--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: In another high-profile blow to the credibility of legacy media, a senior journalist at NPR says the outlet has put ideology ahead of accuracy and lost Americans' trust. We were out of touch. After a while, we started covering Trump in a way that we were trying to damage his presidency, to find anything we could to harm him.
--:-- John Bickley: We discussed the allegations and the debate over the political damage done by media bias. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's April 13th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Officials in the UK are demanding answers after a landmark report suggests the nation's health system may have failed young people experiencing gender dysphoria. This is fundamentally, at its heart, a story of medical negligence by the NHS towards vulnerable children.
--:-- John Bickley: And the cost to attend America's pastime, Major League Baseball, continues to climb. Has that hurt or helped the league? And is the average American priced out?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With trust in the news media in steady decline, a bombshell story by a longtime national public radio editor is raising more questions about legacy media bias and its impact on elections. Ori Berliner has been an editor at NPR for over two decades, and he took to the pages of the free press, founded by ex-New York Times columnist Barry Weiss, the penne scathing indictment of bias at NPR.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss these revelations is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hey Dave, so let's start with NPR. What did Berliner outline as some of the problems in his essay?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, John. The essay touched on several hot button issues, most from after the point at which Donald Trump arrived on the political scene in which NPR, from his perspective, was actively trying first to defeat Trump at the ballot box and then to undermine his presidency.
--:-- Georgia Howe: These included Russian collusion, the Hunter Biden laptop story, a host of others, including the covid lab leak theory. Berliner wrote, quote, what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered towards efforts to damage or topple Trump's presidency, end quote.
--:-- David Marcus: So, for example, Representative Adam Schiff, one of Trump's fiercest critics, was on NPR at least 32 times between 2016 and 2019 to discuss Russiagate. Then last year, he was censored by the House for lying about Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Berliner is really accusing NPR of engaging in advocacy and activism rather than journalism. Here's some of what he had to say. It's much broader within a legacy media organization. I think it's very commonplace. For me, what's different about NPR is we are a public service institution. We have a public mission.
--:-- David Marcus: So I think we have a particular obligation to reflect America, to understand people from all different outlooks to bring up things that might be uncomfortable for our progressive audience members to be more curious about things that don't fit the narrative.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This has become sort of a trend now of people who worked for major legacy media coming forward not quite as whistleblowers, but at least asking real questions about the state of the news media. What else have we seen?
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, most recently we saw the kerfuffle at MSNBC over former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel being hired and then abruptly fired, owing to objections from the newsroom, which kind of led to the implication that anyone who actively supports Trump can't work for NBC News, even though half of Americans support Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We also saw last year that former New York Times op-ed editor James Bennett wrote a similar tell-all about being let go by the gray lady for publishing a column by Senator Tom Cotton, again, after a newsroom revolt.
--:-- David Marcus: As you mentioned, Barry Weiss herself and many prominent writers at the free press are sort of expats from legacy media trying to find a lane for unbiased coverage in the belief that polling showing that 60 to 70 percent of Americans don't trust the news media has to be addressed by accountability.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Given the steady stream of people who still identify as liberals who are coming out now to say the legacy media is broken, can we expect to see changes anytime soon? I mean, the McDaniel hiring was interesting because it did seem to be NBC News trying to send a message that they'd be more fair to Trump than, of course, they folded like a dime store tent.
--:-- David Marcus: But the reality is starting to seep out. And in the case of NPR in particular, there is the real question of their federal funding. NPR says federal funding is only about 4 percent of its budget, but other people and organizations calculate it to be much higher, maybe as much as 40 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And whatever it is, NPR doesn't want to give it up. But Republican lawmakers may have some real questions about funding it, given Berliner's very stark and troubling claims about bias.
--:-- David Marcus: This week, not at all surprisingly, Donald Trump called for NPR to be defunded. And there are some real questions about basic fairness here. There are plenty of taxpayers who support Trump and don't want to pay for an outlet where a liberal who's been there for 25 years says they're out to get Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And at the same time, there are plenty of news outlets with programming competing against NPR who don't get bags of cash from federal government largesse. The New York Times and NBC News are private companies. They can do what they want.
--:-- David Marcus: But NPR may well find itself with some explaining to do to skeptical GOP members of Congress the next time they hold out their hat on Capitol Hill. And, John, at the end of the day, pledge drives only get you so far. Yeah, there's always tote bags. That's true.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Dave, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The UK's National Health Service is demanding answers from gender clinics after the release of a highly anticipated report on the treatment of gender dysphoria in young people. Here to give us the details of the report and its reception is Sarah Elliott, Senior Advisor to the London-based think tank, the Legatum Institute.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: Hi, John. So yes, the Cass Review, headed up by pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass, had its inception in 2022 when Dr. Cass outlined key components of a new regional service model. She is the chair of the Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Her report contains key recommendations for the UK's National Health Service on how to treat young people with gender dysphoria. So this is years in the making and it an official government recommendation for handling this issue going forward.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: And its findings have really caused a stir here. Tell us about what it found.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, this is really shaking things up here in the UK. The report acknowledges that there has been a massive increase in the number of young people and adults seeking treatment for gender transitioning.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: And it notes that many clinicians have actually become fearful of working with young people, questioning their gender due to a lack of clear guidance from the health service.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Some key criticisms which have emerged focused on the use of early puberty suppression. The report found that the evidence used to support blocking children's puberty is very weak and called for more investigation into the long-term effects puberty blockers have on the cognitive development of young people.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: Dr. Cass cites the lack of follow-up data on young people who use these hormones as a major concern, noting there could be unknown outcomes for people introducing hormones to their bodies for such prolonged periods at such young ages.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The report also notes that clinicians are unable to determine if young people will continue to have issues around their gender identity in later life. So it calls into question subjecting young people to life-altering treatment for what could just be a short-term dysphoria.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: Has the report set out any clear guidance to the health service or the government for how to address these issues?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, it definitely does. I think the key piece of guidance is that it calls for young people referred to the NHS gender services to receive a holistic assessment of their needs.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: That includes screening for neurodevelopment conditions, including autism. It stresses the need to ensure that any treatments are truly in the best interest of the young person long term, rather than a blanket acceptance of a treatment request from a young, vulnerable person.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And has the government listened to this report? Is it taking this report seriously?
--:-- Sarah Elliott: Yes, very much so. The NHS has pledged to review its treatment guidelines in light of the report. The NHS has previously confirmed that puberty blockers will not be given to children under 16 years of age outside of medical trials.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this report will serve to bolster that decision. Dr. Cass has also called for a cautious approach to social transitioning where people change their use of pronouns, etc. She said such moves must be accompanied with mental health care and questioning why people want these to change rather than just accepting them and possibly inflaming deeper issues.
--:-- Sarah Elliott: Well, we often hear follow the science, and this report suggests that's not what's been happening on this issue. Correct. So many health care professionals and the schools need guidance on this issue, and it's been a long-awaited report.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sarah, thanks for reporting. That was Sarah Elliott, Senior Advisor to the Legatum Institute.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The price tag of America's pastime, Major League Baseball, has far outpaced inflation, but has the sports rising cost kept people from filling the stands? Joining us to discuss is James Harrigan, a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.
--:-- James Harrigan: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So you wrote a recent op-ed outlining the differences in costs at the average ballpark now versus 100 years ago for America's pastime. What did you find in terms of comparisons on inflation-adjusted costs?
--:-- James Harrigan: Well, when you look at inflation-adjusted costs for things like concessions at the ballgame, you find that we're actually paying quite a lot more, right? If you go back 100 years to check the price of a hot dog, what you find is that a hot dog in a major league ballpark was about 10 cents almost universally.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And 10 cents 100 years ago in inflation dollars is about now So you would expect all things equal to go to the ballpark and pay about for a hot dog
--:-- James Harrigan: And of course, that doesn't happen at all. You get to the park and the cheapest hot dog you're going to find is just a penny under $3 in Arizona or $7.75 or so at Petco Park.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And this is for the basic hot dog, not for the advanced super duper hot dogs with extra toppings and footlongs and what have you. So we're trying to get an apples to apples comparison.
--:-- James Harrigan: And, you know, things are quite a lot more expensive now than they once were. What are the implications there? Are these kinds of costs increases excluding a large portion of the population?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, I mean, to think about exclusion, you probably have to talk about ticket prices, which have also gone up dramatically. the average ticket price for a major league ball game this year is going to be about $69.
--:-- James Harrigan: And that's kind of pricey when you think about a family of four wanting to head off to the ballpark for a game. Now, the cheapest you're going to find in terms of average tickets, that's going to be in Kansas City, $42. The most expensive, Dodger Stadium, $115 a ticket for an average ticket price.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you want to think about whether regular people are being priced out, this is probably the place to start. How is the league doing financially? How is the financial health of the MLB?
--:-- James Harrigan: They're doing pretty well, all things considered. And even with these ticket prices, you turn the game on on TV and you generally see pretty full stadiums. Even now when it's kind of cold back east and you think people would say, oh, I'll just watch it on TV. The stadiums are still pretty full.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And even at Dodger Stadium where the prices are astronomical or Yankee Stadium where they're about $100 a ticket on average, you still see a lot of people in the stands.
--:-- James Harrigan: So I think the lesson to take from this is that we haven't reached a pricing tier where the American public says we just can't afford that anymore.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In the last two seasons, there have been some major developments in terms of viewership and audience for Major League Baseball. That's the very significant rule changes designed to shorten the game, including installing a pitch clock.
--:-- James Harrigan: How have those changes impacted the game?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, you know, the pitch clock is an interesting thing. I think the pitch clock in shortening the games made the games a lot more palatable, taking them from, you know, occasionally even up to four hours down to two and a half, 245.
--:-- James Harrigan: And it really had a very positive impact on the game. And I think with people watching on TV, you see that the impact was exactly what MLB wanted it to be.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The downside, of course, from the major league perspective is it gives them less time to sell things at the ballpark. So you think about prices of hot dogs and beer, they may actually go up because they just don't have as big a window to sell them in.
--:-- James Harrigan: So for everything, there's a downside. But on balance, I think the rule changes really made the game a lot more accessible. People going to the park, having to go to work the next morning, are able to get home at a decent hour.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's all kinds of, I think, salutary effects with these rural changes that, frankly, I didn't expect to see. There's always a trade-off, but I think a lot of people have been pleasantly surprised, like you, by the changes.
--:-- James Harrigan: James, thanks for coming on. Thank you very much for your time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was James Harrigan, a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us we'll be back later this afternoon with an extra edition of morning wire
