Sunday, October 23, 2011

Q Tips

NPR related comments, notes and critiques welcomed.  For new readers, I have been posting far less frequently in the last year, but - through the efforts of contributors - Q Tips continues to be an informative and vital part of keeping tabs on NPR's role as the loyal mouthpiece of institutions of power in the US.
Posted by Mytwords at 3:32 PM

30 comments:

Satchel said...

I'm kind of in the process of quitting NPR (a habit of some 15 years). Stories like this one, however, push me a lot closer to the edge:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/10/21/141512746/france-and-germany-a-love-story

I think that might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard on the radio.

10/23/11, 8:14 PM
Patrick Lynch said...

Worse than the Eleanor Beardsley piece on voting on a new constitution in Tunisia? I don't think I've heard anything as condescending lately as Beardsley "cheering" on people who can now vote in a "democracy". I'd go on, but it only makes my blood boil. No need for self inflicted stress recounting it. Here's a link instead.
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/23/141622931/tunisians-wake-to-their-very-first-election-day?ps=rs

10/24/11, 8:58 AM
miranda said...

No more Mee-shill for a whole year on ATC? Say it ain't so, Mee-shil ma belle!

10/24/11, 1:11 PM
BPFB said...

href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/592/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8529"

10/25/11, 2:52 PM
a.m. said...

Apparently, though, Michele Norris will still "produc[e] signature segments and features and wor[k] on new reporting projects" despite her Keystone pipeline lobbyist husband's high profile role in the Obama reelection campaign. That would seem to be much more problematic for NPR from an ethics standpoint than non-news, non-NPR employee Simeone's OWS activities. But hey: that's how the media elite and the 1% roll.

10/25/11, 7:23 PM
Mytwords said...

The information about Me-Shill's better half (hee, hee) just gets slimier and slimier... he should be a good fit for the Obama administration, just as Me-Shill is a perfect fit for NPR. Hat tip to Justin Elliot at Salon.

BTW, here's the FAIR link that BPFB was citing above.

10/26/11, 6:29 AM
Patrick Lynch said...

Over at Salon, there are now tons of comments from people who totally get what NPR has become.

Fired NPR host sees McCarthyism

And this gem from a former NPR reporter:

NPR dodges the peril of Socialism

I'm feeling somewhat encouraged by the increasing stupidity of NPR. It means that they have crossed the Rubicon in such a way that even casual observers can no longer their malfeasance as journalists.

10/26/11, 1:25 PM
Anonymous said...

I bet old Muppeteer Knell is already having second (and probably third and fourth) thoughts about wading into the NPR barnyard full of pig slop and manure -- and rolling around in it with Inspeek, Ignorus and the gang.

I might have to start listening to NPR again -- for the sheer entertainment value.

Every time you think they've done the stupidest thing they could possibly do, they do something stupider.

Pass the popcorn.

10/26/11, 9:57 PM
Popepepe said...

Mara Lie-ass-on has once again managed to paint the OWS movement as dangerous and unorganized. It's almost like the reporters at NPR don't listen to their own copy. In one breath: "Polls show there is broad support for the sentiment behind Occupy Wall Street, with almost half agreeing with the protesters' views about income inequality and corporate greed.

But the protesters have yet to turn their frustrations into clear-cut goals."

BUT THEN: "On Wednesday, the president took on one of the demonstrators' issues, announcing that some student loans can be refinanced sooner than originally planned. "

No clear cut goals, but they have ISSUES-issues that make them sound like mental patients.

10/27/11, 5:20 AM
Nate Bowman said...

The Lisa Simeone insult is the most recent in a long string of NPR actions that evince arbitrary application of journalistic standards and ethics in general, and their own in particular.

It's been apparent for a long time that NPR does not care about what listeners think.

It is now apparent that NPR doesn't really care about local stations, except to do just enough to get their money.

I think that NPR doesn't, in the end, care about the federal funding.

I think that NPR considers all of these encumbrances in their quest to be Main Stream Media and thus serve the rich and powerful.

All of that, to me, explains their mania with getting corporate dollars. I think their long-term goal (through the courting of corporate dollars to the point of near-exclusivity of other funds) is to not depend on anyone who may want to hold them accountable.

Except, of course, the rich and powerful.

As an added bonus, they have to do less work, because they are told what to say.

10/27/11, 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...

"I think that NPR doesn't, in the end, care about the federal funding.'

I think they care a lot more than you think.

I agree that they don't much care about the direct federal funding, which only amounts to a small fraction (8%?) of their operating budget (which they point out on every occasion).

But I think they DO care about the INDIRECT funding that is channled through member stations.

for example, if Congress said tomorrow that member stations could not longer use Federal funds to pay NPR membership dues OR to buy NPR programming, I'd bet NPR would care a LOT.

In fact, when Republicans proposed a bill to do just that, NPR went on the offensive to make sure they did not succeed.

10/27/11, 9:46 PM
RomfordRob said...

Ari Shapiro's dig at Occupy protesters falling in love while being pepper sprayed was the last straw this morning:
Being Pepper Sprayed is NOT Subject for FUN!
Someone please inform Ari Shapiro that being attacked by police with pepper spray is not an appropriate subject for an
idiotic NPR "fun spot".
Perhaps it's about time that NPR did some serious reporting on the nationwide "Occupy" protests and actually communicated
to the public what these actions are about (e.g the total failure/refusal of both the major political parties to address
basic issues like access to health care for ALL / rampant military spending of US tax dollars / militarism in the face of
basic human need here at home). (After all, NPR, there's no excuse for garbling/distorting the "Occupy" protest messages
( -- it's about much more than just unemployment!) all you have to do is go to a real news service like Democracy Now to
find out what's going on). And, of course, now that those warmongers in power have brought about the destruction of Libya
by six months of intense bombing (in the name of saving human life, naturally), killing tens of thousands of innocent Libyans
in the process, and ending with the spectacularly barbaric end of Ghadaffi in Libya (and said militarists are done gloating
about it all), they won't need NPR's cheerleading efforts on that front any longer -- so that should free you up to do some
real reporting here at home (again, that is -- only if you're interested in actually living up to your claims and reporting
in the interests of the general public rather than the hypocritical, homicidal, greedy, selfish, lobby-driven, military-maniacal,
corporate-military-industrial, private-profit-ONLY, totally corrupt "decision making" sociopaths in Washington DC).
Thank You.

10/28/11, 10:15 AM
JayV said...

Yeah, well the wrong audio has been linked to the Shapiro "strange news" As of 11:30 EDT it's not been corrected.

10/28/11, 10:31 AM
larry, dfh said...

The coverage of the Oakland attack used pretty much exclusively the M$M meme that the protesters were in part violent. Of course there are
alternative takes on what happened. SF-0 doesn't like those pesky occupiers. They seem to be very well informed, independent-minded, and don't have lots of money: not the SF-0 target audience by any means.

10/28/11, 11:19 AM
a.m. said...

As you may have already heard, yet another freelance employee at NPR has been fired for participating in Occupy Wall Street protests--this time Caitlin Curran, who used to work for WNYC's _The Takeaway_.

10/29/11, 5:35 AM
Anonymous said...

"Ari Shapiro's dig at Occupy protesters falling in love while being pepper sprayed was the last straw this morning:"

NPR used up their last straw long ago.

Many of the folks at NPR are actually themselves sociopaths -- and in some cases psychopaths.

They seem to have no clue what is appropriate and what is not.

Other people's suffering is all a big joke to them.

Shapiro's piece is just another indication of that.

I REALLY hope that if the Republicans regain the White House and control of Congress, their first order of business will be cutting the lifeline to NPR from their member stations.
(by forbidding those stations from using federal money to pay NPR member dues or to buy NPR programming)

10/29/11, 8:46 AM
Anonymous said...

Not NPR firing but still a journalist for participating in the protests:

http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2011/10/weekend-edition-firing-rosa-parks-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BronteCapital+%28Bronte+Capital%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

10/31/11, 9:14 AM
Anonymous said...

support your local public library by giving them your money rather than 1% radio.

I did notice that through the week at whyy funder there was a drop after this (simeone's whatever it is/becomes) came out.

They had to go into Monday afternoon to "sucessfully" conclude the drive. And "Dollar Bill Marazzo claims they have a "posiitive net income" level. A non-profit with a positive net income?

But as a treat (or a dreck alert) you can listen to Inskeep have an hour to sell his book when he goes on Radio Crimes with Mommy Most-Inane. Wonder what ever happened to Joe mcGinnis (sp) And did inskeep get the advance and the subsequent financial arrangement or did 1% Radio get it?

Occupy NPR!

edk

10/31/11, 11:20 AM
Patrick Lynch said...

Another NPR related staffer loses her job over participating in Occupy Wall Street.

how occupy wall street cost me my job


word verification: destrity

11/3/11, 9:54 AM
bpfb said...

^ "Destrity" indeed. Think they're losing more (Stepford) fans this way?

Mine own wordver could serve as a purty good expletive: "peryos" (!)

11/3/11, 1:54 PM
Patrick Lynch said...

I came across the link from a facebook friend who was no longer giving NPR any money between this and what happened to Simeone.

The word verification sounds like what my stomach does every time I hear Frank Tavare say "support for NPR is by .... sceack.

11/3/11, 2:45 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...

The Guardian doesn't think to highly of NPR "not news" story.

Lisa Simeone and NPR's executive cowardice | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk


NPR's move was plainly motivated by the network's fear of controversy – which translates to outright spinelessness when confronted with even a hint that something might displease the right wing. NPR keeps trying to shake hands with American conservatives, but is apparently unaware that the right's right hand is wielding a knife."

11/3/11, 2:48 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...

NPR employee makes and displays a sign that restated facts NPR reported about Wall St. immoral conduct and is, . . .

fired.

"WNYC has fired someone for publicly stating on a street sign that the ABACUS deal was wrong -- this despite the fact that the government agency that regulates financial transactions and the investment bank that put the deal together have both publicly criticized it, at the conclusion of a legal process -- prompted by its probable illegality -- that resulted in a $550 million fine! When I appeared on Marketplace, a Los Angeles-based public radio program that focuses on economics, the host, Kai Ryssdal, called it "the infamous Abacus deal," and went on to state that my post "was all about Goldman Sachs and its ABACUS deal, which was, as you said in this sentence, a thing where they basically rigged the game in some of these mortgage-backed securities."

So it's okay for NPR's Planet Money to produce a whole show explaining the shadiness of the Abacus deal; it's perfectly fine for financial journalists all over the United States to remark on its flaws; it's unobjectionable for a journalist at The Atlantic to spell out those flaws; and it's good radio when the host of Marketplace acknowledges its shadiness; but it "violates every ethic of journalism" for a Web producer at WNYC to hold a sign objecting to the deal? If I could purchase some credit default swaps on that code of ethics I'd jump at the chance -- it is bankrupt, and it's only a matter of time before industry norms catch up to good sense and reality. "

Stop Forcing Journalists to Conceal Their Views From the Public - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic:

11/3/11, 3:06 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...

The NPR program On The Media has a problem with NPR's treatment of Ms. Simeone:

"BOB GARFIELD: Because it looks like NPR is somehow caving to purely political – interests. That's how it appears to the people who were complaining, and I must say, also to me. So you’re not confused about that, are you?"

(More) Controversy at NPR Transcript - On The Media

If you aren't catching this weekly show via pod cast, the local yokel KERA stopped carrying it, you missing some excellent media analysis.

The don't give NPR any slack either. Garfield told Alcia Shepard, not the Ombudsman that her defenses of not calling torture, "torture" was a war on verbs.

Enjoy

11/3/11, 3:25 PM
larry, dfh said...


VIJAY has some nice words to say about Mr. MeeShill.

word verific'n: blues(!)

11/3/11, 11:29 PM
Benoit Balz said...

Check this out. The politics of class gets mentioned in no uncertain terms on NPR? Well f*ck a duck!

And by Fox News' own Liasson?

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/04/142002704/income-gap-becomes-politicians-latest-battleground

11/4/11, 9:47 AM
Anonymous said...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/National-Public-Radio-s-Wa-by-Stephen-Lendman-111105-12.html

edk

11/7/11, 9:50 AM
Anonymous said...

interesting "discussion" at Ombutt/not ombutt. Concerns PKK and why it is seldom if ever referred to as a "terrorist organization". I argue that npr goes along because they are so heavily invested in war on terrorism but only as a means to an end (american/chinese hegemony). So we (1% Radio) support the effort to "smoke out" some terrorists but only those that are resistant to the above goal. So we can not call the PKK a terrorist organization because our "base (America's cubicle class) might actually wonder if the whole thing isn't just a crock of excrement and we can not do that cause our mandate is to further American exceptionalism.

That's why 1%Radio calls our occupations "wars". There's no glory in occupation (unless you are on Wall Street lol) so we would rather be fighting a "war" than imposing an occupation. You know like the Germans in France, the Russians in Poland, and the Chinese in Tibet. But America isn't like "them".

And why isn't "torture" allowed at 1% radio. Because America does NOT torture; that would make us like 75% of the rest of the governments of the world.

I wonder who makes the decision of word usage?

edk

11/10/11, 8:38 AM
RomfordRob said...

Yesterday, Neal Conan "hosted" his "Talk of the Nation" -- a hand-wringing session "Oh what can the poor US(Israel) do in the face of nasty, wicked Iran and their
nuclear aspirations" -- with the "military option" ever hanging in the air. Of course, if Iraq
and Libya are anything to go by, to the thinking 1%, the "military option" is code for tens / hundreds of thousands of innocent Iranians being bombed
to death and Iran totally destroyed in a hideous catastrophe -- all on the US taxpayers dime.
Neal handed the microphone to the same idiotic "commentators" who got it all WRONG ten years
ago on Iraq -- "Breathless" "Israel GOOOOOD -- Arabs BAAAAD" Mike Shuster and Robert Kagan (a
a notorious morally-challenged right-wing pompous twerp, rejoicing in the title of
"Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Program, Brookings Institution").

This program caters to base 19th century American Exceptionalism,
as though the 20th century never happened. At the same time, though, it's a masterpiece of modern day US stupidity and
hypocrisy:

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/10/142217597/iaea-review-raises-new-questions-about-iran

Neal really should stay away from politics. Either that or rename the program "Elephant Talk of the Nation", adopting King Crimson's brilliant 30 year old prophetic political commentary as theme tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-T_IOtSqHg

11/11/11, 3:46 PM
bpfb said...

^ Yah. Got the drivin'-me-to-drink-&-eat-a-bottle-of-ProsaKc-blues.

;-)

"jvoldeb" (??)

11/11/11, 3:54 PM

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