NPR made no secret of its left-wing bias on Monday's All Things Considered, as it covered the debate over a proposed bill in Italy that conservative critics warn would endanger free speech. Sylvia Poggioli hyped "right-wing opposition" to the legislation, and labeled their claim that it would restrict free expression an "alarmist position." The correspondent also slanted toward left-wing LGBT activists by playing six soundbites from them, versus only two from conservatives.

Those who see Leon Panetta as a stalking horse for Hillary Clinton just got some more ammunition for their argument.  Last week, Panetta helped distance Hillary from President Obama's foreign policy failures by blasting Obama for mistakes in Syria and Iraq.

But today, discussing the foreign policy issue on which Hillary is most vulnerable--Benghazi--Panetta suddenly became very forgiving.  Appearing on the Diane Rehm show, Panetta declared "nobody is to blame for Benghazi." The relevant part of the interview begins at 33:30.

On Thursday night's All Things Considered, Texas-based NPR correspondent Wade Goodwyn delved into alleged right-wing panic over Ebola derived from "visceral loathing of President Obama,", including claims that some leftists want an Ebola epidemic in America. Goodwyn quoted radio hosts Mike Huckabee, Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Savage -- all featured recently on left-wing blog sites.

So it might be a little embarrassing to note that new report from Sarah Ferris at The Hill newspaper that some Democrats are joining the “panic” wing and asking for flight bans, and they’re liberal Democrats on the House side: “The three Democrats — Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) – are among the growing handful in their party who have publicly criticized the Obama administration’s response to Ebola.” Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla) also called for travel bans earlier this week.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli promoted the cause of dissenters inside the Catholic Church on Sunday's Weekend Edition, as she covered the beginning of special meeting of bishops at the Vatican. She featured seven soundbites from four such dissenters (and didn't identify three of them as such), and none from orthodox Catholics.

The correspondent also played up the "vehement response" from five cardinals to "the Pope's favorite theologian" over his proposal to loosen the Church's discipline regarding divorced Catholics.

As the Secret Service scandal swallowed director Julia Pierson on Wednesday afternoon, the home page of National Public Radio carried this exculpatory headline:

“The White House Could Be Made A Fortress, But Should It? It turns out the Secret Service isn't too good at protecting the White House, and maybe one reason is that we don't want it to be.”