Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Open Thread

NPR related comments are always welcome.
Posted by Mytwords at 5:20 AM
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like it's time for National Pope Radio again. Can anyone figure out why the papal visit deserves as much fawning coverage as NPR is sure to bestow upon it?

4/15/08, 4:33 PM
Anonymous said...

REPLY: to smokescreen any VITAL issues that perhaps they SHOULD be on the beat for? I wouldn't expect them to behave any other way. The segment about some baker preparing symbolic foods for "the visit" was worth yet another fine NoPR "off button moment." I just wasn't hungry for forced air.

4/15/08, 5:01 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

Yup, this very morning, another exercise in shame-laden broadcasting came in the form of NPR's latest phenomenon: discovering a teenager in Maine who doesn't believe global warming is being hastened by humans, based on - get this - SOME WEBSITES SHE'S CHECKED OUT. Thus armed, she's 'taken on' Al Gore, and can boast of a fan letter from our favorite child of the Enlightenment, Sen. Jimmy Imhoff of OK.

Public money spent on worthless whimsy.

I guess that after all those super-intelligent, cutting edge reports on climate change (as opposed to global warming) that NPR's been serving up (you know, like Gwen Thompkins bopping around the soon-to-be-tropical Antarctic islands, spouting bon mots about penguin excrement), I guess they can kick back with showing off a snotty teenager or two.

Those NPR wags! So droll! So sophisticated! We can only but aspire to be so brilliant!

4/15/08, 5:38 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

PS: NPR could host another 'independent' series, based on the disbelieving teen from Maine's approach:

'This I Don't Believe'

4/15/08, 5:40 PM
Anonymous said...

Yeah, the teenage climate-change denier was just bizarre radio. On the one hand, she was infantalized and treated like a stupid child (though she's clearly very intelligent, you'd never hear an NPR reporter talk to or about an adult that way...), and on the other hand, the fact that she is clearly just a kneejerk naysayer who thinks environmentalism is for "hippies" was saved till the end.

I did think the piece raised one important point: that most of us are never going to understand the science well enough to make arguments, so we wind up siding with experts we deem more trustworthy. But why not just have that discussion without it revolving around some nutcase (and her nutjob parent), who admits she's already boring of the topic!?

4/15/08, 6:27 PM
Anonymous said...

Yeah, and these are the same people who start bitching about how hot it is when the temperature shoots past 90 degrees F.

4/15/08, 8:22 PM
Anonymous said...

Ira Glass had a riveting segment on "This American Life" about Jerry Springer. It was an exceptional show from one of public broadcasting's few real talents.

4/15/08, 11:02 PM

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