Friday, January 09, 2009

Q Tips

NPR related comments welcomed.
Posted by Mytwords at 6:38 AM
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17 comments:

GJP said...

Gotta love the payola on ME this morning. Interview with Kiefer Sutherland of Fox TV's show "24", which for some I know is bad enough; I'm a bit more lax on that. But it was followed pretty closely by an underwriting spot for...you guessed it, Fox TV's show "24". Wowza.

Maybe I'll see if the useless "ombudsman" has anything to say....

1/9/09, 7:34 AM
Anonymous said...

Yah, riiiight Greg. Ya just made me snort my green tea up my nose.

1/9/09, 7:50 AM
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...

Yeah, Greg, I caught that one, too. They don't even seem to try anymore.

1/9/09, 8:14 AM
GJP said...

They're going to have to say something about this one though. I mean, I'm not nearly as hard on NPR as some of you guys appear to be, and even I notice these obvious things. It's too blatant for them to ignore.

1/9/09, 8:21 AM
Anonymous said...

"useless ombudsman" is redundant. :)

1/9/09, 8:54 AM
Anonymous said...

... and not mutually exclusive!

And for your review and edification, this is not the first that the NoPR-24 Product Placement Partnership has occurred.

http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2008/03/patriot-act.html

1/9/09, 9:03 AM
Anonymous said...

Ha. Their corporate overlords greedily overinvested in Ponzi schemes, and now they've got to figure out how to pay Inscreep et al. their bloated salaries...

1/9/09, 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...

Another press release by Tom Gjelten and Renee Montagne on ME today.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99147684

1/9/09, 10:05 AM
RepubLiecan said...

Do you think they are grooming Ari Shapiro for a host spot on one of NPR's snooz programs? Why pay Inskeep, Simon, Hansen, etc over $200k, if you can get the same product from Ari at probably less than half that?

Ari's self promoting essay on WE Saturday was straight off his application for a host position. He's obviously no reporter, he might as well serve as a slick personality.

1/9/09, 11:04 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Ari's nasally, reedy voice alone will be enough to cancel my 'research' in tolerating NPR, should he assume any seat of on-air power.

1/9/09, 11:27 AM
Anonymous said...

Greg:

While you are "there" ask her if the DoD or the US Army contributed any financial/technical support for The Impact of War propaganda extravaganza.

1/9/09, 11:32 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

PS: Yes, RL, I do think the NPR warlords are considering Ari The Fussbudget as a cheapie alternative. Like the invasion of Gaza, NPR's gotta work fast before the excrement hits the ventilation system (i.e. further budget slashes at NPR), and Ari's prize-winning youth and appeal might be just the ticket. No doubt 'studies have shown' that his drainpipe voice 'isn't a problem'.

And Inskreep & Mundane? The glittering prizes of Fox are no doubt their goal. Hannity needs a sidekick, and Inskreep can yuk it up almost as much as Anderson Cooper can, while Renaay can supply the appropriate glamour and shopping tips. Lil' Scottie the Simonizer? Why, as a literary lion(ess) and Chicagah 'expert', his delusions of grandeur have proven that NPR's way too small a stage on which to strut.

Ari, the world is yours, if you want it.

1/9/09, 11:57 AM
Anonymous said...

You know, if you re-arrange the letters in "ombudsman", you can get "dumb moans"

I think that pretty well sums it up in NPR's case.

1/9/09, 1:29 PM
Anonymous said...

Fun with anagrams, cool!

Maybe we can apply that mischief to our favorite on-air 'personalities'?

1/9/09, 1:45 PM
Kevan Smith said...

Actually, the ombudsman addressed the issue of underwriter spots appearing close to related stories in her No4. 25, 2008, column, "Should NPR Run Funding Credits from the Department of Homeland Security?"

I wasn't satisfied with the position because it implies there's no dynamism in the underwriter clock, which I believe producers should have in order to prevent the problem. But, she did address the issue.

1/9/09, 3:15 PM
GJP said...

Oh yeah, the DHS underwriting. So weird. Although in her big writeup about that she says:

"In my view, local stations, and NPR, should take whatever steps necessary to make sure that listeners don't associate underwriting with legitimate news reporting."

That seems good, although I'd say it's not having any effect.

But we also see this:

"But in any future reporting on E-Verify, Duffy says that NPR will need to also mention at the same time that E-Verify is a sponsor. "If Jennifer Ludden does a story on it for NPR, we should clearly disclose that E-Verify is something that NPR is receiving underwriting for," said Duffy. "We want to be as transparent as possible. We have no secrets.""

That seems too narrow. The DHS promo is about E-Verify, but it is DHS that gives the underwriting. That suggests to me that a lot of stories involving DHS should actually mention that DHS is underwriting, not just stories about E-Verify.

1/9/09, 3:41 PM
Anonymous said...

Two qickies:

I have not heard a spot for DHS in the last week to 10 days though it was expected to run spots through 2/10/09.

I caught the "interview" with Joan Rivers on Saturday. Man, what a bunch of rebels work at NPR. That Scott Simon? Wonder if he is the same Scott Simon that used to be at Columbia University during the student occupation. I'd pay good money to hear some of that "reporting" on the situation during those days.

1/12/09, 11:44 AM

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