The beauty of NPR is that it is a microcosm, a mirror reflection, of the entire US project and self-conception. The parallels between the views of NPR's target demographic, (middle-aged, college educated, whites who are left-of-center), and how this demographic views the US in the world, might otherwise seem uncanny. That is, of course, until we come to terms with the nature of media and NPR's role in it.
The role of media in shaping world events and our thinking about them is indisputable. Whether news, entertainment, or advertising, media is much more than a mere reflection of reality - it is a reality creator. Any ambivalence about this point should be quickly disabused by a cursory glance at the multi-billion dollar advertising industry, the primacy of seizing TV and radio stations in a coup attempt, that TV and radio stations are primary military targets in war, or the controls that governments and corporations impose on internet access. None of these would be important if media merely reflected a reality which was already a consensus. To the contrary, media is a consensus builder.
Comment: So Israel feels entitled to claim an accomplished athlete as having 'Israeli roots', because his family once lived in the territory, until they were driven out by Israeli terrorists in 1948. 'Fleeing to a refugee camp' is now 'deciding to go to Jordan'.
The slimy Hasbara bunch is getting worse every day.