Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Open Thread

NPR related comments are always welcomed.
Posted by Mytwords at 6:07 AM
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9 comments:

Porter Melmoth said...

It's now official: NPR longs for a return to a cold war with Russia. I heard a segment this morning from Grigory 'Rasputin' Feifer, scoffing and sneering his way through lousy coverage of Russia's new president, whom he paints as a sort of 'false Dmitri'. Know ye all that Feifer of NPR DISAPPROVES of all the things going on in Russia today. And because he's giving us the green light to acknowledge that Russia is such a screwed up place, it'll be OK if we scoff and sneer about Russia too, just like those smart NPR guys.

So, here's the truth about Russia, proclaimed by this NPR reporter. Resolved: Russia is a third world country, ruled by a Stalinist dictator named Putin, with a new puppet president named Medvedev.

If these aren't good enough reasons to get a cold war going, I don't know what are.

Never mind that this Harvard-educated Moscow-dwelling dude (Feifer) apparently knows very little about Russian history and that authoritarian rule in Russia is a given, and any understanding of its subsequent development as a nation must be predicated on that single notion. But no, NPR has to 'Americanize' every aspect of their non-objective reporting, just like their mafia overlords want them to do.

I'd swear that Murdoch secretly bought NPR years ago.

5/7/08, 10:48 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

PART 2

AND... this morning, the tireless cold warriors at NPR aren't gonna let up one iota on the eternal war against the commies.

Tom 'Perfectly-Sane-Voiced' Gjelten keeps on reminding us what a gulag Cuba is. He profiles a repressed Cuban writer, and that's fine, but it comes off as an old-time anti-Cuba tract, couched in gentlest Gjelten terms. Wearily then, do I mention that any grown-up adult type person knows that Cuba is such a mixed bag of often contradictory issues that it is impossible to make sweeping statements about it, which our man Tom (and so many others) is so hot to do. But of course, you're in with the Florida mafia, you're not interested in 'contradictory issues.'. Tom goes to great lengths in describing the repression, but I notice that, here he is, freely broadcasting from Cuba, telling the world about this writer's situation, and Raul Castro didn't lift a finger to stop him or censor his report. There's something missing in there somewhere.

And then, right after that, our hand-picked man in Russia, Grigory 'Douglas?' Feifer (sorry, I got him confused with Feith for a second), delivers a 'postcard' from darkest Siberia. Poor orphan Greg tells us all about his persecution as an American in some small town because he missed his flight. Oh, but how he suffered! The cold, the lack of entertainment, and things were so expensive! And boy, there was so much to sneer at and mock! A gold mine really, for a dandy NPR filler, to prove how disgusting Russia and the Russians are, and that it's all Putin's fault. Well, he doesn't say that directly, but in his soul, I know he feels it! Poor Greg, lost in podunk Siberia, all dressed up and nowhere to go. He doesn't think people are very 'friendly' there. Why, they can't treat a powerful and influential and totally mucking smart and savvy NPR reporter that way! He'll show them - he'll file a report excoriating small town Siberia, and the NPR folks listening will be SO glad they're in America. You dodged a bullet, Greg. Come home!

Funny, I've experienced similar things in America's 'heartland'...

Inadvertently though, Greg's 'postcard' has delivered us a precious example of the ideal NPR staffer/ NPR target audience: touchy, snotty, entitled, self-absorbed, and judgmental via NPR indoctrination. Greg makes no bones about hating Putin, but I imagine that those people in that small town in Siberia were relieved to see him off on the plane that finally did come. Amerikanski, go home!

5/8/08, 11:11 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Correction - I meant to say: if you're in with the Florida mafia...
(if - not a certainty, just a possibility).

5/8/08, 11:14 AM
Anonymous said...

And isn't revving up the (highly lucrative) Cold War one of the CIA's ogals?

5/8/08, 10:18 PM
Anonymous said...

Another Venezuela story typical of NPR this morning. They are just unbelievable. Thanks, Juan Forero. It's like he thinks he's reporting from the Stalinist USSR (Or, as Porter notes above, the evil Putinist Russia). Scary scary.

5/9/08, 5:25 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Greg's grumpy Russian adventures continue. This morning he was in Red Square, listening to missiles rumbling over the cobblestones, apparently for the first time since Soviet days. Greg wants you know that he disapproves of such shenanigans, and he says so in his best nasally, haughty style. So come on NPRepublicans! Get angry! Greg can't lead the charge all by himself into the Colder War, you know. Down with Putinism! If the US gets going NOW (heeding Greg's advanced warnings), we'll be greeted on those same cobblestones with candies and flowers.

5/9/08, 11:48 AM
Anonymous said...

Kathy Lohr's low-ball Pentagon Propaganda 5/9/2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

What exactly was the point, or where exactly was the news value in the latest Pentagon P.R. Puff-Piece masquerading as an NPR story (Vietnam-Era Vet Reports for Duty by Kathy Lohr, Morning Edition - 5/9/2008)?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90233772

That's some brazen stuff. How can Lohr read that propaganda with a straight face? It's great that Army Spc. Tom Owens is in such superior physical condition for a man his age, but the fact that this story aired on Morning Edition boggles the mind. Unless an agenda exists. Who suggested or assigned the story to Lohr?

Even the pull-quote on the NPR website smacks of talking points: “Maybe some other guys … might see this and think, 'You know, the Army, maybe it's not such a bad thing,' and maybe they might come back.”

Yeah, maybe, but is the military really that desperate?

And it's ridiculous that the NPR ombudsman will not address the question: "Who at NPR comes up with the propagandistic, puff-piece military story ideas?" The frequency of these type of stories has suggested (for years now) to your listeners that there must be a fast-track for these pieces. And the embarrassing and blatant stuff keeps coming. Why?

Sincerely,

Benoit Balz
New York, NY

5/9/08, 7:12 PM
Anonymous said...

Whoops. Blew the link on my snide letter:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90233772

5/9/08, 10:18 PM
Anonymous said...

Well aimed all the same, Benoit.

Oh shoot, I'm missing the Scottie Show right now! How depriving...

5/10/08, 7:30 AM

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