Cut and Pasted

This past Wednesday, I contacted the NPR Ombudsman's office with a polite, but thorough critique of NPR's customary unsubstantiated, uncorroborated parroting of the US-NATO military press releases regarding killings that coalition forces have carried out. I included quite a few links to make the case that such releases are often false, or at least contradicted by local sources.

Well, Ms. Holley Simmons at the Ombudsman's office must have sat at the keyboard and entered a few words in her trusty template which apparently is constructed as follows:

Dear [_______________],

Thank you for contacting the NPR Ombudsman. Our office invites you to sign up to have the weekly Ombudsman column sent to you. Enter your email address where prompted on the right-hand side of our webpage at www.npr.org/ombudsman.

As for your email, we appreciate your thoughts regarding NPR's coverage of [___________].

Making decisions about covering the events that impact our everyday lives is never easy. We make every attempt to ensure that the segments and stories you hear on NPR programming, and the attention devoted to them, are valid and appropriate.

We welcome praise, as well as criticism, and your thoughts will be taken into consideration.

Sincerely,
Holley Simmons
NPR
Office of the Ombudsman

That was it. In the first blank was my name, of course; and in the second blank Simmons typed in "the air strikes in Afghanistan." Now that was a day's work! Whew, quite a thoughtful, well reasoned response - and the personal touch was just heart warming. I just can't wait to sign up for the "weekly Ombudsman's column" - just what my junk mail folder needs...