NPR on a roll this week

I am extremely disappointed with the quality of reporting in this story.

I understand that the NRA did not respond to requests for comment, but NPR had a journalistic duty to present whatever information is otherwise available to give listeners the full story. Naylor presented the NRA's position in a misleading, incomplete, and out-of-context manner by reporting vague quotes out of context, and by focusing on one of the NRA's reasons (Traver's appearance on a Chicago news channel), and by not accurately presenting what that one position was.

As for uncovering the NRA's justifications for opposing Traver, that information is easily found on its website: (http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?id=14485). The TV appearance is the last item mentioned in the NRA's statement, which highlighted Traver's work with various gun-control advocacy groups more than it discussed his TV appearance. Naylor's focus on the Traver's TV appearance is problematic for two reasons:

1) By only presenting a quote from the NRA's Chris Cox vaguely mentioning Traver's "alignment" with gun control groups, and then quickly following up with a citation to the TV appearance instead of the NRA's assertions regarding Traver's work with the gun control groups, Naylor gave the impression that the NRA and gun rights activists had no rational basis for opposing Traver. The NRA's concerns about Traver's gun control advocacy are evident in the linked NRA press release. The quote Naylor gave listeners comes from the NRA press release, so Naylor must have been aware of the basis for Cox's statement but chose not to present that information. I am befuddled as to why Naylor would do choose to do that.

2) Naylor didn't accurately characterize what the Traver video depicted. Here is the original video at the NBC affiliate (http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Assault-Weapons-Surge-in-City-69620227.html). Traver was supposed to be demonstrating a so-called "assault weapon" -- namely a modern semi-automatic rifle that fires once each time you pull the trigger. Instead, Traver presented, and fired, and then had the reporter fire, a fully automatic machine gun. The NRA's complaint is that Traver was misleading the public about what type of firearms were at issue. To say that the NRA protested the video only because it claimed, as Naylor wrote,"automatic weapons are not commonly found on gang members" is grossly misleading and does NPR listener's a disservice on this important matter of public policy.

Between this story and the On Point fiasco this week regarding that show's gun control story, NPR is really shooting itself in the foot.

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