Back on January 29th I asked you - dear readers - to start your timers to see how
quickly NPR would jump on the Mattel marketing bandwagon for Ken and Barbie. Boy, did NPR ever prove me wrong. Given all the crucial news stories they are probably working on even now -
the arrest, torture, and 9 year prison term given to a human rights activist in
Iran Israel (
still waiting), the
first hostage to complete his life sentence [as opposed to
being murdered -
still waiting] at Gitmo (
still waiting),
George W. Bush's indictment on torture (
still waiting), the
US teen tortured in Kuwait with likely US approval (
still waiting for more than pro-FBI propaganda), etc. - NPR took sixteen full days to finally catch up on the Ken and Barbie story.
NPR featured the plastic pair
on Monday's painfully named All Things Considered. It was NPR's sweet little Valentine to its listeners...and of course, Mattel - whose permission I did not get for the creepy graphics.
Back on January 29th I asked you - dear readers - to start your timers to see how quickly NPR would jump on the Mattel marketing bandwagon for Ken and Barbie. Boy, did NPR ever prove me wrong. Given all the crucial news stories they are probably working on even now - the arrest, torture, and 9 year prison term given to a human rights activist in 
4 comments:
Aww, shucks, Inskeep. You shouldn't have! (blush) but they sure are purty. I hope they paid you good for those, I'd hate to think you didn't sell out for all you're worth.
Wait there's weird morphing going on now. This is disorienting! Is that Kensheep? The Waltell Wonder hewn from hoosier mamawood?
Do you suppose NPR gets permission for all the photos they reproduce on their website?
They seem to have a very lax attitude toward copyright in general -- eg, "merging" AP wire service reports with their own stuff and attributing it to "Wire service and NPR staff"* -- and it would not surprise me in the least if they were violating copyrights.
There are quite strict rules regarding what constitutes "fair use". Just because one calls itself a "news organization" does not exempt one form the normal laws (though NPR seems to believe otherwise)
*I doubt what they are doing with the wire service reports is kosher. I'll illustrate with an extreme example: Imagine merging porn with a legitimate documentary on sexual exploitation of women and attributing the "new improved report" to the original authors of the documentary. How do you suppose they would feel about having their stuff "perverted" with the new material?
Someone should really look into NPR's potential violation of copyrights because it appears to be downright pervasive on their website -- and it could (potentially) cost them a great deal of money in infringement fines.
More hard-hitting reporting by Empty R
The Coca-Cola Recipe Is Revealed By 'This American Life'
What's next?
Reports that Michael Jackson is alive and well and having a baby with Vivian Schiller?
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