Speaking Out: No Facebook Ads on NPR
June 27, 2020
Lisa Torres
Senior Membership Director
WNYC Radio
wnycmail@wnyc.org
Dear Lisa Torres,
I have donated to WNYC in the past and probably will again. Before I do, however, I would like a response to a concern of mine that I have expressed previously via Twitter and your other social media pages. I am unsettled to hear ads for Facebook on NPR. I imagine that the ad revenue goes to NPR rather than WNYC, but your station is my ‘on-ramp’ to NPR so I am asking for justification from you.
I’m sure you and others at WNYC understand the pernicious effect that Facebook’s practices and policies have on the accurate dissemination of truthful news and accurate reporting. Digital technology has created a public sphere in which there is very little reliable information. WNYC and NPR is the one media outlet that I trust and rely upon to provide me with accurate facts and enlightened opinion. It is bad enough that I hear Capital One and other financial giants advertising on your stations. OK. I accept that some of that is necessary in order for public radio to operate. But the presence of Facebook ads coming at me on WNYC is too much.
Not only is Facebook a negative force, but its founder and top executives are also unapologetic about the fact. I am asking WNYC and NPR to refuse to accept Facebook advertising on the ground that doing so makes you a collaborator in producing fake news and contributing to the erosion of democratic societies.
Before I contribute to your station again, I would like a response to my concern.
Sincerely,
Bonnie McEwan
Consultant, Teacher, Writer
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