NPR Check: Q Tips

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Q Tips

NPR related comments welcomed.

18 comments:

bunny!fuzzy!pink!big! said...: Luv the pic! hahahaha

But sorry, I have nothing to contribute to the discussion - dammit, missed Mourning Sedation AGAIN!; 4/8/09, 7:52 AM
Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...: Morning Sedition was an Air America Radio show a few years back (Marc Maron, Mark Riley, et al.). I often listen to excerpts of the show online. Very good!; 4/8/09, 8:11 AM
Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...: "The New Normal", on ATC yesterday. It ain't real until people "brand" it. Ugh. This was awful.; 4/8/09, 8:15 AM
Kevan Smith said...: I agree, JET. I could feel my brain cells dying listening to that segment.; 4/8/09, 8:40 AM
Anonymous said...: The New Normal?

If Robert Siegel means in terms of "being fleeced/flogged/screwed/imprisoned/tortured/spat at/shat upon by the rich and powerful", what's new about it?; 4/8/09, 9:54 AM
Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/8/09, 10:19 AM
Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...: Richard "The Creative Class" Florida; professor turned marketing shill. I wonder what his newly-minted Bohemians are doing for work during this economy? Perhaps they are busy writing songs and poems and creating artwork in celebration of "The New Normal" theme?

By the way, how many readers of this blog remember NPR's mention of "The New Frugality" last fall?

Can't we just decide to call this "The New Frugal Normality" now? All of these catch phrases are making my head spin!

Better yet, can we talk about "The Old Crazy"? "The Previous Insanity"? "The Former Gluttony"? Or, should we all just move on to "The Future Stupidity"?; 4/8/09, 10:35 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: The guiding spirit of Frank Luntz' hairpiece still prevails all over the tinkertoy media.; 4/8/09, 10:37 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: 'The New Sloganeering' dates back to the 60s, with JFK's 'New Frontier', 'the New Math' etc. Contemporary phrasemakers are just aping that era, but with flaccid results.

But there's money in them there jargonista opportunities. Luntz made millions.; 4/8/09, 11:45 AM
Kevan Smith said...: OK, this is gonna be a long one, please bear with me.

The other day, I sent a message to the NPR ombudsman:

Message #: 5607-8380041
Date Created: 4/5/2009 1:30 PM EDT
Subject: A.E.I.
Body: My concern is really with all the news/talk related programs.

I've noticed that NPR airs people from the American Enterprise Institute very often.

Daily KOS recently published an excellent commentary on this very subject. I'd like you to read it and comment.

It's here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/5/715996/-How-Do-You-Spell-Lazy-A-E-I

I agree with much of it, and I'd go further: trotting out think tank pundits of any political leaning is not good journalism.

In my view, NPR should eschew think tanks in favor of finding real experts with solid facts and interpretations.

Thanks!

Today, I received a response that began thus:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts regarding recent NPR economic coverage with the Office of the Ombudsman - we appreciate your feedback.

Because of the broad impact of national financial issues (including AEI), we understand that there are numerous topics that listeners want discussed but don't always hear on-air.

The rest went on to pitch Planet Money.

So, it looks like they have a robot sifting through feedback. It's like they don't even pretend to care.; 4/8/09, 9:47 PM
geoff said...: This picture really clears up the Q Tips concept - which I had just filed under Q for question? I see that NPR auric acid* dripping from the conduto auditivo and, a thousand words come to mind.

* a weak acid HAuO2 said to be obtained as a brown powder practically insoluble in water and unintelligible to the naked brain; 4/8/09, 10:49 PM
Anonymous said...: There's nothing more vicious than a public broadcasting system that perceives a threat to its food source....

PBS Lashes Back over Single Payer Dustup

Russell Mokhiber obviously struck a nerve.

I just love it when public broadcasting reveals itself for what it really is: a biased, mean-spirited propaganda institution bent on maximizing its funding and thereby perpetuating its own pathetic existence.; 4/9/09, 1:51 AM
b! said...: Wow, Kev. I am as shockingly pink as a big pink fuzzy bunny can be that you received such a direct response to your written plea!

(wiggles whiskers wryly); 4/9/09, 7:27 AM
geoff said...: http://www.fair.org/blog/

FAIR responds to PBS's defense of "Sick Around America":

"Misleading the public about global healthcare systems and failing to explore any of the publicly funded alternatives to America's private insurance system is a strange way indeed of demonstrating commitment to "fair and nuanced reporting.""; 4/9/09, 5:27 PM
Anonymous said...: "a strange way indeed of demonstrating commitment to "fair and nuanced reporting."

PBS: Pretty Biased (&) S.itty

you can always tell when someone is lying by the way they respond to being called on the lies.

If they get very defensive, they are almost certainly lying.

on the other hand, if they attempt to rationally discuss the issue, they were probably not lying to begin with.

by that test, PBS was almost certainly lying 9both in their original program and in their denial); 4/9/09, 9:31 PM
Anonymous said...: It is telling that NPR has had ZERO coverage of ANYTHING William Black, one of the nations foremost experts on bank fraud, has had to say recently about the Geithner plan to deal with toxic assets or the big bank failures in general.

Black has been SCATHING in his criticism of the Summers/geithner/Obama plan (watch his interview with Bill Moyers and with Cenk Uygur) and has said that the bank failure involves fraud on a "massive scale" and that geithner is lying about and "covering" up the true nature and magnitude of the problem.

That NPR has completely ignored the warnings and suggestions of Black in this case (acts as if he does not even exist) is nothing short of criminal.

It is proof positive of the GROSS bias of their coverage on the entire financial meltdown. From the very beginning, NPR has been little more than a cheerleader for the bank bailouts (beginning with the paulson plan) and has had "dripping" contempt for anyone who challenged the authority of Paulson and now Summers and Geithner.

NPR's Planet Money is utterly biased and utterly DISGUSTING.

It is one of the worst pieces of garbage that NPR has ever aired.; 4/9/09, 9:53 PM
Hubertg said...: Poor ol' NPR...just keeps wading in the shallow end of the pool..been kicked out of the deep end for good...from now on it's nothing but rubber ducks and inflatable bunnies.; 4/10/09, 1:00 AM
geoff said...: Thanks, Anonymous, you are prezackly right. This is a litmus test of sorts: the "did you or did you not report important news accurately" test.

The earliest examples of this bias are in relation to news on Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala...wait, this pattern is not exclusive to our hemisphere, how about Georgia, Uzbekkkkk, I can't spell all the names of these places except inasmuch as USA is a common denominator, and is divisible by CIA, DIA, NSA, et cetera.; 4/10/09, 1:54 AM