NPR Check: Q Tips

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Q Tips

NPR related comments welcomed.

105 comments:

gDog said...: Marketplace wasn't too grateful to the Natural Gas Alliance this morning: crowing about how the US may become an exporter of natural gas, provided regulations don't get in the way.; 3/8/11, 9:34 AM
Laci the Chinese Crested said...: From Libertyunderground News:

This morning on NPR's Morning Edition, Ari Shapiro interviewed James Lewis, director of technology and public policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This "Think Tank," is corporate-funded and has received millions of dollars from right wing billionaire Richard Scaife to push the National Security State agenda– typical of NPR sources.

Shapiro set up his right wing guest with "How does the US State Department, which has decades if not centuries of experience negotiating the push-pull of one country against another, adjust its approach when it's a push-pull between one country, the United States, and on the other side, something like Wikileaks, or even something like al Qaeda?"

So set up by the NPR "journalist," Lewis replied, "Wikileaks is a good example of how this sort of thing can work against the US, I mean the people who did Wikileaks intended to harm the US."; 3/8/11, 9:57 AM
informedveteran said...: Looks like an NPR sponsor is making headlines. Unsurprisingly there is NO mention of it on NPR.

Activists Shut Down Bank of America Branch in D.C. (Democracy Now)

In Washington, D.C., 600 activists with National People’s Action shut down a branch of Bank of America Monday to protest the bank’s record of dodging taxes. National People’s Action recently issued a report about how Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have avoided paying billions of dollars in taxes. The study found that over the past two years, the six banks paid income tax at an approximate rate of 11 percent of their pre-tax earnings in the United States, far less than the 35 percent that they are legally mandated to pay. By avoiding the taxes, the banks saved $13 billion. National People’s Action reports this potential tax revenue could have been used to cover more than two years of salaries for some 132,000 teachers who lost since the economic crisis began in 2008.; 3/8/11, 10:13 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: This just in:

"NPR ‘appalled’ by former exec’s comments"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110308/ts_yblog_thecutline/npr-appalled-by-former-execs-comments; 3/8/11, 11:07 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: Ron Schiller, Viv Schiller. Supposedly 'no relation'. Uh-huh. Very collegiate.

All sorts of uniformed discussion about NPR erupting. Hillary didn't include NPR in her critique of US media. Bob McChesney praises VOA! Teabaggers think NPR is 'National Palestinian Radio'! Squabbling about how much fed money ACTUALLY goes to NPR (News) Uh-huh again. And so on, too many examples to cite.

NPR Check is needed more than ever to clear up all this bozo talk.

Michael Moore got it right without even naming any news outlet: the corporate-controlled media plays the same program all the time: don't rock the boat because some day you too may be rich, so don't harm the rich for providing that possibility. The US media constantly implies that you too can and should be rich if only you'd just be more 'American' in going about it.

Result: passive population, ripe for permanent exploitation.

I agree with Ron Shill-er: sever fed funding from NPR. It's a scam anyway, no matter what teabaggy types say.; 3/8/11, 11:21 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: Interesting 'appalling' video. When Ron takes his NPR hat off, no wonder NPR is appalled. Check it out...; 3/8/11, 11:28 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: NPR's official version:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/08/134358398/in-video-npr-exec-slams-tea-party-questions-need-for-federal-funds; 3/8/11, 11:37 AM
informedveteran said...: Troll-O-Rama over at NPR.org.; 3/8/11, 2:30 PM
miranda said...: "Pakistan may be using the Davis case to gain the upper hand." -- Rachel Martin, ATC, March 8.

Much in the same way the Afghani parents are burning their own children.; 3/8/11, 4:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Insights into NPR, large member stations, funding and NPR getting punked.

http://www.current.org/funding/funding1004coop.shtml

DQP; 3/8/11, 4:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Never, ever screamed more or louder at the radio than I did this morning after Ari's work of blind blather. Sheesh.; 3/8/11, 6:33 PM
Mytwords said...: You may have been screaming at Ari's WikiLeaks slur, but General Warlove heartily approved!; 3/8/11, 9:10 PM
gDog said...: In Relations between CIA and ISI Strained, Rachel Martin says that the CIA regards various hills tribes and Afghans who never heard of 911 or could find the USA on a map as "existential threats to the United States" whereas the ISI regards these groups as "existential assets," whatever ever those might be.

Personally, I regard the CIA as, by far, the most serious existential threat to the US - one that may have already totally destroyed it.; 3/8/11, 10:22 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: I must say, Jean-Paul Sartre is the only one I trust to use the term 'existential' properly.

The American circus is reaching new heights of mental illness.; 3/9/11, 12:36 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: Gen'l Warlove provides strong leadership yet again. NPR's prize-winning fussbudget, Ari Supremo, at his constricted-vocal-cords best (I always have to turn down the treble control when he comes on). Feeling his freedom in playing NPR's token 'out' role, he's getting a little too gooey-swishy for comfort. However, he's just complying with the house rules to indulge in word porn for the thinking masses.

Meanwhile, the conceited social club that is NPR continues with the fluttery vanity of Blob Siegel making verbal love with DAVID BROOKS, who 'cares most about education'. He's always at his worst when he's posing as a 'liberal intellectual'.

Then, there's FRANK LUNTZ, facilitated by Neil Conman, eager to sell yet another NYT year-long best seller. He actually has the audacity to mock Charlie Sheen. Like the Neocon superstars, Luntz is a poster boy for the great American comeback. Another lovey-dovey lovefest between club members. During the interview, I was wondering how Frank's hair is doing. I hope it's OK.

I think I'm more comfortable with a Charlie Sheen than I am with these offensive, pompous fakes. Speaking of comebacks: Goebbels-ism flourishes in the midst of mediocrity.

How I weep for the decline of my country!; 3/9/11, 1:16 AM
Anonymous said...: How clueless and obsequious does a fund-raiser have to be to chuckle when his own network is described as "National Palestine Radio"?

Who would hire someone so clueless?

Would he also chuckle if the War Lovers League offered $5 million while noting the other nickname of National Pentagon Radio? I bet he would.; 3/9/11, 7:49 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Re: Le Affair O'Keefe.

NPR Executive fired for accurately describing Tea Party.

Further proof that NPR is cowardly servile to the Right.

What kind of "mainstream news outlet" can't stand up to a criminal documented fraud like Okeefe?; 3/9/11, 8:51 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Else where in NPRland

Bad news for FOXie Mara Liasson:

"NPR should have its journalists phase out any long-term contracts for appearances on other media outlets, monitor those appearances more carefully and make clearer distinctions between reporting, analysis and commentary in its programming, the network’s ethics-policy task force advised Feb. 25 [2011]."

Panel to NPR: Rein in punditizing Published in Current, March 7, 2011 By Mike Janssen

Check out the side-bar picture of Mara Liasson, a full time FOX News employee for more than a decade may have to move to FOX to keep her Rupert subsidy.

Further unintended humor, from the same article:

"Ombudsman Shepard, who sat in on two of Steele’s meetings with NPR staffers, told Current that she was surprised at what seemed to be a lack of familiarity with the ethics guidelines, even among longer-term employees."

Long timer reads know that yours truly and MTW have for years decried NPR's disregard it's Ethic code. Alicia has refused to explain why Juan William, Scott Simon, and Mara Liasson have been able to ignore the code for more than a decade.; 3/9/11, 9:33 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Oops, links didn't translate:

Here they are:

http://current.org/npr/npr1105pundit-ethics.html

Mara's FOX bio:

http://www.foxnews.com/bios/talent/mara-liasson; 3/9/11, 9:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Schiller #1 (Viv) Resigns!
Hahahahaha....

DQP; 3/9/11, 9:55 AM
miranda said...: NPR continues to eat its own: Ombud Shepard, et al., on Diane Rehm today, tsk tsking about the Schillers Two. Disparaging conservatives! Spouting personal opinion!; 3/9/11, 10:21 AM
geoff said...: So Ron Schiller is caught saying out loud that the tea party has no clothes and Viv must resign because...she has the same name? So what, Okeefe will now commandeer all the public radio station transmitters and spew his Breitbart (spell check offers brecciated)love potion over the masses, thereby inducing a deeper mass hypnosis goose-walking in a dream-state of mutually fulfilling self annihilation. I see your Sartre and raise you a Nietzsche.; 3/9/11, 10:30 AM
Buzztree said...: I've been having computer problems with Blogger lately and just lost a much longer comment, but all I want to say is that the whole business of "SCANDAL" about calling the Tea Partiers "racists" and "xenophobes" is to me the most interesting part of this. Of course using "racist" is now taboo. But seriously, is what he said so far off the mark? Hardly.; 3/9/11, 10:52 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: MEMO TO WYNDHAM/COCHRANE: LEAD WITH VIVIAN SCHILLER RESIGNATION

She’s OUT, baby, OUT.

Welcome to the Post-Schiller Era at NPR. Ron out, Viv out (and they insist there's 'no relation'!)

Nevertheless, the on-air talent is above such things. ME was bouncier than ever this morn. Inskreep of Cairo was able to crow 'From Cairo,' (pause) 'this is Morning Edition'. (Haven't those poor people suffered enough under Mubarak?). Blob Siegel's positively bubbly in a promo for his latest hobby: chatting with 'philosophical' authors about pop/kitschy book promotions, and Ari 'n Renaay are as breezy as ever.

Larry Abramson gave absolutely NO connective background as to why Viv resigned. Their strategy is to just show what a traitor the Schiller with some honesty (Ron) has been to the mother organization. Viv will be portrayed as a victim - who was 'squeezed out' and all of that. Plus, even though rightwingnut James O'Keeffe staged the Ron sting, it's the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD factor in said sting that will be retained in the minds of NPR's thinking masses. Mission accomplished with style and panache.

There will of course be no change in tone or agenda to be detected on the air at NPR. Schillers come and go, but the Imperative will remain the same. Why wreck a good thing?; 3/9/11, 10:58 AM
Anonymous said...: NPR might get a bit more sympathy for "Tea Party truth telling" if they had spent more time "telling the truth" on the air. Instead, NPR opinion balances and calls it "news and information." NPR, in my opinion, is part of the problem -- not because they don't take a political stand -- but because they don't take a FACTUAL stand. Their OBJECTIVITY is fatuous. This latest NPR episode is a great example of that. In the immortal words of Jon Stewart, "STOP HURTING AMERICA." NPR is hurting America. Like the WikiLeaks information, this recording provided me insight into the behavior of so-called liberal elites.; 3/9/11, 11:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Ombot doing her PR job on WaPo today.http://live.washingtonpost.com/npr-ombudsman.html; 3/9/11, 12:15 PM
geoff said...: That ombot dialog is a trove idiocy.

Alicia: Believe it or not -- and it is a leap of faith -- the funders, the top management executives and underwriters have NO control over content. anymore than the advertisers do over WaPo content.

How soon they forget: Washington Post Sells Access, $25,000+; 3/9/11, 1:13 PM
Anonymous said...: This just keeps getting better...

WASHINGTON – PBS says it was contacted by the same fake Muslim group that arranged a meeting with an NPR executive and secretly videotaped him calling the tea party racist.

PBS spokeswoman Anne Bentley said Wednesday that they had an initial conversation with the Muslim Education Action Center but had concerns about the group. She says a PBS executive was contacted, but when PBS couldn't confirm the organization's credentials, they halted discussions.

The Muslim Education Action Center is tied to conservative activist James O'Keefe. He posted a video online Tuesday of NPR executive Ron Schiller meeting with the fake Muslim group. The tape led to the resignation of NPR's chief executive, Vivian Schiller.; 3/9/11, 1:49 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Diane R. has the fabulous TUCKER CARLSON, who broke the story!

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-03-09/nprs-ceo-resigns; 3/9/11, 2:05 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: FYI: (no joke):

At Al Jazeera, I did a search:

'npr vivian schiller'

Results:

'Did you mean "npr vivian shiller"?; 3/9/11, 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Diane Rehm is just another DC insider, sitting down with the usual panoply of stooges. Today, it's just more incestuous.

Guests:

Tucker Carlson political commentator and founder of The Daily Caller

Patrick Butler President and C.E.O of the Association of Public Television Stations

Alicia Shepard NPR Ombudsman

Brooke Gladstone host of "On The Media"

David Edwards director and general manager, WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio and chair of the NPR board

Stephen Moore member of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board.

Paul Farhi Staff writer at the Washington Post covering media; 3/9/11, 2:13 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Listen to the way Alicia Shepherd TALKS; she's a real Nurse Ratched.; 3/9/11, 2:13 PM
Anonymous said...: David Broder is dead. The Dean is Dead. Sounds like a "The Smiths" song. Does that make Broder Dean of the DC Press Corpse? Who will DC elevate to become the new Dean of the DC Press Corps?; 3/9/11, 2:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Alicia likes to be called "Lisa." At least, that is what it said on the WaPo site today.; 3/9/11, 2:17 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: OK, one more:

Wonkette's take:

http://wonkette.com/440099/
breaking-npr-person-a-human-being-has-personal-opinions-on-politics

AND:

http://wonkette.com/440168/tea-party-racists-will-all-start-listening-to-npr-now

One more FYI:

Viv Schiller's dad is named RON!

(Source: Wikipædia); 3/9/11, 2:20 PM
Anonymous said...: White House Reaffirms Commitment To Funding NPR, Public Broadcasting

WASHINGTON -- Despite an embarrassing and potentially costly two days for National Public Radio, the Obama administration on Wednesday reaffirmed its commitment to budgeting more than $450 million for public broadcasting.

Speaking hours after NPR President Vivian Schiller resigned over an undercover video that showed an NPR fundraiser willfully negotiating with a financier claiming ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dismissed heightened talk of cutting the network’s federal subsidies.

“We do not support calls to eliminate funding for National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as is evidenced by our budget,” Carney said. “In an era where tough choices have to be made, including the ones this president laid out in his proposed 2012 budget, there remains a need to support public broadcasting and NPR.”

It wasn’t the most full-throated endorsement -- at one point, Carney suggested that NPR’s White House correspondent, Mara Liasson, come up to the podium to help with her organization’s defense.

Still, for NPR defenders, the administration’s continued support is welcome news. Just a day before she resigned, Schiller took to the National Press Club to argue that some level of government funding was critical for NPR's ability to continue broadcasting in some of the country’s more rural locales.

The $451 million that Obama allocated in his 2012 budget is, of course, for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and not just NPR alone. And while Republicans in Congress have primarily singled out NPR as an example of federal waste, their legislative sites are actually set on knocking out both organizations.

*****

Sounds like the kiss of death to me. The White House defends the CPB (and with it, NPR) and the Congress opposes. Then, the CPB gets cut from the budget and the White House and Congress both win.; 3/9/11, 2:59 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Typically, like any decent corporation in need of corporate welfare, NPR wants it both ways. They say that only 1-2% is what they get from gub'ment, and it's no big deal. Then they say they can't survive without it.

James O'Keeffe takes notes from NPR's playbook.

Solution: dump your salary hogs (the NPR superstars) and go grassroots. Sure, sure they will...

The Diane Rehm show was a predictable waste of on-air time, with the guests filling it up with gobbledygook. Viv as victim, of course, as she's done SO MUCH for NPR. And naturally 'Lisa' Shepherd was distancing herself cuz she's 'not influenced' by NPR in any way.

Another average day in the decline of the empire.

Since Broder blew out, why not nominate Mara Liarsson to take up the mantle? (She may need the gig...); 3/9/11, 4:12 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: A significant moment on the Diane R. show though:

Brooke Gladstone asserts that liberal commentators are not in the majority at NPR.

Interesting what comes out when the gun’s to the head.; 3/9/11, 4:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Port,

I don't think "Dean" is a paying gig, just an unpaid title. So, if Mara loses her NPR gig, FoxNews may have to pick her up full time in order to qualify. Maybe she can get coffee for Uncle Juan at the FoxNews DC HQ? Or, maybe she can wipe something for Ailes?

Since people think that Broder was a knee-jerk liberal, my guess is that conservatives (and NPR in a nod toward "fairness and balance") might expect that the next DC Dean be a conservative. David Horowitz would probably be happy too, even though this position isn't an academic one. You know, affirmative action for the majority.

Anyway, I think Liasson would be great. She doesn't have a print background, but since "print is dead," a journo with radio and TV cred might be the best pick; that is unless we want to go with a pure blogger like Megan McArdle. Mara is female, I think. She's Jewish, I'd bet. And, she's nominally conservative, so she balances well against Broder.

Of course, whoever gets picked, they have to be a serious throne sniffer. And, Liasson has years of experience and a right perfect schnoz to boot.

Don Q. Public; 3/9/11, 4:32 PM
miranda said...: Does anyone else find it frustrating to see Stands for Nothing radio going down in a hail of "anti-liberal" gunfire? Right target, wrong reason.

While listening to TOTN, on which NPR continued to cover itself with its own correspondents (the bumpily named David Folkenflik), taking calls from Murkins with "a beef" about "liberal NPR," I fantasized about a talk-show appearance (not on NPR) by MYTWORDS, destroying once and for all the myth that NPR is a liberal news source.; 3/9/11, 4:36 PM
Anonymous said...: @Miranda,

NPR isn't liberal, so I don't care who takes them down. NPR provides a so-called liberal network for corporatists of all political types to exploit. My frustration with NPR pushed me to find better news and information sources. I pretty much check in on NPR as a form of sick entertainment and as a bellwether for conventional, elite wisdom. And, if someone can finally put NPR to death, it's conservatives. Liberals are just impotent to shoot themselves in the foot. I think the conservatives just have a lot better aim.

Don Q. Public; 3/9/11, 4:49 PM
miranda said...: gDog:

YES, agreed. Was it JFK's vow to "scatter [the CIA] to the four winds" that helped get him, uh, removed from office?

Don. Q,

Surely you are preaching to the choir; I've camped out on this blog for years.; 3/9/11, 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: @miranda,

Right target. Yes.
The reason? Moot.

Regards,

DQP; 3/9/11, 5:38 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: All of this discussion (on its many levels) strikes me as valid because, like Wikileaks, genuine facts about NPR are being tossed out into the public sphere.

And, as Julian Assange so simply put it, the embarrassment that results is gigantic. The truthinesses that previously existed concerning NPR are now being replaced by notions that listeners will have to decide on. That is, if they choose to.; 3/9/11, 8:27 PM
informedveteran said...: Check out the disparity in the number of comments between

In Video: NPR Exec Slams Tea Party, Questions Need For Federal Funds (3/8/11 1342 comments) and
What's The Impact Of U.S. Arms Deals In The Middle East? (3/8/11 ZERO comments).; 3/9/11, 9:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Port,

Here, here!

DQP; 3/9/11, 11:00 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Thanks Don Q.

This, the first day in the Post-Schiller(s) Era, has been a real jungle.

I'm writhing off to bed now. Bedtime reading? Perhaps some Schiller. Friedrich Schiller. No relation. 'Ode To Joy'....; 3/10/11, 12:45 AM
Anonymous said...: All,

A new effort from some public radio friends of mine.

http://www.fronterasdesk.org

DQP; 3/10/11, 12:51 AM
Mytwords said...: I'm a bit with Miranda on this one. If liberals and progressives were using this opportunity to call out NPR News for the crap that it is, then I'd feel a lot better...but if I get another deluded email from Free Press or read another "liberal" commenter claiming how valuable and serious NPR journalism is I think I'll become a trichotillomaniac!

NPR - stands for nothing, falls for anything; 3/10/11, 6:33 AM
.b.p.f.b said...: ^ And THAT was my word for today! (and oh how one can relate)

bunny out.; 3/10/11, 8:25 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: I'm enjoying watching NPR digging their hole deeper. While it would be nice to see them go completely down in flames, I suspect it will manage to survive this and become even more of what we've grown to hate.

It also seems to me that some of the people who defend NPR aren't really listening to NPR because if they were what would they have thought of the horrid broadcast of ME today? The Pentagon correspondent should just be called the Pentagon spokesman as NPR cheerleads the rush to have a "no-fly zone" over Libya, their hand wringing over the big wigs bailing out of the Pentagon. Then Ari Shapiro conducts the most lame FM morning rock jock style interview I've ever heard with Chris Rock. None of this crap needs my tax dollars in support or the wheedling I get locally to keep this garbage on the air.

Salon's coverage of the NPR fiasco had some very pointed commentary that sounded like it came from us. Maybe it did, but I'm seeing new people saying what I and others have been saying at Salon for some time now. Some people are waking up but others refuse to have their illusions about NPR taken away from them.; 3/10/11, 9:09 AM
Jay Schiavone said...: The previous comment from Mr. Lynch underscores the undeniable upshot of the Schiller affair: the old President/CEO was insufficiently deferential to power. Her replacement will be the utmost embodiment of a lickspittle. NPR functionaries will strive even more desperately to dispel the whiff of liberalism that is believed to pervade the organization. American political culture has leapt past McCarthyism and is nosing ahead of the Stalinist purges as we frantically attempt to purify ourselves. But this is not a struggle to satisfy the Republican congress. As has been pointed out repeatedly, NPR gets a tiny fraction of their funding from the government. it is undeniably plain that this struggle is entirely manifested to please the corporate masters of the Republican (and Democrat) government. The government has become a figurehead, mainly. Corporations are more powerful than most governments, and private armies are growing at an alarming clip. Who better to ease us into the new order than the liberal folks at NPR? How comforting to discover that it's safe for liberals to promote militarism and surveillance and to oppress the poor? If we are coddled properly, we will never come to recognize that we have crushed ourselves.
So, yeah, the next NPR prez is going to be an even bigger shit. If Alicia Shepard knew how to get money from plutocrats, she would get the job.
Sure, we'll always have access to non-corpotate news on the web. Net neutrality can mean a lot of things.; 3/10/11, 9:57 AM
Anonymous said...: @Patrick Lynch.

Re: "I'm enjoying watching NPR digging their hole deeper. While it would be nice to see them go completely down in flames, I suspect it will manage to survive this and become even more of what we've grown to hate."

Fact is, NPR is digging DEEPER holes for everyone else than they are for themselves. NPR will survive BECAUSE their CPB funding is so small. Smaller public radio stations and PBS stations probably will not be so lucky. Watch for more (and accelerated) public media consolidation in the near term.

My friends and former associates inside public broadcasting report that NPR has been talking about a post-federal-funding regime for some time. It's their guess that Schiller was really just channeling NPR unofficial strategy -- with or without his hat. How collegial of NPR to torpedo its public radio brethren for the sake of principle and planning! As if 10-11% of NPR's funding was really the reason that conservatives have a hard-on for the so-called "liberal" media.

Of course, "liberals" who support NPR, but who lack a firm grasp of how it's funded, will come to the rescue, right? SAVE NPR! SAVE NPR! But, will NPR transfer any amount of money it receives directly from same national funder to those entities that suffer from NPR's ineptitude? Doubtful.

If I was working at the CPB, PBS or some PBS affiliate, I'd probably be shopping around for jobs in public radio (at larger public radio stations and networks) if I wanted to keep working in my field. I know that may seem counter-intuitive to some, but that is what is going on behind the scenes -- that and a bunch of screaming at the NPR geniuses.

DQP; 3/10/11, 10:33 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: Can't resist this one:

According to NPR's Standards & Morals:

- Juan Williams can't make bozo statements on another channel.

- Ron Schiller can't offer his personal opinions at a private lunch.

BUT, Dina's Temple of Doom CAN:

- Refer to an ethnic Chinese man (who converted to Islam) as having a 'Fu Manchu' beard.

I don't know, it all seems kind of, you know . . . funny. I guess it's just entertaining trivia. No big deal. I'm forgetting about the 'new' NPR, and what that means.

What it means is that NPR WENT COMMERCIAL a long time ago. We all know that. And after you go commercial, you can't expect to keep playing this 'moral high-ground' BS trip that NPR purports to exploit.

You've been 'Wikileaked', NPR. Now the public has more of an inkling of your true nature. Judging from the many comments I've scanned, from Wonkette (yes, there are plenty of serious comments there), to HuffPost, C&L and NPR itself, it seems like there are significant numbers of listeners who are fed up. Indeed, many have been for some time, and this latest dust-up just confirms it.

And those commentators who defend NPR as the liberal beacon that it is? Hey, they NEED that NPR gig. They'll say anything in order to keep getting that easy 3-minute segment at NPR HQ, plus maybe a free lunch - or if it's cocktail hour, a designer martini. Keep an eye out for a James O'Keefe 'stinger' though. (No doubt a future cocktail name...)

Meanwhile, back at on-air NPR, the oblivious party continues. Never show any weakness. Ari tries to outdo Chris Rock in the jokey dept (fails - Rock prefers to do it straight), and Dave Greene's still doing those smiley-talk travelogues from 'colorful' Tunisia. Way-too-valuable Gjelten was just there for a show-off cameo, y'know. He's safe back in Chantilly now, but got in a fun junket to 'colorful' N. Africa, 1 to 2% of which was paid for by US taxpayers. Did we get our money's worth, gang?

Oh, and Barbie's not that popular in China. Oh, oh, and the late Dean Broder gets a tacit nod for doing 'shoe-leather' journalism as an old fart.

And stay tuned for DAVID BROOKS, who's getting a full hour of book promotion on Diane Rehm, as is his birthright.; 3/10/11, 10:36 AM
Anonymous said...: @Patrick Lynch,

Your "digging ... deeper" quote made me think of those endless, inane fund-raising promos that NPR fed to member stations during pledge-drive season.

Montagne: "NPR digs deeper... yada, yada..."

I think I just yacked in the back of my throat.

Thanks for the memories...

DQP; 3/10/11, 10:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Meanwhile...

Juan Williams: NPR 'All White Organization,' Exhibited 'Worst Of White Condescension' In Firing Me

The Race Race continues!; 3/10/11, 10:55 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: The Peter King 'hearings' are keeping the great HUAC tradition alive.

As we know, ever since the Commie/Soviet Industry went out of business, things Muslim have been the perfect elements for a segue into a #1 Enemy, whose mission is to infiltrate and destroy the American Way of Life. Soon an Evil Caliph will emerge from, say, all-American Chiggston, Iowa, with a new jihadist cry: 'WE'LL BURY YOU!'

Thus, a Prime Directive to justify our preeminence as a meaningful Empire. It's that loony. Glenn Beck's a children's birthday party entertainer in comparison.

I mean, the US talks a lot about North Korea having to have an enemy in order to justify its existence. Pot calling kettle black, naturally.

There's no reason to tie in NPR to any of this. Their influence is waning by the moment. At Wonkette, I loved Ken Layne's description of NPR as:

"... a dull yuppie news network primarily funded by the industrial food and chemical conglomerates that keep the Tea Party people so plump and diabetic, so of course NPR is catering not to its listeners (liberal yuppies who ignore the Archer Daniels Midland sponsorship messages that bookend basically every NPR program) in this situation, but to Tea Party people and their cynical performers in the House of Representatives. Tea Party people don’t listen to NPR news, obviously."; 3/10/11, 12:51 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: @DQP/Anonymous: My "digging a deeper hole" was a deliberate reference to those nauseating fund drive promos. WEKU often gets local notables to come on and shill for the station and they repeat that bit of pablum for those who still have open chequebooks.

And in the little rant about the disgusting ME broadcast this morning, I was only going off on the twenty minutes I heard at breakfast this morning.; 3/10/11, 1:12 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: DN! isn't getting too wigged out over the NPR trauma. One slight paragraph in their headlines. (I was more struck by the Dalai Lama stepping down as political leader...). Most of it was devoted to Jay Carney's WH response. Perhaps there'll be a segment coming up, but they've got more important things to cover.

Some thought on the HUAC - I mean, Peter King hearings:

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/3/10/mark_potok_peter_king_hearings_on_muslims_despicable; 3/10/11, 1:25 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Sorry, last bit of cut/paste URL was hacked off:

http://www.democracynow.org/
blog/2011/3/10/mark_potok_peter_king_hearings
_on_muslims_despicable

Also at DN!: Michael Moore on the WI class war.; 3/10/11, 1:27 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: John Stewart from last night's Daily Show, pointing out NPR folded like a wet paper bag when confronted by the documented clown, criminal, fraud O Keefe. Courage thy name is not NPR.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-march-9-2011/moveon-aww---npr-executive-resigns; 3/10/11, 1:27 PM
Anonymous said...: @Patrick Lynch,
Thank YOU!
DQP; 3/10/11, 1:36 PM
Anonymous said...: All,

I'd like to know, how much money, if any, Pacifica stations get from the CPB. I tried to check out the financials at Pacifica.Org, but was unable to open their .pdf files. Anyone?

DQP; 3/10/11, 1:39 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: I just read the Wonkette comments. Wow. One of the commenters had an interesting point about NPR. If they won't fight for their listeners when NPR is in the right, why should their listeners? Well, as long as NPR can keep it's corporate money flowing, it doesn't care if it loses the critical thinkers who actually pay attention.; 3/10/11, 1:40 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: @Porter: This is what I said at Salon about the NPR mess/Jon Stewart.

Thursday, March 10, 2011 10:42 AM ET
When are people going to wake up about NPR?

How much more does it take for liberals to wake up and see that their precious NPR is anything but liberal? They have been pro corporatist, pro neo-con, pro military, anti-union, anti-teachers, anti-social security for years. After NPR got in bed with the Pentagon at the outset of the Iraq war, they have gradually quit hiding their true colours. People who are defending NPR are either not listening or they hear the words but are not using anything that resembles critical thinking skills.

If you want serious journalism, shut off NPR and go listen to Democracy Now and Al-Jazeera.

If you want mindless elitist beltway conventional wisdom and undisguised neo con propaganda, send in your pledges and crank up NPR!

NPR's neo-con bias has been well documented by Fair.org and NPR Check. Read the documentation and listen very closely to what is actually being said on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Compare that to the stories that Glenn Greenwald and Firedoglake cover routinely and see how many times NPR covered those issues. You won't hear anything and you find anything on their website either.
—Native Kentuckian Read Native Kentuckian's other letters
Permalink; 3/10/11, 1:44 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Sane clarity from Naomi Klien - bless her:

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/naomi_klein_on_anti_union_bills; 3/10/11, 1:51 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Patrick,

Well done, Native Kentuckian!; 3/10/11, 1:53 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: Porter,

Thank you!; 3/10/11, 2:32 PM
Anonymous said...: On ATC today.

Mitch Daniels: A 'Grown-Up' Brand Of GOP Politics
by MARA LIASSON

DQP; 3/10/11, 5:13 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Just listen to Liarsson! She's stooping to Seabrook levels, getting down on her knees in front of Mitch Daniels, Idol and Governor. You can hear it in the tone of her voice: pure swoon. Plus he's short & bald, just like her husband.

To wrap up the 'stalemate' in WI (Melissa Blockhead's term; NPR obviously wants the WI story to just go away) Blob Siegel has, for the sole guest, a WI GOP senator, who's as snotty as Karl Rove. Blob facilitates rather than grills, of course.

Over at DN!, their many segments on WI tell a rather different story. It's NOT OVER, NPR.; 3/10/11, 6:23 PM
Anonymous said...: apologies to mytwords if comments mentioning npr check and linking to it have contributed to the recent email barrage.

listening to temple-raston's "human interest" report on anti-muslim discrim today (the one with mr. fu manchu in it): the punch-line made it out like it's all about an abstract national security versus "individual rights" trade off. this non sequitur after kind of reporting about the very much GROUP BASED BIGOTRY muslims (or anyone looking 'middle eastern') face at the hands of gov't officials, etc., creating injury to an entire class of people all at once.; 3/10/11, 6:49 PM
The Boss of You said...: Did everyone see this? "NPR hosts, journalists ‘appalled’ by Ron Schiller’s comments" -- the usual suspects are there. To use a very old phrase, gag me with a spoon.; 3/10/11, 7:01 PM
The Boss of You said...: Part II of the sting operation. In this installment, we see that NPR did not fall for James O'Keefe's nonsense, but I am sure the journalists and anchors are still appalled by Ron Schiller basically calling a racist a racist.; 3/10/11, 7:09 PM
Mytwords said...: Regarding Temple-Rastons two stories today on profiling, I have to say I thought they were pretty good for Temple-Raston and NPR. I don't expect NPR to be any great bastion of progressive or leftist news, but I thought she pointed out the gross bigotry of border security. And you know I'm no fan of Temple-Raston's.; 3/10/11, 7:14 PM
The Boss of You said...: Second attempt posting this. "NPR hosts, journalists ‘appalled’ by Ron Schiller’s comments", the usual suspects signed. These journalists are so committed to 'journalistic integrity' that they don't like some called racists racist.; 3/10/11, 7:16 PM
The Boss of You said...: third try posting a charm? http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/122867/npr-hosts-journalists-appalled-by-ron-schillers-comments/; 3/10/11, 7:19 PM
JayV said...: Hats off to Mr Lynch from Kentucky (comments here and his quoted on Salon) and to the others who are entertaining us with analysis about the exiting Schillers... well done!; 3/10/11, 7:43 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Apparently, James O'Keefe promises MORE scuttlebutt on NPR in the days to come.; 3/10/11, 8:09 PM
Anonymous said...: "And we want to remind folks that NPR is not about management coming and going, but about the terrific journalism the staff produces every day ."

Quoted from link provided by BoY.

My guess is that "Dollar Bill" Marazzo will come to the Schill spot. If they can convince him to take the pay cut!

I was also somewhat surprised by Temple of Doom reporting from Canadian border.

edk; 3/11/11, 8:20 AM
Anonymous said...: Last night there was a report about my fair city of Reading, Pa. One of the women is, in fact, my Council representative. Of course living here I saw a somewhat different picture of how Reading got to be in such dire financial straits. First the two women themselves are part of the problem in that they never said a thing when Warren Haggerty (Mayor), Micheal Setley (financial advisor), and Sam McCoullough (ran Meridian bank) were cooking up all the deals they struck. Borrowing money to play in the international money markets, borrowing and then re-financing existing debt for 20 more years, and Meridian Bank basically owned major political players in town.

And Act 47 is simply allowing incumbents to run without having to deal with rising taxes and fees. The word is: "Act 47 is making these things happen; it isn't me".

edk; 3/11/11, 8:26 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Good stuff from around the web about NPR's cowardice:

They Brought a Tote Bag to a Knife Fight: The Resignation of NPR’s CEO, Vivian Schiller. by Jay Rosen, at Jay Rosen’s Press Think:

“To give in to that panic is to cooperate in your own demise. Which is exactly what the NPR board did by demanding that Schiller–a visionary leader who knew where NPR had to go in the digital age–resign immediately, and without a fight. This was a stupid and cowardly act, . . .”

NPR Flubs Response to Schiller Controversy: Another “scandal,” another rash reaction by Joel Meares at the Columbia Journalism Review

“It’s to NPR’s discredit that they took O’Keefe’s bait. Even the least cynical of scandal-watchers would struggle to believe that the NPR board is surprised by the sentiments Ron Schiller expressed. It’s not as if he came out in favor of infanticide, or expressed a lifelong admiration of Pol Pot. He offered the same lazy liberal nostrums common at Washington cocktail parties and presumably very familiar to NPR staffers at all levels.”; 3/11/11, 8:31 AM
gDog said...: The only reporting on Nuke plants in Japan is on the "Two Way," whatever the hell that is, which reports that

... The International Atomic Energy Agency has offered support to Japan and says four nuclear plants closest to the quake have safely shut down. ..

But the Beeb is reporting thusly:

Dr Richard Phillips from the University of Leeds said that a reactor has to be rapidly cooled when it is automatically switched off.

"One power station failed to cool sufficiently but the stations are robust and there is no expectation that any leaks will occur," he explained.; 3/11/11, 10:44 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: I know I've been overdoing the play-by-play of National (Whatever) Radio lately, but this morn I've finally got a good excuse to back off.

After sketchy coverage of the Japan quake/tsunami that led the hour (regional location/epicenter weren't even mentioned - granted, maybe not known yet), always in-command Ari indulged in a gosh-gee-golly wonder session about the Reagan assassination attempt. I know that it's one of NPR's missions to keep the Reagan Cult of Personality alive and worshiped (there's a significant number of people in Russia who want Stalin back), but the incongruity was unacceptable. As Ari drooled with excitement over the President's 'still beating' heart being moved aside to get the bullet out, the death numbers in Japan were multiplying, maybe exponentially.

This is what I can't stand about NPR choosing to mix hard, breaking news with fluffball features. I know it shows their token 'diversity' as America's Storyteller, but it makes for vulgar broadcasting.

But our Leader and Teacher Reagan is bigger than any old tsunami - never forget that. And his gentle, folksy humor is just too wonderful and inspiring. Crabby old Mark Twain, eat your heart out!

Magazine shows are all about ratings though, and since NPR is unabashedly commercial, that's the only route to take.

Then Renaay was concerned about the Latino explosion in California. She was speaking for scared white folks, who are the core of NPR listenership. Juan Williams had one thing right: NPR is a white bread outfit.

Quite frankly, I don't know any person of color who would even think of turning to NPR for anything, let alone the news. Through the years I've casually referred to NPR in conversations, and I've gotten blank looks. No scientific think-tanky study this, just an observation.

If NPR speaks mostly to white folks, fine. That's their choice. But it's not particularly 'public' and it's not worthy of fed money. It's basically a special interest operation.; 3/11/11, 1:10 PM
informedveteran said...: On the USS Enterprise we had an emergency core cooling system in our reactor plants. I'm sure all reactors have them, and their design varies. Supposedly some are even gravity operated.

As for Japan, if you start seeing news reports of "primary relief" or "primary relief valve lifted", put your seatbelt on.

I don't know if Japan "scrammed" or not. A reactor scram is an emergency shutdown where the hafnium control rods are quickly injected all the way in to absorb thermal neutrons. If I remember correctly (its been awhile) there are still reactions from fission products for a while after that, that generate heat.

You can't "quickly" cool a reactor down though. They have very specific heat up and cool down charts to prevent brittle fracture.

Clean, Safe, Too Cheap To Meter; 3/11/11, 1:23 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: My God, the images...

(BBC, Al Jaz, DN!); 3/11/11, 1:38 PM
Miranda said...: More news from the Bizarro World: Obama says the Pentagon says the Pentagon's treatment of Bradley Manning is just fine; and Wonkette reports that the Glenn Beck (!!!) website exposes the heavy editing of the O'Keefe NPR takedown video. http://bit.ly/hzJBnc; 3/11/11, 3:16 PM
JayV said...: From FAIR: "Stinging NPR: James O'Keefe's Big Nothing"

http://www.fair.org/blog/2011/03/11/stinging-npr-james-okeefes-big-nothing/; 3/11/11, 3:39 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: They Brought a Tote Bag to a Knife Fight: The Resignation of NPR’s CEO, Vivian Schiller. by Jay Rosen, at Jay Rosen’s Press Think:

“To give in to that panic is to cooperate in your own demise. Which is exactly what the NPR board did by demanding that Schiller–a visionary leader who knew where NPR had to go in the digital age–resign immediately, and without a fight. This was a stupid and cowardly act, . . .”

NPR Flubs Response to Schiller Controversy: Another “scandal,” another rash reaction by Joel Meares at the Columbia Journalism Review

“It’s to NPR’s discredit that they took O’Keefe’s bait. Even the least cynical of scandal-watchers would struggle to believe that the NPR board is surprised by the sentiments Ron Schiller expressed. It’s not as if he came out in favor of infanticide, or expressed a lifelong admiration of Pol Pot. He offered the same lazy liberal nostrums common at Washington cocktail parties and presumably very familiar to NPR staffers at all levels.”; 3/11/11, 4:10 PM
JayV said...: So it's APM, but tonight I wanted to note for y'all Marketplace's litany, "Let's do the numbers": "The earthquake didn't rattle the investors."

That's a relief for NPR listeners.; 3/11/11, 5:48 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: Miranda, looks like we'll have to get our inside stuff about NPR from Glenn Beck now.

On second thought, I think I'll stick with Wonkette.

In any case, my latest blitz of tolerating NPR is concluded. I'm feeling too damaged/violated, yet again.

Condolences to Japan...; 3/11/11, 6:42 PM
Anonymous said...: media matters has a piece on conservatives defending NPrrr

http://mediamatters.org/research/201103110037; 3/11/11, 8:20 PM
a.m. said...: Oleaginous panderer to the right Scott Simon knows instinctively how to behave in a crisis: sanctimoniously attack your own organization's execs rather than the right-wing guttersnipes who are targeting it for destruction.; 3/12/11, 6:06 AM
informedveteran said...: Reactor containment building explosion in Japan. If I remember correctly an extremely high gamma radiation flux causes the water to separate into hydrogen and oxygen. This could be the cause of the explosion.

The containment building comprises a significant amount of the shielding necessary to slow down the "zoomies" like neutrons that naturally escape during normal operation. Now the reactor vessel and primary piping are just flapping in the breeze.

Keep in mind that the containment buildings at Three Mile Island are 3 feet thick made from reinforced concrete.

I don't know how many "reporters" in our wonderful news media are able to translate what is happening there so I will try to keep you all posted.; 3/12/11, 9:34 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: Regarding the Media Matters article conservatives praising NPR's "fairness": Of course they think its fair when NPR constantly caters to their positions.

The comments made me mostly face palm. What can one say to people who hear words but never apply any kind of thinking towards what those words really mean. Or question their veracity and recognise when Blob Siegel has gotten out his supersize BS shovel.; 3/12/11, 9:49 AM
informedveteran said...: Fukushima is FAR beyond the TMI accident now.

Supposedly they are injecting seawater which means all bets are off. Forget saving the core, they are just trying to halt the meltdown.; 3/12/11, 11:43 AM
gDog said...: Informed, Where do you think we little people can get reliable reporting on this?; 3/12/11, 11:59 AM
informedveteran said...: The NPR comments sections seem to be keeping up. I've been following these:

at-crippled-japanese-nuclear-plant-last-ditch-effort-to-prevent-meltdown

explosion-at-japanese-nuclear-plant-not-nuclear-no-meltdown

shaking-smoke-at-japanese-nuclear-plant

Apparently this reactor is a little different than the ones I worked with (and at sea you just dump your radioactive water into the ocean).

The building that blew up might have just been a weather covering type of thing and there probably are 2 intact containment structures around the RX vessel.; 3/12/11, 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: This is a pretty telling article about the political donations the new NPR CEO made to Democratic candidates between 1999 and 2002.

From OpenSecrets.org: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/03/ceo-3-10-2011.html; 3/12/11, 1:42 PM
gDog said...: Would that NPR had reporters of calibre of Sea Shepherd Guardians.; 3/12/11, 3:53 PM
larry, dfh said...: What strikes me about this all is the complete and easy caving by S-4-0 staff over l'Affaire o'keefe. Now that the video is proven to have been altered to reflect S-4-0 in a particularly bad light, it would seem obvious that the staff should attack the perpetrator, the mgt. But these people are both cowardly and stupid, and only react to 'calm the waters' when the boat gets rocked. They are very much part of the stupid and lazy class that includes nearly all federal politicians and Department Secretaries. 'The right thing' gets done only if it happens to be the path of least resistance. Why is o'lkeefe allowed to do this stuff? It seems that the tapes were edited to reflect negatively on schiller, does that not meet the standard of Libel? O'keefe has been caught in a criminal conspiracy regarding Senator Mary Landrieu, yet he's out on the street slandering people. Kevin Mitnick was imprisoned for years, and forbidden to go anywhere near a computer, for stealing, and then returning someone's e-mails. Yet o'keefe is free and free to slander and impugn. With the ACORN Affair, I even heard some S-4-0 folks praising o'keefe for his bravery and vision.; 3/12/11, 7:38 PM
informedveteran said...: Pretty good summary of the cascading nuclear "problems" so far except for a few things. I can say one thing for sure, charging seawater into the reactor coolant is the very last page of the when-s#@t-hits-the-fan manual. It is intensely caustic at low pressure and temperature, let alone hundreds of degrees and thousands of psi. There is little known what will happen because this may have never been done before.

That being said, at Chernobyl a 2000 Ton lid blew off the reactor vessel and you could look directly into the glowing reactor core from a helicopter (I'm sure its on utube). Graphite moderator blocks then were ejected in a second explosion and there was fire involved. That was a VERY different design than what was used in Japan. It is very misleading for NPR to use the word Chernobyl when describing what could happen. Three Mile Island Unit 2 was a PWR (pressurized water reactor - water cooled and water moderated) which is a much closer comparison to what is happening in Japan which are BWRs - (boiling water reactors).

Moderated means that water is used to slow the neutrons down enough to react with the fuel rods - to make them "thermal neutrons" in Navyspeak.; 3/13/11, 9:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Fukushima: Japanese for Deep Horizon Louisianna?

edk; 3/14/11, 8:16 AM
geoff said...: I hope Port wasn't listening to ME Saturday when Wertheimer was channeling the Simonizer. That was some excruciating excrement.; 3/14/11, 11:09 AM
informedveteran said...: Injecting emergency coolant and venting steam is a VERY inefficient way to cool a reactor. Reactor Coolant (circulating) Pumps are ENORMOUS machines of technological achievement, and if they are unable to run and CIRCULATE coolant, AND the turbines are unable to spin, AND the condensers are unable to condense exhaust steam AND the feedwater pumps can't circulate that condensate, we are in serious trouble if decay heat can't be dealt with.

What we basically have is a machine designed to generate as much heat as possible, and now the parts that normally direct and remove that heat are all out of commission - Pumps, Turbines, Condensers. Even though the emergency shutdown occurred (SCRAMs), "decay" heat is still being generated due to reaction from fission fragments. Decay heat is a small fraction of the heat that is generated from 100% power, but when you are talking about hundreds of megawatts, even a small fraction of that in the form od decay heat is enough to cause "meltdown" if heat can't be controlled. Decay heat is generated for many hours after shutdown.

Any reactor that was running at the time of the quake may be in exactly the same boat, and supposedly 11 of Japan's 55 reactors had scrammed.; 3/14/11, 12:25 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: geoff, thanks for your concern. Indeed,I managed to dodge that particular NPR sewage treatment. I seem to be coping well with my 460-step (or whatever it takes) withdrawal program from NPRadiation.

Informed, thanks for the helpful background. Like many situations today, the direness is downplayed to keep the public passive.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has always been a sane source for info. (Great black humor cartoons, too.)

http://www.thebulletin.org/

6 minutes to midnight...; 3/14/11, 2:13 PM