Monday, March 31, 2008

Open Thread

NPR comments welcomed.
Posted by Mytwords at 5:27 AM
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9 comments:

Porter Melmoth said...

Dabbling with NPR is a hazardous business, so I often try to keep things superficial, otherwise grim rage becomes dominant. So, to keep things light and fluffy, I frequently notice form rather than content (as content is usually a lost cause). I tend to notice HOW things are said and not necessarily WHAT things are said. I know, it's a perverted form of amusement, but I swear, I don't put as much time or effort into this as it sounds.

Well, it seems that lately, many of the NPR lifers have been told to juice up their manner of speaking. You know, to get all emotional and affected in order to bring 'interest' to a segment on, say, the Fed's strategy for regulating title insurance restrictions on two-year guarantee loans made on leap-year days, or whatever. NPR wants to retain its 'serious' reputation, but with a sexier guise, so as to keep the SUV-ers transfixed with 'driveway moments', before hauling ass in the Mall.

People like Inscreep and Renee de la Mon-tayyne perform a whole routine to keep our attention, feigning amazement, speaking in 'valley' cadences, and general motormouth tricks of the cheapest kind. Most of the 'experts' they interview go along with their act, but when someone like Helen Mirren shows up, it doesn't take much to expose how ditzy/dopey (or if you prefer, dopey/ditzy) Renee comes off as, and Ms Mirren was the model of understatement and kindness.

Anyway, there's a BushCorp/Condi quality to this business that grates and gets in the way of what information radio is supposed to be about: access to said information.
To me this increased affectation junk is all just bad acting (in a media source that should confine acting, bad or otherwise, to feature shows), and it is representative of the what the NPR powers that be want in order to boost ratings, in order to satisfy corporate sponsor expectations (duh, just like in commercial radio, ya think??).

Conversely, I heard a segment this morn from our old reliable Parisian gamine, Eleanor B.(eardsley) of Aquitaine, that gave me a start. In her little piece there was practically NO affectation - none of her bizarre misfires of delivery - just flat phrases. No champagne bubbles or boulevardier fun. Nothing. Eleanor! Are you ill? Tired? Or did you get a talking to: to knock off the cutesy crap? Sadly, without her gimmick, EB is just a bore, enough to make you snap off the radio and head on in to Macy's.

3/31/08, 12:54 PM
Anonymous said...

Oh, Porter, that was delicious! Eleanor of Aquitaine! And I actually studied two semesters of medieval history!

Now I know why I read this blog! Such intelligent people contribute to it!

Notice how NPR is spinning the so-called reforms of US financial institutions: "the largest overhaul since the Great Depression," which is what the entire MSM is saying, without substantiation of any sort.

Those who read widely know that no such thing is going on, that in fact more deregulation is coming.

But that is the media in the US: mediocre, mendacious, and meretricious.

3/31/08, 4:13 PM
Anonymous said...

Exactly. My all-consuming irritation with those contrived, self-important locutions set to a 3-octave score repulses me regardless of whether there may even be something of relevance being discussed - I'm often too busy mocking & mimicking them to absorb the report (wish we could do voice chat or something of the like here - I'd looove to share some of my impressions with ya's). And also, what a 'treat' it was having to listen to Rootypoop McCheekhole's raspy kazoo droning all last week as he manned the studio all by himself. I was nearly -NEARLY- wishing for Missypoo Longstocking and Meee-chelle's "gently breaking the news about your exorbitant total of your invoice" tone to liven up the proceedings. Pretty desperate, eh?

3/31/08, 6:20 PM
masbrow said...

Hey y'all,
nice Norman Soloman peice on CounterPunch:
http://counterpunch.org/solomon03272008.html

4/1/08, 5:09 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

Norman's just getting warmed up. I hope he tunes in here...

4/2/08, 10:46 AM
Anonymous said...

Izzat so? More and more, the kiddies in the public radio playpen are losin' fans.

4/2/08, 5:05 PM
Anonymous said...

Norman Solomon is a left gatekeeper along with F.A.I.R.

http://oilempire.us/solomon.html

He has a special relationship with the State Department AND he's a 9/11 Truth denier who quit Project Censored when they supported Steven Jones' evidence of thermite found at the World Trade Center.

Solomon bad-jacketed Mike Ruppert in an effort to keep him off of KPFA-Pacifica Radio.

Sorry, despite his trashing NPR, I don't trust him since he's censorious.

4/4/08, 12:05 AM
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1/13/10, 7:31 PM

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