Publicly-Funded US News Outlet NPR Calls Hunter Biden Scandal ‘Pure Distraction’

NPR editor Kelly McBride claimed the New York Post’s investigation into Hunter Biden’s emails to his Ukrainian and Chinese business partners – along with indecent photos of underage girls on his laptop – were “not really stories”.

Leading journalists and Republicans have laid into a publicly-funded news site over its refusal to report on the leaked revelations about Democratic Presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s son.

National Public Radio (NPR) public editor Kelly McBride tweeted in response to reader’s demands for the site to give more coverage to the scandal around leaked emails detailing Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China. Those emails indicate the younger Biden was peddling his father’s political influence as vice-president to Barack Obama. 

McBride said the “handful of stories” NPR had published about the New York Post investigation dealt only with how social media sites Facebook and Twitter had blocked user from posting links to it, and how Hunter Biden’s “struggle” with drug abuse have affected the families of other addicts.

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik went further at the weekend, arguing the story must be false because it was too convenient for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and because the New York Post is part of Australian Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire. 

“The story fits snugly into a narrative from President Trump and his allies that Hunter Biden’s zealous pursuit of business ties abroad also compromised the former vice president,” he wrote last week. 

Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept, flatly accused NPR of suppressing the story to help Biden win the November 3 election.

Katie Pavlich, a Fox News contributor and columnist for The Hill, called McBride’s statement “incredible” and “pathetic”.

Good Morning Britain presenter and former editor of the News of the World and the Daily Mirror Piers Morgan called it “weird”.

​Former US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell called NPR’s decision “activism”.

Donald Trump Jr. called McBride’s excuse “bulls***” while posting new evidence Joe Biden lied when he said he never discussed his son’s business activities. 

​And the Republican Senate Judiciary Committee and some House representatives joined Trump Jr. in calling for NPR to be defunded.

Founded in 1970 as a result of an act of Congress, NPR currently gets at least 16 per cent of its funding directly or indirectly from the US taxpayer.

Sourse: sputniknews.com