had not contacted them and then issued a press release saying NPR was in the pocket of the Democrats and trying to frame them.
But investigators are thinking along these lines."…
Eight million NPR listeners heard Traditional Values Coalition linked to criminal activity - all because of our beliefs which we publicly and proudly assert. All because we believe the oath taken in this nation should continue to include the phrase which validates the oath: "so help me God."
NPR's false and defamatory story fueled reporting by other left-wing media who were and are pre-disposed to dislike Traditional Values Coalition. The VillageVoice under the headline "Pick-a-Perp" simply repeated the false NPR report but in its report we became "the anti-abortion Traditional Values Coalition."
The left wing OC Weekly in California jumped on the NPR bandwagon. It complained that TVC directed a "rash of ----" against NPR and concluded that if the war on terrorism is going to be taken seriously it should be investigating "groups like TVC…"
Eight days later on January 29, after receiving a number of responses from people who were outraged by their story, NPR aired a statement in its "letters" segment acknowledging "inappropriate" reporting in a story which had been aired on their "Morning Edition" program on Jan 22. No retraction of the false statement was included in the 'letter'; no apology to Traditional Values Coalition for impugning our organization was included in the statement and nowhere in the statement does NPR explain why the report was aired without a single supporting fact or source.
Following this pathetic statement which was a non-apology and non-retraction Traditional Values Coalition sent a letter to NPR President and CEO Kevin Klose informing him that the statement NPR aired was insufficient and unacceptable.
NPR apparently believes there is more than one standpoint. This is outrageous. There is only one standpoint-NPR smeared Traditional Values Coalition and its 43,000 member churches and they have yet to say they were wrong and they have yet to publicly say they are sorry.
NPR did remove the story from its archived stories on its website. Current Magazine which covers public broadcasting reported on March 11, 2002,
"Typically, when stories require corrections, they are allowed to remain online, but NPR "felt that the error in judgment ... was so serious that it outweighed whatever value there might be in leaving the language there," says a network spokeswoman.
Mr. Chairman, the Congress has reacted to this injustice and it has reacted in a bi-partisan manner.
You have scheduled today's hearing.
Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, said the FBI had never investigated Traditional Values Coalition as a suspect in the anthrax mailing and that she would keep in mind the false accusations when NPR 's funding is reviewed by the Congress.
Thursday, February 28th turned into "Expose NPR Day" in the U.S. House of Representatives. A number of Members of Congress took to the floor to denounce NPR. Congressmen DeLay, Blunt, Foley, Calvert and Tiahrt all spoke eloquently on the floor about the irresponsible behavior of NPR.
Majority Whip Tom DeLay called NPR's conduct "outrageous" and said NPR had ignored "their basic responsibilities as journalists."
Chief Deputy Majority Whip Roy Blunt stated, "NPR broke their contract with the American people by reporting hearsay as fact," that "this report was completely inaccurate and irresponsible" and that "Congress should look long and hard at the recipients of taxpayer dollars."
Congressman Todd Tiahrt said, "As we review National Public Radio´s budget, I must express my outrage at their unethical report on the anthrax mailings…I am very concerned that their previously liberal bias has transformed into an all-out attack on conservative and Christian organizations."
Also that same day the House Appropriations Labor/HHS/Education subcommittee held a hearing on the funding for Corporation for Public Broadcast, which funds NPR. The President of CPB, Robert Coonrod was questioned by both Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Regula and Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham. Chairman Regula called the incident "irresponsible journalism" and described the accusation as "libel."
NPR claims they broadcast to an audience of 8 million who hear from them everyday. Well we are still waiting for those 8 million listeners to hear an apology and retraction.
In March NPR President and CEO Kevin Klose sent inaccurate letters to the Congress stating that NPR had issued a retraction and apologized to Traditional Values Coalition - but that is not accurate.
NPR's ombudsman, Mr. Dvorkin, continued his deliberate assault against Traditional Values Coalition by posting on NPR's website yet another attack against Traditional Values Coalition and a justification for the libelous report.
The basis of the NPR story was NPR's anti-Christian bias. NPR took an FBI statement on how to investigate cases similar to the anthrax case and created a supposition that sounded good to them-that Christians who disagree with Senators would mail anthrax to those Senators.
NPR's Ombudsman said based on the Traditional Values Coalition release attacking Leahy and Daschle -that "two plus two made four." What does that mean in NPR speak?
Clearly NPR employees graduated from the school of anti-Christian bigotry where their new math of 2+2=4 equates to:
Christian organization + speaking out against Senators = MURDER.
This is outrageous.
NPR continues to employ the blame the rape victim tactic. NPR says Traditional Values Coalition is "using NPR as a convenient scapegoat." Traditional Values Coalition is the victim here but they are doing whatever they can to make it seem like we are the perpetrators not NPR. I personally have suffered as has Traditional Values Coalition.
Can you imagine being accused of murder. Traditional Values Coalition is not taking this egregious act by NPR lightly. Why shouldn't Traditional Values Coalition be outraged. The fact that NPR doesn't understand our outrage, and merely mocks our concerns shows how deep and pervasive the NPR organizational bias is against Christians and conservatives.
Investigative reporting is not smearing a reputable organization. Without a single fact to support NPR's accusation and without a single person to even speculate that the accusation was true, NPR accused the Traditional Values Coalition of a heinous crime against our fellow Americans and one of our nation's most cherished institutions, the Congress.
NPR broadcasts to millions of listeners everyday---we are still waiting and listening for them to right their wrong.
The most galling aspect of all of this is the total hypocrisy of NPR.
If some banana republic dictator was accusing leftists of a crime, NPR commentators would be foaming at the mouth as they denounced the injustice.
But when conservative Christians are the accused - we are guilty until proven innocent. And even when we prove our innocence, NPR cannot seem to make a reasonable apology or explanation of its egregious breach of journalistic ethics and conduct.
Where was the editor whose job it is to make sure that the facts support the story's conclusion?
Based on this experience, it would appear that "All Things Considered" should have a footnote which explains that there may not be consideration given to things which are conservative or Christian. And NPR is public radio only in the sense that it takes the public's money but is seemingly not accountable to the public it is supposed to serve.
It is time for Congress to say no more to NPR. NPR has betrayed the public's trust. On behalf of our 43,000 member churches and the others that NPR smeared and defamed on January 22, 2002, I urge Congress to eliminate taxpayer funding for National Public Radio.