We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government.

Mr Dvorkin first says that NPR does not lean on the so-called conservative think tanks as many in the audience seem to think, and goes on in that same column to spell out a conservative think tank bias of "Right 239, Left 141". Evidently this is not as much of a rightward lean as the audience thought. In addition, Mr Dvorkin's December 14 column spells out reasons why there might be an imbalance in think tank quotes - for example, an inherent bias in the story itself. NPR Pentagon Correspondent John Hendren spells it out in particular with reference to a report on November 30 about the Department of Defense planting pro-U.S. stories in Iraqi newspapers.

using a lone conservative was not merely justifiable in the story, it was necessary for balance. Out of four sources whose voices were heard in that story, two were critical of the military's policy of planting news stories in Iraqi papers, and a third was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talking about Iraq's "free media" before news of the program was disclosed. To neglect a point of view of a significant segment of the public, and certainly a significant segment of defense analysts, would slant the story.

Back to Mr Dvorkin:

So I'm with the listeners who complain about NPR’s decision not to more fully identify the think tanks. For many, the lack of a political context can sound too much like "inside-the-Beltway" reporting and I agree. NPR also needs to be consistent about how think tanks are identified; too often conservative institutions are identified as such but liberal ones are not.
More importantly, NPR needs to make sure that it is presenting an appropriate range of ideas and not just from one side of the debate.

Now to the column on the 19th:

So, for those who missed it, I will state it again: I believe NPR relies too much on think tanks in general and on conservative think tanks in particular -- especially when it comes to economics, and defense policy issues. NPR must make sure there is a better balance between liberal and conservative experts in these partisan and contentious areas.

As expected, this is all about context. Taken out of context, these two comments are nearly identical. Kept in context, they actually make sense.

MediaMatters further blinds the horse by failing to recognize Mr Dvorkin's overall theme on Dec 19; Some listeners complain about everything. The conservatives complain about Terry Gross. The liberals complain about quoting the Cato institute in economic pieces. Atlas Blogged complains about this all being funded by the government. You can't please everybody.

Others blogging on this topic include Life, Liberty, and Property fisks the numbers (and has a great name), K Marx The Spot (you have to see this)