NPR Check: Q Tips

Monday, December 07, 2009

Q Tips

NPR related comments welcomed.

59 comments:

Unknown said...: On Morning Edition today...

Apple Acquires Music Service Lala
by Dina Temple-Raston

Does this mean that Apple is a CIA front company?; 12/7/09, 7:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Economist Dean Baker is very astute when it comes to most things related to economics (especially related to NPR), but his comment on why reporters "missed" the 8 trillion dollar housing bubble is dead nuts on.

Dean Baker:

"If you just repeat what everyone else is saying, no matter how stupid (e.g. “there is no housing bubble”) then you don’t ever need to worry about being penalized if you’re wrong. On the other hand if you make an independent assessment of the economy and stick by it, then you face enormous risks. If you’re wrong you’re dead meat.

If reporters are always safe just repeating the conventional wisdom, but face great risks departing from this wisdom, then we know which direction their reporting will take. The vast majority with just repeat the conventional wisdom. Welcome to Washington."

end of dean baker quotes.
In other words, the vast majority of the reporters at NPR (and elsewhere) are basically parrots in a zoo where the zoo-keepers are the White House, the Congress and the Washington think tanks.

The NPR parrots say whatever is required to keep the parrot food coming.; 12/7/09, 8:21 AM
Unknown said...: This morning Cokie and Steve were particularly insufferable... They were discussing Obama's trip to Copenhagen and ended with Cokie making some vague snark about Obama's kids are not the only ones who are going to have a big Xmas. Steve chuckled along, knowingly...

I felt like I'd was sitting next to a the table in the cafeteria where the popular girls sat...

Talk about your Village Heathers...

Later on, at the end of a story about Copenhagen, Stevie pointed out that Obama was going to have to make two trips to Denmark in December - a second one to accept his Nobel - and made a point to dis Obama for the extra carbon footprint....

It really is getting to the point where the only difference between NPR and Rush is that the NPR folks speak softly with a smile in their voice...

In other words, delivery, not content.; 12/7/09, 9:36 AM
pamela said...: Parrot food! Squaaawk!; 12/7/09, 10:21 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Richard Harris shilled for corporations and the government yesterday on ATC. He also accused developing countries of wanting a free lunch.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121140060

I left several comments:

Mr. Harris says:
 "Even as scientists become more confident that climate change is a serious hazard, public opinion is shifting the other way, says Kari Marie Norgaard at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.  

'This seems irrational,' she says. 'And in that sense, it's challenging the basic premise that we have of an enlightened, democratic, modern society.'"  

After earlier saying: "
A recent Harris Poll [any relation, BTW?], among the latest of several over the past year, shows that barely half of the American public believes that the carbon dioxide that's building up in the atmosphere could warm up our planet.  

There are multiple reasons for this growing skepticism, including psychological reactions and politics."  

And, of course, all of this has nothing to do with NPR's SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT spending most of the words in the piece talking about the politics and the psychology of the issue. When he does mention the supporting science for global warming, it is in a he-says/she-says context. Heaven forbid Mr. Harris should say that scientifically, global warming is almost universally supported by the science and that politics and psychology are obfuscations.  

That wouldn't please the sponsors and underwriters.

From the transcript: "HARRIS: Well, the biggest political fault line is really north-south, the rich countries versus the poor countries. Under the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries had no obligation to do anything, and the rich countries did have obligations to do things. The developing countries would like to hang onto that sweet deal and not be forced into doing something. But by now, the United States and other countries are saying, look, if China's not going to promise to do something, we aren't either. We'll never be able to sell it to the Senate. So that's the biggest fault line.

  But there are many other ones. Money is always a big issue here. The poorest of the poor countries will not be asked to do anything in Copenhagen, but they're saying, how much money are you going to give us to help adjust to climate change and to build a clean economy?"

  Those ungrateful little kids! You give them your all (rape their environments, loot their resources, enslave their populations) and they want to hang onto their "sweet deal" and are asking "how much money are you going to give us?" It's time they grew up and took care of themselves! Shame on them.  Shame on YOU Mr. Harris.

Mr. Harris:

You are obviously not a journalist. Whether through incompetence or intent, you end up shilling for the corporations and the government.

As Ms. Norgard says:
"it's [citizens' views on global warming] challenging the basic premise that we have of an enlightened, democratic, modern society."

You, Mr. Harris, as a purported journalist, have the obligation to enlighten the public, to help them to make informed decisions on matters that affect their lives. Instead, you spend all of your efforts explaining why the views of many citizens are basically misguided. You do NOTHING to help guide them. Billing yourself as an expert on science, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW BETTER. Instead, you skirt the science and disseminate the rationale for its neglect.

I think, the Sagan Award that the Council of Scientific Society Presidents bestowed on you in 1999 for improving the public understanding of science should be returned with apologies.; 12/7/09, 11:17 AM
Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...: Foxy Mara Liarson news.; 12/7/09, 12:05 PM
Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...: Mara Liasson: Yikes!; 12/7/09, 12:15 PM
Nate Bowman said...: andywells2009

Thanks for the post. Today's piece was an expansion on yesterday's.

I added this today (and reposted an edited version of one of yesterday's):

Not only does NPR's "science" correspondent spend two seconds out of 6 1/2 minutes talking about the science of global warming (and even then, it is the "view" of main stream scientists, rather than the consensus of the scientific community), but even the politics that he talks about is cryptic.

Let's see:
"There is a large and well-funded effort to block legislation that could hurt the industries most responsible for carbon emissions. " [never mind that "hurt" just means "possibly less profit next year"]
"But what does matter is the influence of the naysayers. They don't need a majority to make a difference."
"How much is that setback [of expectations for Copenhagen] due to the shift in public opinion in the US?"
"And of course the Senate is influenced by public opinion in the United States...And also by the lobbying that you mentioned, we should say"
" Well, clearly, we had to get our ducks in a row in the US before we could do something internationally."

So, the lobbyists succeed in swaying public opinion, which, in conjunction with their purchasing Senatorial support manages to scuttle expectations at Copenhagen. But NPR won't actually come out and say that.

We just couldn't get "our ducks in a row."

How sad.; 12/7/09, 12:36 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Dang, JTE beat me to it on Mara "The FOX" Lie-a-some.

Had jury duty this AM, stupid Sixth Amendment.

My favorite part:

"She has also told colleagues that she’s under contract to Fox, so it would be difficult for her to sever her ties with the network, which she has appeared on for more than a decade."

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/07/liasson-fox/

(Hey Juan Happy Thanks Giving!); 12/7/09, 1:26 PM
Unknown said...: Hey Grumpster!

Saw your post on TPM. I posteed too.

madchen vapid; 12/7/09, 1:38 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: The 45,000

(I HAVE got to stay away from the NPR search engine.)

Alica (not an)Ombudsman in defending NPR's thumbsucking report on a resort for the Uber Rich:

"The reason we did the piece is because (as was noted in the intro and in the body of the story) Pelican Hill is a freak occurence"

What is a "freak occurrence" is if NPR covers the uninsured.

Guess how many broadcast stories NPR did on the September Harvard Medical Schools study that 45,000 Americans due to lack of health insurance?

If you answered 1 you'd still be wrong.

NPR plenty of time for uncritical interviews with Pharma and For Profit Health-care Lobbyist, Industry Spokesmen, GOP flacks; poor people who are dying, not so much.

http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=%22Harvard+Medical+School%22+45%2C000+uninsured&tabId=hoa&dateId=0&prgId=0&topicId=0

Reporting on the uninsured for NPR is also a "free occurrence" for major study:

"Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002."

http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-lack-health-coverage

Maybe NPR doesn't know the meaning of "uninsured" or "health care rationing" just like "torture.; 12/7/09, 2:25 PM
boog!poonk!fiizy!biiny! said...: Back to the "parrot food" thread...

Anybody ever see Peter Sellers in 'The Party'?

Grab a pinch for Cokie, Renee, Stevie, Mara, Rootypoop Robert, Missy-poo, Mee-shill (whew, I'm exhausted) & say ... "Birdie num-num!"; 12/7/09, 5:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Nate:

I left this comment on the other open thread:

U of Washington Climate Scientist Eric Steig took NPR's Richard Harris to the cleaners on the issue of (faux) "balance" that NPR bases their whole "journalism" model on.

Harris SHOULD be very embarrassed by this. This is the equivalent of Adumb Davidson being called on economic BS by Dean Baker.

NPR plays the same faux balance game that Fox news plays (albeit a little more subtly)

Eric Steig
"The problem of ‘false balance’ in reporting — the distortions that can result from trying give equal time to the two perceived sides of an issue — is well known. In an excellent editorial a few years ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called for a greater emphasis on truth, rather than ‘balance’. Unfortunately, this basic element of careful journalism seems to have been cast aside, especially in recent weeks.

I was both amused and stunned by the effort at ‘balance’ provided by Richard Harris’s report on NPR, in which he claimed that the peer review process was “so distorted” that neither John Christy nor Jim Hansen can get their work published. Notwithstanding the simple fact that both of these scientists publish regularly in leading journals, Harris’s attempt to present ‘both sides’ of the issue completely undermines his thesis. Christy thinks that the IPCC overstates the consequences of climate change, while Hansen thinks it understates it. If both feel the peer review process is biased against them, then it must be working rather well. This doesn’t mean they are wrong, but science is a conservative enterprise, and it is evident that neither of them has provided sufficient evidence for extraordinary claims."; 12/7/09, 6:44 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Anonymous: thanks. My main meme is journalistic principles and ethics and they were sorely lacking there.

Grumpy and Madchen
Good work at TPM. i tried to register and add my two cents, but I screwed up and couldn't.; 12/7/09, 10:09 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Adam Davidson did and ATC apologia on the big banks regarding leftover TARP money.

I left my usual modest number of posts there. ; )

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121170869; 12/7/09, 10:12 PM
Cetamua said...: Interesting story at crooksandliars blog on Fox News and NPR Mara Liasson relationship to Fox.

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/memo-npr-and-mara-liasson-you-lie-do

Apparently, Mara's check from Fox is high enough to prevent her to see Fox's bias.

" Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

... Liasson defended her work for Fox by saying that she appears on two of the network’s news programs, not on commentary programs with conservative hosts, the source said. She has also told colleagues that she’s under contract to Fox, so it would be difficult for her to sever her ties with the network, which she has appeared on for more than a decade."

Yeah right!; 12/7/09, 10:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Good catch on Liesomemore and her work at Fox. From DailyKos.com

Tired of seeing NPR political correspondent Mara Liasson on Fox News? So is NPR:
According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

... never mind NPR's ethics guidelines, which state:

They should not participate in shows electronic forums, or blogs that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis.; 12/8/09, 10:54 AM
Anonymous said...: More Mara!!!!

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/memo-npr-and-mara-liasson-you-lie-do

edk; 12/8/09, 11:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Even more Mara: And I like this one lol

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_adDpqxdQZ_U/SQURqdLF0VI/AAAAAAAAAAM/IvfgCRfggFY/s400/Mara_Liasson_Snarl.JPG; 12/8/09, 11:09 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Alica (not an)Ombudsman closes ranks with fellow village Mara to defend her.

"Don't Take Mara Off of Fox"

http://www.npr.org/ombudsman/2009/12/dont_take_mara_off_of_fox.html; 12/8/09, 1:38 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: On Morning Edition today Inskeep serves a hot steaming cup of "infotainment" with Tina Brown. They decries the persecution of the wealthy, celebrities that break the law. An added bonus, Tina gives tips on how to cheat on your wife: Perhaps she could give a seminar to the GOP Congressional Caucas? Here's my comment:

Shorter NPR/Brown:

"The wealthy (Kozlowski) and celebrities we like (Polanski) are above the law."

Certainly explains Inskeep's reporting during the Bush/Cheney years.; 12/8/09, 2:59 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: hmmmmm,

"GOP Congressional Caucas"

Should be caucus.

However "GOP Congressional Caucasians" is funner.; 12/8/09, 3:01 PM
Unknown said...: It looks like the NPR Ombot page is screening comments now. Propaganda for the masses.; 12/8/09, 4:15 PM
Unknown said...: It looks like the NPR Ombot page is screening comments now. Propaganda for the masses.; 12/8/09, 4:15 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Madchen

I think they are screening also. (I left several about Liasson.) Besides hitting my censorship funny bone, the time delay inolved kills the flow of the discussion for me.

Perhaps most telling is that Liasson's bio at NPR does not mention her work at FOX. (And that her affiliatin with FOX is never mentioned on air at NPR.) That ought to tell everyone how NPR and Liasson feel about the issue.; 12/8/09, 9:44 PM
larry, dfh said...: Tues atc: jason bobobien proves to be the tommie friedman of npr as he digs deep into the Honduras political sceen to speek to: a trinket salesman on the beach. Wow! Bobobien's unfettered bias shows this entire exercise as the obvious State Department/c.i.a. propaganda that it is.; 12/8/09, 11:10 PM
larry, dfh said...: So I had to switch to a High School radio station to get the earwig out my head with
some 1950/60's music. A couple of old guys (probably with comb-overs), who work for free, that are just some much more capable than the jackasses as npr.; 12/8/09, 11:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Michel Martin's programming on NPR ("Tell me More") IS THE WORST!!! I'm listening to a repeat of today, and it makes me want to throw my radio out the window. Martin is constantly shoveling right-wing stuff into conversations with her guests, even when it's just blatant politicizing. Her husband defended "wide stance" Craig and her own program reflects that fascination with the ickiest Republicans - she is planning yet another program on Sarah Palin. The last one she did, her guests were two Republicans, for balance. Why on earth is this woman on NPR? She's a nightmare; even when she tries to cover a situation as bad as unemployment in Michigan, she can't help editorializing that "Obama's people" seem not to be aware of it, or that, contrary to her guest's writings, "tax cuts are by definition more efficient... if you funnel money through the government... it's almost a joke..." YUCK!!! I'd say she should know better, but she went to Radcliffe; she probably thinks it's interestingly independent-minded that she's black and also a right wing tool (well, news flash, it's been done: Sowell is a tool, too, and his articles are feeble). She's on about deficits now -- where was that talk when Bush was driving us into this hole?! She's much worse than Cokie: nice voice, but listening to her actually nauseates me. Wow!!!; 12/9/09, 1:42 AM
Steve Hall said...: I tried to leave a comment on the ombudsman blog for the Liasson/Fox story. It has been a couple of hours and it still hasn't appeared. In fact, there are no comments for that particular blog post.; 12/9/09, 10:26 AM
Steve Hall said...: Not to mention that the whole angle of Shepard's post is that NPR listeners are trying to silence a "liberal" voice from appearing on Fox. Interesting that she quotes a number of e-mails to support this position, but we don't get to read them. Also interesting is that there are no comments on this particular blog post (I tried to post but it hasn't appeared yet).

Shepard's angle about the motivations of those who oppose Liasson's arrangement with Fox and NPR is a straw man argument, and I suspect this would be evident if she allowed us to read the e-mails or comments.

For me personally (and I suspect a lot of other NPR listeners), I don't care what Liasson says on Fox, as I don't watch it.

What I do care about is when Liasson appears on NPR (without attribution as a Fox contributer) and uncrticially repeats Republican talking points as news analysis.; 12/9/09, 10:39 AM
Anonymous said...: NPR is clearly very worried by Liasson's association with Fox.

It's hilarious that Elving and the others act as if Fox's right wing biases are something new.

..and even more hilarious that the suggest Liasson "watch Fox news" to see what they are talking about.

NPR management are worried about one thing ONLY: their bottom line.

One or more of their underwriters has clearly expressed concern about Liasson's visible association with Fox.

I say visible because the worry is not so much the association itself as it is the fact that people know about it.

Hence the NPR efforts to erase all references to Liasson's Fox association on NPR and to have Fox do the reverse: erase all reference to Liasson's association with NPR.

NPR has become ALL about perception, ALL the time.; 12/9/09, 11:49 AM
doggybag said...: ..and even more hilarious that the suggest Liasson "watch Fox news" to see what they are talking about.

That does deserve a hearty guffaw. I can just see Mara at home in the den with her lawyer husband studying the "news" and "commentary" of...Sean Hannibal Hannity? "Dear, are those chunks of human flesh stuck between his teeth?"; 12/9/09, 12:43 PM
Anonymous said...: I also think we (and people like us) are being targeted by Ombudsman because we cause problems in NPRland.

edk; 12/9/09, 1:50 PM
larry, dfh said...: Stevie, there's no quarantee that those e-mails aren't written by staff. I suspect any positive feedback that I hear about Planet Monkey is from within.; 12/9/09, 2:40 PM
Anonymous said...: we (and people like us) are being targeted by Ombudsman because we cause problems in NPRland.

I think it actually goes much deeper than "causing problems".

The folks at NPR perceive the questions and challenges as a threat to their very identity as the omniscient "givers of knowledge".

That's why folks at NPR like Alicia Shepard push back so hard when they are challenged by people like Glenn Greenwald.

They perceive it as a direct threat to their identity, which is inseparable from the world view that they have bought into for their entire adult lives.

Much easier to deny and censor than it is to face reality and see one's beliefs, values and very world crumble before one's eyes.; 12/9/09, 3:42 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Anonymous @3:42

I agree.

I would like to take the liberty of rephrasing "They perceive it as a direct threat to their identity." to "a direct threat to the identity they would like to project."

I am not sure if you are the same Anonymous who earlier said "NPR has become ALL about perception, ALL the time." But I think that statement nails it on the head.

NPR has increasingly sacrificed journalistic principles and ethics to the whims of corporations and the government and specifically their sponsors and underwriters, while segueing to considering themselves part of the main stream media.

In that endeavor, they have prostituted any identity they used to have to the one that their masters demand. Those who hold them to task on the ombudsman's blog, as well as Glenn Greenwald, Dean Baker, Media Matters and others pose a threat to their livelihood.; 12/9/09, 4:57 PM
bhig!phink!fuhzzy!buhnny! said...: Oh yes - Mara 'Popeye' Mabuse MUST be a librul, she's NPR!!

And I just can't shake it, I confess - every time now when one of the plethora of neutered she-male newsreaders is locuting with those overly affected lilts during the headlines (only!!)segments I just picture him/her sitting there decked out in drag. Not a dressed-to-the-nines, "dag, sure fooled me!" sort of drag but that of a dowdy apartment dweller - sorta like Polanski in 'The Tenant.' I defy you to take the voiceprint test: is it Stormtrooper Garrels, or is it Dainty Bovian (sp? don't much care)?

(bunny rant off); 12/9/09, 6:13 PM
geoff said...: Speaking of Garrels, bunns, was it this am she breathed heavily from the the inside of a barrel floating down the Volga (gotta, be chilly this time of year, specially in the nude) about heroin in Russia? That was quite a story. Of course, she says the Russians say US is to blame for controlling the heroin trade. They blame US for everything, don't they? So why not that? I recently read in Dark Alliance about Kelso and Bo Gritz:

This is from wiki:
In 1986, after a trip to Burma to interview drug kingpin Khun Sa regarding possible locations of U.S. POWs, Gritz returned from Burma with a videotaped interview of Khun Sa purporting to name several officials in the Reagan administration involved in narcotics trafficking in Southeast Asia. Among those named was Richard Armitage, who most recently served as Deputy Secretary of State during George W. Bush's first term as President. Gritz believed that those same officials were involved in a coverup of missing American POWs.; 12/9/09, 7:50 PM
geoff said...: btw, Robert Parry reports on the 5th anniversary of Gary Webb's death.; 12/9/09, 7:57 PM
biggs!pinkks!fuzzs!bunns! said...: ^ Ahh, THAT Richard Armitage - as in "D'oh! Did I really blow the cover of a covert CIA op?"

chuckleheads all~; 12/9/09, 8:01 PM
larry, dfh said...: wed on atc, there was a short but very misleading thing from bob siegal about those brave tea-partyers. He mentioned how the big news was that a tea-party candidate almost won the special NY 23'rd congressional election. Well silly me, I thought the big deal was that the election was won by a Democrat, a last minute candidate at that, for the first time in over a century. But such facts only get in the way of the distorted narrative siegal was trying to lay down. Thus they were never mentioned. In the constant currying of favor to fox news, every chance to flatter and inflate the importance of glenn beck is just expected behavior.; 12/9/09, 8:56 PM
geoff said...: larry,

yah that! and so mucho mas propagandas of late...a feverish crescendo, it seems. From gloating over the demise of the public option, to the utter disdain for even talking about issues of Copenhagen to Eikenberry drinking the koolaid to Bush speechwriters finally approving of Obumma finally drinking the Koolsaid at West Point, to, well it's been a non stop tide of rising right wing rhetoric, save perhaps for the insertion of a science article about "white matter" in the brain that makes people smarter...or more like Rush Limbaugh.; 12/9/09, 9:16 PM
Anonymous said...: The "image is everything" thread is dead on; Anon and Nate.

-madchen vapid

By the way, Dean Baker is on a roll criticizing NPR. He has it hard for them almost as much as NPR.; 12/10/09, 7:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Liasson and Montagne today on ME.

Summary: President Barack Obama is in Oslo, Norway, to receive his Nobel Peace Prize medal. He's in the unusual position of accepting the peace prize a week after ordering 30,000 more U.S. troops to the war in Afghanistan.

My comment: Mara Liasson is in Washington, DC today to do a patty-cake, two-way 'report' with host Rene Montagne. She's in and unusual position of doing an interview with soft-ball pitcher Montagne after accepting FoxNews money for the rest of her week's work.

SOME PEOPLE say, this is utter journalistic hypocrisy. SOME PEOPLE think Liasson plays the token liberal on FoxNews. SOME PEOPLE suggest Liasson plays the token conservative on NPR. SOME PEOPLE argue that what Liasson does isn't really journalism at all; simply chattering and bloviating. SOME PEOPLE suspect, NPR is just taking tax money and corporate money and is sensitive to its reputation, which is why NPR hides Liasson's associations with FoxNews and uses fakes balance when it presents its topics. SOME LISTENERS ARGUE that interviews between host and reporter are just DC Villager chat.

Tax dollars and member dollars -- my tax and member dollars -- paid for this bit of 'news' on NPR today. And tax dollars and member dollars -- my tax and member dollars paid for the NPR website that allows me to constructively criticize NPR, using its tried-and-true method news-presenting format; its news construct.

NPR Listeners Report, YOU Decide!; 12/10/09, 8:23 AM
cactusman said...: Anonymous

patty cake

Well done!; 12/10/09, 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Steve Inskeep's sympy-wimpy tone in his interview with McChrystal (new military front-line salesman for war in Afghanistan) brought to mind the Monty Python "Mouseman" interview:
Terry Jones (interviewer, almost whispering, in silky soft tones): "What did those wicked fellows do after they got the mouse costumes on?" John Cleese: (meek, mild interviewee) "Well ... er ... they started squeakin' ... and then .. er .. they started nibblin' on some cheese ..." Terry Jones: "How did that make you feel?" etc.

Maybe it's me -- but Inskeep's tone is decidedly more assertive when "interviewing" people doing things like genuinely attempting to defend the environment. But then maybe not -- maybe NPR really is leading the charge to war yet again. And (IMHO) maybe that's why ordinary people have no business giving money to NPR.; 12/10/09, 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...: NPR has the Renee Montagne and Mara Lissaon interview listed twice in the Morning Edition rundown today. Once version for NPR and one for FoxNews?

Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize In Oslo, Interview #1

Wartime President To Accept Peace Prize, Interview #2

As you can see, NPR does one title straight, and the other one with editorializing. Is it ANY clearer than that!; 12/10/09, 8:38 AM
Anonymous said...: The "image is everything" thread is dead on; Anon and Nate.

-madchen vapid

By the way, Dean Baker is on a roll criticizing NPR. He has it hard for them almost as much as NYT.

Sorry 'bout that...; 12/10/09, 9:19 AM
Anonymous said...: Mara and NPR sure love them some Obama today because he is exhibiting "American exceptionalism" as the occupation President picks up his Peace Prize. Of course NPR/Mara don't want to talk about the irony of the situation, they only will discuss the timing of the award. I would guess that NPR fully supports American exceptionalism and all that means.

Last night Siegal talked to Da;;as TeaBaggers and they expressed thier dislike of Obama because he dogs America and really doesn't "love America" like most people and other US Presidents do/did. (Thank God it ain't a "racial thing")

I also wonder if Juan looked at Fox for a month and decided that they were not conservative enough so he gave up his chats with Scott in exchange for a few dollars more. Good riddance to bad trash I say.

edk; 12/10/09, 9:42 AM
Nate Bowman said...: The ombudsman's blog comments are working again.

All of my earlier comments never made it through.; 12/10/09, 11:37 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Alicia the ombudsman responded to one of my criticisms and I answered back.

Also, Madchen Vapid first comment there is quite eloquent. Grumpy and Boulder Dude add some good points.

Ms. Shepard:
Thank you for your response.

To recap (emphasis mine):
You said:
"Despite misinformation on the INTERNET, NPR has not ordered her to stop [appearing on FOX]."

I responded:
"Please tell us, Ms. Shepard, what the misinformation is. Specifically, who claimed that NPR has ordered Ms. Liasson to stop appearing on FOX?"

You responded:
"MANY OF THE PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS we've got after the Politico article came out asked that NPR stop forbidding Mara Liasson from appearing on Fox. The misinformation/misinterpretation is that NPR ordered her to stop appearing."

Which is exactly my point. You accuse unnamed miscreants of spreading misinformation on the INTERNET. I ask you to tell us who specifically is spreading the misinformation. You respond by citing phone calls and emails you will not share with us.

As a teacher of journalism, you know that:
The original accusation you made screams for the support of links and citations.
To think that citing phone calls and emails answers my question about the internet is shoddy at best.
Even if true and I would accept the false equivalence, you have not given us access to the phone calls and emails, an easy job in this day and age.
Again, even if true..., what could the magnitude of the spread of misinformation possibly be from individual emails to you? Who else could possibly be aware of them?
Your disparaging NPR's critics on the internet and dismissing them (as you have before) through a straw man without answering the points of criticism is also shoddy.

Though the Politico article asked about whether anyone at NPR had ordered Ms. Liasson to stop appearing at FOX, it was made very clear that no evidence was found that anyone had. Whether the emails and phone calls focused on this or not, you were the one who chose to focus on it and imply that Politico and others on the internet were spreading it.

Again, please cite a reference for anyone on the internet claiming this. (emails to you, though reaching you through the internet do not count.); 12/10/09, 9:55 PM
larry, dfh said...: Interestingly, whyy had a very good segment Thurs. evening about the negative effects of not having supermarkets in poor neighborhoods. This is in context of Chester, PA's efforts to entice (ie. bribe) a supermarket to locate there. This was local programming, produced by local staff who seemed very interested in the subject, as opposed to being interested in seeming cool. It strikes me that this is exactly what public radio should be; indeed this short piece was more informative than just about any of whyy's nationally broadcast shows. And unlike many of those 'national' (pro-agression) shows, this one has the potential to incite some positive results.; 12/11/09, 1:13 AM
Anonymous said...: "Despite misinformation on the INTERNET, NPR has not ordered her [Liasson] to stop [appearing on FOX]."

Translation of Alicia Shepard: "When I did a Google search, I came up with a couple blog comments that claimed NPR has ordered Liasson to just stop appearing on Fox"

The "Mighty INTERNETS" (TM) have spoken.

Is Shepard stupid or does she just think the rest of us are?; 12/11/09, 8:33 AM
RepubLiecan said...: at 12/11/09 8:33 AM
Anonymous said...
Is Shepard stupid or does she just think the rest of us are?

Since the folks at NPR now like us republiecans so much, they have adopted our tactic of using straw man arguments figuring that they will be effective and the fallacy of them will go unnoticed.

=================================; 12/11/09, 10:58 AM
geoff said...: Joe Bageant has written the following about the programming, propagandizing/conditioning of murkins:

The saddest thing is that Americans are cultivated like mushrooms from birth to death, kept in the dark and fed horseshit. Consequently, they haven't the slightest idea that there is an alternative to the system in which they labor at the pleasure of corporate and financial elites who own both their government and their every waking hour. That alternative is democratic Socialism. Self governance for the broadest common good. Which the Ministry of Truth has defined for them as fascism.; 12/11/09, 11:53 AM
Anonymous said...: Larry:

Agree with WHYY/grocery story but this shows just what a failure NPR/WHYY are because if they really wanted to be a real "public" news network . . . they would.

edk; 12/11/09, 12:41 PM
pamela said...: Thanks for the link, gopol. It's a must-read. I may have it bronzed.; 12/12/09, 3:14 PM
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