NPR Check: Q Tips

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Q Tips

NPR related comments welcomed.

33 comments:

ellen rosner said...: Smugness of NPR enters cultural lexicon:
Line from a song, "Where is Maria?" sung by Ferron:
"the smugness of an NPR commentator"
!; 4/30/09, 6:49 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: And I would add that the NPR-oids have very little to be smug ABOUT, except via their own self-delusion.; 4/30/09, 10:20 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: Having been pronounced 'semi-cured' of Nationalist Propaganda Rot broadcasts, I nevertheless caught a bit of the Blob (Siegel) picking through the calamari and escargot trays of the daily news that he likes to slime his fingers with every day, and found him to be the same double-dipper that he's always been. Hoggish media mogul that he is (ah, but a sophisticated one!), he seemed to take issue with a epidemiologist doc, who was avoiding the term 'swine flu'. (You know, the media's new apocalyptic darling, the next '1918-style' pandemic, and all.) Anyway, our puke-making but oh-so-suave Blob somehow took it personally that the doc was too high and mighty to refer to the piggishness of the sickness - at least in its popular label. Happily, the doc put our Blobbo in his place with pure professional and non-panicky terminology.

So Blob, next time you double dip, wash those paws first!; 4/30/09, 10:38 AM
dguzman said...: Did you hear that report about Obama's education initiatives this morning? (Claudio Sanchez did it.) I did a post about it, if you're interested.; 4/30/09, 12:35 PM
biggety-big!pinkety-pink!fuzzity-fuzz!bunnity-bun! said...: Will check ya later, dguz. Thanx for linkin'.

And Port, 'bout time you got back on the horse! Where ya been? (rhetorical question, just a way of sayin' your absence was felt - now as for Blubberin' Blobberino... not so much at t'all); 4/30/09, 7:32 PM
Mytwords said...: @ ellen
"Smugness of NPR enters cultural lexicon:
Line from a song, "Where is Maria?" sung by Ferron:
"the smugness of an NPR commentator"

Not to brag, but beat you to it ellen! And what do you know if it wasn't about torture (NPR promoting it, of course) waaaay back in Sept. 2006.; 4/30/09, 8:35 PM
George said...: Leave it to Mara Liaison to eviscerate President Obama this morning, with the help of Norman Ornstein. I have no problem with reasonable criticism of the President. The problem is this was so one sided against Obama it stunk to high heaven, especially considering the fact that there were absolutely no stories with a similar tone or angle during eight years of W. Simply disgusting.

Go home to Fox Mara.; 5/1/09, 6:16 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: That's why I call her Maw-ra Liarsson. Lies emanate from her rubbery maw.

I have been out in nature's glory the past several days, relishing mountains and letting my dog bathe in streams straight out of glaciers. Yes, I'm an environmentalist, and being out in it (as opposed to some NPR doofus giving us little sound bytes from it) strengthens one's beliefs.

In short, I've been healing.; 5/1/09, 10:30 AM
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...: I noticed again this morning that when Not Provoking Republicans introduced their movie critic, they mentioned his other source of employment: the LA Times.

So why, when introducing Wan Williams, do the not note his association with Faux Noise?; 5/1/09, 10:37 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: Because revealing any Fuchs News associations would shatter the notion that NPR is a 'liberal' bastion, a notion that the NPR Corporation holds dear, in order to mold the thinking audience they so wish to convert.

(That coulda been said better: to maintain the propaganda power of NPR,.); 5/1/09, 11:03 AM
Anonymous said...: So why, when introducing Wan Williams, do the not note his association with Faux Noise?but isn't it genuine noise that they emit?

As far as information content goes, I'd rank Fox right up there with the static between radio stations (and dead on the NPR station setting as well, of course); 5/1/09, 11:05 AM
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...: I know it is useless but still, I just sent the following message to the Ombud:
I noticed this morning that when ME introduced movie critic Kenneth Horan, the announcer mentioned that Horan also writes for the LA Times.

So why, when Juan Williams is introduced as an NPR "senior correspondent", do his introductions NOT mention the gallons of murky water he carries for the GOP on Fox News? Surely, there's no possibility to claim Fox is anything but the private-property propaganda arm of the GOP, is there?

Seriously. Why not note that Williams is a notorious hack for Rupert Murdoch's empire? Do you think it irrelevant? Incidental? How much, comparatively, does Williams earn from NPR versus from Fox?

And, yes, I am pretty sure most NPR listeners know of Williams' connection to Fox. But why hide it, disguise it, camouflage it? Aren't you proud of his other media contributions, too?; 5/1/09, 11:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Maybe NPR does not want to reveal Juan Williams' affiliation with Fox just in case Williams ever wants to interview a "Foxxpert" [sic sic] for one of his pieces.

That way Williams will be able to interview himself and no one out there in radio land will be the wiser.; 5/1/09, 12:58 PM
Kevan Smith said...: The NPR Ombudswoman had a column a short while ago about Juan Williams and Fox/NPR. While it likely won't satisfy people here (it didn't me), NPR has addressed the issue.; 5/1/09, 2:22 PM
Anonymous said...: The NPR Ombudswoman had a column a short while ago about Juan Williams and Fox/NPR. "

I have no desire to read drivel, so instead let me guess.

It was a self-serving piece "splaining" why listeners are merely whining about a non-issue and should grow up and get a life.; 5/1/09, 10:27 PM
Kevan Smith said...: No, it wasn't.; 5/2/09, 4:36 AM
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...: Yes, it was.

Kevan conveniently neglected to post a link. Here it is.To me, it simply REEKS of self-justifying delusion...

I know I don't listen as much as formerly, but I have NEVER heard NPR refer to Wan's other master, Dild O'Reilly...; 5/2/09, 10:04 AM
Anonymous said...: You know NPR is pathetic when they still refer to "enhanced interrogation" while a Fox News judicial expert (Judge Andrew Napolitano) calls it torture": "Everyone knows torture when they see it."

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/04/21/napolitano_torture_memos/

My guess is that when Dick Cheney starts calling waterboarding torture (ie, when hell freezes over), NPR will probably start doing so as well.

"Balance" and "objectivity" make the world go round, ya know.; 5/2/09, 1:25 PM
Anonymous said...: If NPR management (including ombotswoman) won't acknowledge and report the conflicts of interest that Larry Summers has in deciding which banks get how much bailout money when he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees last year at many of those very banks, how can we ever expect NPR management to honestly acknowledge conflicts of interest and biases among their own announcers**?

**In case you missed the obvious: I refuse to call them journalists because they ain't. Not even Klose.; 5/2/09, 1:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Nor will NPR ever acknowledge the biases and conflicts of interest of Obama's point man on the economic "recovery" [sic], Tim Geithner, as Bill Moyers has done in Mortgaging the White House and William Black has done hereNPR rarely (if ever) acknowledges anything that can potentially hurt their corporate donors and hence their own pocketbook, unless they are forced to do so by circumstances.

For example, like everyone else in the MSM, NPR was FORCED to acknowledge the lack of WMD in Iraq after even the the guy appointed by Bush (David Kay) reported finding nothing significant after his team of 1000 inspectors had searched the Iraqi countryside with a fine-toothed comb.

Of course, in the latter case, NPR gave the excuse that "Look, everyone else got it wrong too and at least we had "balanced reports" ["centrist" think tanks saying Saddam had WMD "balanced" with rightwing think tanks saying Saddam had WMD] so what's the big deal?"; 5/2/09, 2:06 PM
Anonymous said...: "Ode to the NPR Ombot"
--by A Nonymuse

The Ombot
Is not
Programmed to compute
But instead
All challengers
To refute.; 5/2/09, 2:27 PM
gopol said...: So who's the creep on ME Saturday? David Greene? I guess the idea is to make you feel like, "gosh, scott's not the only asshole they could have doing that..."

That other dreaded Scott, Horselips? is apparently asshole buddies with Greene and Don Gonnarheyae. Greene has travelled with Chenney (oooo) and was with Bush when he pulled a fast one and ditched all those reporters to go to Baghdad and was on the NOrleans fly-over with bush. He certainly gets around, as does his asshole bias:

From Media Matters:

"During the September 17 edition of NPR's Morning Edition, correspondent Scott Horsley reported on what he described as "a pair of posh fundraisers in Beverly Hills" for Sen. Barack Obama, and in the following segment, correspondent David Greene reported on Sen. John McCain's criticism of Obama for attending one featuring Barbra Streisand. But neither Horsley nor Greene reported that McCain also attended a fundraiser in Miami earlier in the week at which he reportedly raised $5.1 million. Nor did they point out that McCain reportedly held a fundraiser in Beverly Hills with celebrities last month."; 5/2/09, 6:24 PM
Anonymous said...: This looks like a commercial for Bank Of America.

Absolutely no mention by the NPR announcer that Bank Of America Foundation has matching gift programs with many many NPR member stations around the country.

And no mention of the fact that Bof A's profit was financed completely at public expense (BofA was able to buy Merril Lynch purely by virtue of the fact that they received $25 billion bailout funds and then another $20 billion to cover th hemorrhaging by Merril Lynch right after the purchase).

This is the kind of disgusting stuff that has completely turned me off to NPR.

NPR is "public" radio only in name.

They are basically commercial radio, but get to masquerade as a public station and never bother telling people when their stories amount to commercials for their "client" companies as the above one does.

And the most grotesque part of all is that NPR gets public money to finance this charade (both directly from Congress and through payments from member stations who receive public financing); 5/2/09, 7:03 PM
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...: N P R : You can't spell REPUBLICAN without it.

It's become the quintessentially CORPORATE Medium.

Remember: In the Corporate State, corporate media are, necessarily, the State Media...; 5/2/09, 7:56 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Hey gang, maybe NPR is losing it's sacred cow status.

Check out this Slate piece pointing out how empty Cokie Roberts "analysis" is:

"Perfectly Obvious CokieBehold how little substance NPR's Cokie Roberts can pack into four minutes of airtime.
By Jack Shafer"

http://www.slate.com/id/2216890/; 5/3/09, 9:21 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Re: Juan Williams, well the (not)Ombudsman says Juan is "special" so the rules don't apply to him.

However, here's a great example of kara, Bill O'Reilly, Juan's favorite FOX gas bag who lets Juan guest host on the Factor, reveal his contempt for Juan and his cowokers at NPR:

On the O'Reilly Factor Goldberg, with Bill agreeing, complains about "NPR men" in journalism who "want to know about your feelings" and are "softer" than the "men of a John Wayne era".

Here's the link:
http://yellowdogshateelephants.blogspot.com/2009/04/fox-news-woman-haters-he-man-club.html; 5/3/09, 9:28 AM
Anonymous said...: "Perfectly Obvious Cokie Behold how little substance NPR's Cokie Roberts can pack into four minutes of airtime."

... and if you omit Cokie's name from that title, it becomes a perfect description of NPR:

"Perfectly Obvious: Behold how little substance NPR can pack into four minutes of airtime."

Looks like people outside NPRCheck are starting to recognize that Anne Garrels is not the only one at NPR with a new "outfit" (Naked in Baghdad)

Once people see that the Emperor has no clothes, the ruse is over.; 5/3/09, 9:45 AM
Anonymous said...: ..and the NPR cash cow is also over (poor dears); 5/3/09, 9:49 AM
Anonymous said...: NPR's ombudsman (Alicia Shepard) is part of the problem, rather than the solution.

Sure, she spke out against the Anne Garrels interview of the torture victims, but who wouldn't have?

What Garrels did was a GROSS (and grotesque) violation of journalistic ethics and principles and by all rights, she should have been fired as a result.

And a truly "unbiased" ombudsman would have insisted on as much.

As it was, Shepard's criticism of Garrels without any demand for accountability was essentially empty and looked more than a little like a convenient "scheme" concocted by NPR management to make NPR's new ombudsman (Shepard) look "independent".

But whether the latter is the case or not (that NPR "made hay of" the Garrels f...up to make their new ombudsman look good), it is almost certainly the case that any criticism of Shepard as biased in NPR's favor can be now be readily dismissed (by Shepard and others at NPR) with a simple wave of the hand and referral to that one incident.

Just my opinion, of course.; 5/3/09, 11:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Today Ira Glass demonstrated why he is such a dork. He calls people up and tapes them as he badgered them to pay and he called it fundraising "justice". Today's willing victim was Waylon from WHYY. He broke down and acknowledged his "internal contradictions" and swore he'd pay and not just a minimum amount but even more. I'm thinking the entire thing is a set-up. But I could be wrong.

Even worse though (and why don't people stick around when they dog this site (tio off the hat to MyTWords and Brian) was something that i think underscores the "problem" many of us have with NPR (other than we are natural-born malcontents). Lynn Neary took 11 minutes to shill for a gospel/pop album produced by a Christian rock producer and a manager for Three Doors Down (official "rock band of National Guard"). 11 minutes to sell albums.

But earlier they devoted 3 1/2 minutes to an explanation of stress tests for banks. Seems like the test consisted of "modeling" what would happen if a "few more" mortgages tank.

A few more? There are predictions of massive (my words) failures yet to come.

The "reporter" also forgot to mention they are modeling only 2 scenarios. That's what got us here. The whiz kids never experienced a period when housing prices fell so they never modeled the consequences of either falling home prices and/or massive mortgage failure.

But the entire piece was nothing more than NPR trying to re-assur their listeners that everything is just fine, fine, fine.

Wish Ira Glass would call me with his BS!

edk; 5/3/09, 1:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, edk

And many economists and others who have actually looked at them think the stress tests are joke (see quotes and link below)

And NPR fails to mention that Bank Of America is a donor to NPR member stations around the country.

Not mentioning this is a serious violation of journalistic ethics.

/////////////
Stress Tests: The Same Clever Financial Engineering That Led To The Crisis In The First Place?" -- Thomas B. Edsall
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/stress-tests-are-dangerou_n_195047.html
"This stress test is the equivalent of testing the Brooklyn Bridge by running a single heavy truck on it," Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a scholar of risk and chance at Polytechnic Institute of New York University, told the Huffington Post. "Bring engineers for this stress test, not the economists who failed us.

"The fact that six banks failed the stress test is more indicative of the weakness of the banks than the strength of the stress test. Most analysts thought the stress test was pretty wimpy," said Henry Blodget, president of Cherry Hill Research and CEO/Editor in Chief of Silicon Alley Insider. "If a good number of banks hadn't failed, people would have dismissed the stress tests as propaganda. So from the government's perspective, I'd say they were about right (if any more banks had failed under those wimpy assumptions, people might have been terrified.)"; 5/3/09, 1:35 PM
gopol said...: The Slate article may represent a sea change in tolerance of NPR bland pablum. We can hope.

Meanwhile, Cokie is well connected at can, no doubt, rely on some heavy congressional clout to keep her position. She is the Scarlet Ohara of the House of Reps, it seems.

http://www.muckety.com/Hale-Boggs/4176.muckety; 5/3/09, 2:20 PM
Anonymous said...: The stress test are actually worse than a joke -- much worse.

They are a "complete sham", according to savings and loan prosecutor William Black.

The following is from WallStreet blipswww.businessinsider.com — The bank stress tests currently underway are a complete sham, says William Black , a former senior bank regulator and S&L prosecutor, and currently an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. It s a Potemkin model. Built to fool people."Got that?

"Built to fool people."

Sounds vaguely like fraud -- and bank fraud at that.

William Black is certainly no quack. In fact, he may know more about how to recognize and deal with financial fraud (specifically bank fraud) than any other expert in the country.

If NPR were a REAL news program, they would be highlighting the words of Black and other distinguished economists -- eg, Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Paul krugman.

Of course, to NPR's planet money and others on NPR, Krugman is a "lefty columnist" first and "Nobel economics laureate" second (if they even mention the latter); 5/3/09, 8:12 PM