Once a bastion of leftist thought, journalist Matt Taibbi has found himself estranged from the progressive camp, a casualty of the recent surge of hyper-woke culture. While he wouldn’t identify himself as a conservative, Taibbi’s perspective has evolved into one that offers a refreshing dose of realism, particularly when compared to the narratives championed by many of his former allies.
In light of NPR and PBS facing funding cuts, Taibbi turned to social media, seeking the most outrageous stories from National Public Radio that listeners could recall. To his surprise—and perhaps delight—users responded with a flood of examples showcasing what they deemed to be the peak of absurdity in NPR’s reporting over the years.
Here’s what Taibbi tweeted:
What’s everyone’s favorite ridiculous NPR story?
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) July 17, 2025
Responses poured in, illustrating the breadth of what some listeners considered bizarre journalism:
This one of many. pic.twitter.com/E7ONVvdXMZ
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) July 17, 2025
Easy:
Elderly Trump Critics Await Mueller’s Report — Sometimes Until Their Last Breathhttps://t.co/7UUxj3enNN— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) July 17, 2025
I’ll never forget this one. Soon as I saw it, I used black emojis for months and a black friend used white emojis. Just ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/wSzJZj5hOb
— Joe Hidin’ (@joehyden) July 17, 2025
— David Hines (@hradzka) July 18, 2025
So many to choose from, but this is one that never got much attraction. NPR did “realtime fact-checking” of one of Trump’s SOTU addresses, and it was… quite bad.https://t.co/UwVpjQaxg9
— pragmatometer (@pragmatometer) July 19, 2025
— Cogent Curmudgeon (@1HonestLiar) July 17, 2025
It’s this one https://t.co/9sumobglgv pic.twitter.com/f6XDLDeA98
— Flappr (@flapprdotnet) July 19, 2025
https://t.co/C4Ssi1DF4m pic.twitter.com/15poMeGyjQ
— Matthew Shaw (@matthewshaw1111) July 19, 2025
https://t.co/RpW4QlslH3 pic.twitter.com/PqW4HSU8l6
— PerryPrius (@PerryPrius) July 18, 2025
The Saturday before 9-11, @NPR ran a glowing interview with Bill Ayers, the original Pentagon bomber. When Ayers’ association with Obama became a campaign issue in 2008, Fresh Air brought Ayers in for another love-fest. He’s like the NPR Terrorist In Residence. https://t.co/YSRqzTOOry
— Brad Todd (@BradOnMessage) July 17, 2025
So so many. “Baking for justice” comes to mind. But for me I think it was when there was no pushback and perhaps even an mmmm of agreement when a guest asserted as fact that “black people are being hunted by police.” https://t.co/ddVPiiDBQ7
— Peter Moskos (@PeterMoskos) July 17, 2025
Basically everything Trump pee tape related. They so wanted it to be real and covered like hard news, while 100% knowing it was completely fabricated. https://t.co/Yxl586Ug9g
— Not Big Lon (@NotBigLon) July 19, 2025
This interview. pic.twitter.com/BL3R99gQaQ
— Alyosha (@W_Nelson) July 17, 2025
It is nothing short of astonishing that much of this content was partially funded by taxpayer dollars. One can’t help but wonder: why did society tolerate such peculiar journalism for as long as it did?
