In the midst of its own autos-da-fé to its right wing executioners (I'm still waiting for that signed open letter decrying NPR's policy on US torture) - NPR is not about to quit spinning news to favor the US Permanent War Project™ and sending major stories down the memory hole [see earlier post] when they reflect poorly on that war project or on the Washington Consensus. Consider just a few tidbits from the past week.
- In about a month, it will be one year since the BP Oil Disaster and the debunked [see here and here] Obama-certified Oil-be-Gone miracle. NPR did have a promising teaser of a report from Richard Harris on the lethally oiled ocean floor a while back, but for the latest on human sickness and death from the spill you'll have to go to al-Jazeera - not NPR.
- The Nobel Laureate Approved™ torture and abuse of whistleblower Bradley Manning continues apace, so bad that Amnesty International USA has weighed in with an action alert. NPR remains "strong and tough" in its silence.
- The Murky Morass of the
SovietUS war in Afghanistan continues its disaster spiral - featuring wanton killings of civilians (even little boys) - Can you guess NPR's take on the issue? Killings of civilians by US/NATO forces are waaaaay down - and "things are getting better" because the US has "taken back a lot of turf from the Taliban"...hurray!
- A pair of eye-opening WikiLeaks cables came to light this week and revealed that the US strong-armed Costa Rican president Oscar Arias when he dared to end his country's relationship with the torture academy known as WHINSEC (aka School of the Americas or School of Assassins). In the media, it seems only OpEd News picked this one up - and given NPR's love for brutal US Counterinsurgency - it should come as no surprise that Stands-4-0 gives this story no coverage whatsoever - which is how it has covered WHINSEC in general (notice how School of America coverage has shriveled over the years).
Yes, this is the what we get from the "superb," "impartial news service" that is NPR.
11 comments:
I didn't listen much to NPR today other than to hear a book review so I have to wonder what their response if any, will be to the PJ Crowley firing. Can't have people go around telling the truth, you know as that might mean we'd be forced to do our jobs at National Propaganda Radio.
I heard Inskeep from Egypt today talking about the national newspaper. Substitute the name of the paper for NPR and you got state media that is choosing to be state media. I also wonder when the staff at NPR will revolt and begin to do their job of "journalist".
edk
I absent-mindedly flipped on the radio this morning long enough to hear Cokie waxing nasal about the problems created for US nuclear energy concerns by the semi-meltdown in Japan. Bemoaning the high price of oil no-nukes might mean, she added, this just at a time when gov't is trying to cut back.
Actually, high oil prices matter economically mostly for the exact same reason that austerity toward gov't spending does (especially threatening during a recession and weak recovery): they stifle economic growth.
You gotta just love this from David Folkenflik and mark Memmott regarding the Ron Schiller affair:
"Al Tompkins, a senior faculty member for broadcasting and online at the Poynter Institute, says to David that he tells his children there are "two ways to lie. One is to tell me something that didn't happen. And the other is not to tell me something that did happen." After comparing O'Keefe's edited tape to the longer version, "I think that they employed both techniques in this," Tompkins says.
The irony, of course, is that NPR employs the second method of lying ALL THE TIME.
In fact, they are masters of the technique.
It's how they manage to entirely avoid "controversial" subjects (Downing Street Memo, Bradley Manning, Civilian deaths in Afghanistan, to name just a few)
that could offend their "funders" and affect their bottom line.
of course, NPR is often "nuanced" in their use of the second lying method. They may not ignore something entirely, but instead "report" it in a manner that minimizes its exposure and impact: by running an AP article on their website that simply mentions it or, if NPR does report on it on air, by introducing it with "some have claimed" or some other such language meant to cast doubt on the reliability of the claim.
Folkenflik and Memmott may think they are actually helping NPR with their spin, but the reailty is that the more they talk, the more they reveal about themselves and NPR to the public.
NPR is a DEEPLY dishonest organization and thanks to people at NPR (thanks Ron, David and Mark!) the public is starting to see it. And not just Republicans.
Hey, wait a minute?
How come National Public RADIO, couldn't figure this out?
NPR don't have any recording experts on you staff?
Jeeze, who'd of thought that Glenn Beck would be a better journalist than people who get six-figures salaries to produce "fair, fact-based, in-depth reporting from at home and around the world"?
If NPR won't defend it's self, then why should I?
Well at least we have a list of self identified cowards are NPR:
Dear Listeners and Supporters,
We, and our colleagues at NPR News, strive every day to bring you the highest quality news programs possible. So, like you, we were appalled by the offensive comments made recently by NPR’s now former Senior Vice President for Development. His words violated the basic principles by which we live and work: accuracy and open-mindedness, fairness and respect.
Those comments have done real damage to NPR. But we’re confident that the culture of professionalism we have built, and the journalistic values we have upheld for the past four decades, will prevail. We are determined to continue bringing you the daily journalism that you’ve come to expect and rely upon: fair, fact-based, in-depth reporting from at home and around the world.
With your support we have no doubt NPR will come out of this difficult period stronger than ever.
Thank you,
Robert Siegel
Michele Norris
Melissa Block
Renee Montagne
Scott Simon
Liane Hansen
Guy Raz
Michel Martin
Neal Conan
Susan Stamberg
Nina Totenberg
Linda Wertheimer
Daniel Zwerdling
John Ydstie
Richard Harris
Tom Gjelten
Howard Berkes
Mike Shuster
Laura Sullivan
Lynn Neary
Jacki Lyden
Mara Liasson
Cokie Roberts
Wow...NPR leads the very top of the hour of the evening newscast with "No harmful effects to humans from radiation due to explosions at the Japanese nuclear power stations." ...or words to that effect. Just so blatantly false and even contradicted by their later reporting that...it's breathtaking. Especially when you hear repeated again at the top of the next hour. "But didn't they just say..." you wonder? Yes they did, but cognitive dissonance is the watchphrase of the new millenium - you'd think I'd be more used to it by now.
Stranger and stranger.....Beck Baffles With NPR Video Critique:
http://politi.co/f0EdG9
"No harmful effects to humans from radiation due to explosions at the Japanese nuclear power stations."
The people at NPR are omniscient, doncha know?
They can assess the situation in its totality from thousands of miles away without any monitoring whatsoever.
In fact, some of them (eg, Terri Gross, whom Ralph Nader has called "hostile" in Our Right-Leaning Public Media) know more than God herself.
Hey, speaking of Terri Gross.
Word verification: "drooly"
^ I surely never drooled over Gross. Rabid froth plenty of times, though. Ugh, those painful memories...
some day when you got really notthing to do but watch the paint dry, try a word count during the Fresh Air near you: Count the number of words Gross says as opposed to the number of words that the "guest" says.
And speaking of Terry where is she? Coasting till the Great De-Fund and she can retire with honor or at least another Peabody (hosted this year by Larry King!)
edk
"I also wonder when the staff at NPR will revolt and begin to do their job of "journalist."
That will happen when their paychecks stop getting funded by the government-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the corporate interests that advertise on their network.
Until the funding conduit changes, you have to conclude that the staff at NPR are doing their jobs--as in serving the interests of their establishment masters--quite well.
Hell, Robert Seigel makes over $300K per year. What incentive does he have to bite the hand that feeds him by "reporting the truth?"
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