Minnesota Public Radio’s ‘Betrayed By Silence’: A New Low In Vengeance Journalism

For over a decade now, we at TheMediaReport.com have likely reviewed several thousand news articles, television episodes, radio interviews, and documentary films in our mission to encourage accuracy in the media's coverage of the Catholic Church abuse story line.

However, we don't believe we have seen a piece of media as grossly inaccurate and irresponsible as a recent multimedia special presentation produced by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), "Betrayed by Silence," which purports to chronicle the history of the Catholic Church abuse scandal as it relates to Minnesota.

MPR's not-so-hidden agenda

MPR's multimedia program is so loaded with flat-out falsehoods and misrepresentations that one hardly knows where to begin.

Part I: MPR Smears Archbishop Harry Flynn, We Uncover the Facts

Part II: Madeleine Baran's Struggle With the Facts

Part III: Guilty Until Proven Innocent: No Accusation Against a Priest Too Old or Wacky

We have already cited reporter Madeleine Baran a number of times before for her biased and inaccurate reporting (1, 2). But with "Betrayed by Silence," it now becomes clear that Baran and her friends at MPR have absolutely no interest in honest journalism but rather wish to damage the Catholic Church for its refusal to march to the step of the "progressives" at MPR.

continue at The Media Report

Worth mentioning....

Each and every week, MPR proudly broadcasts the weekly radio quiz show, Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me, which features comic Paula Poundstone.

As the folks at MPR should certainly know, California police arrested and charged Poundstone in June of 2001 after a lengthy investigation on three shocking counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a girl under the age of 14 and one count of child endangerment.