Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Q Tips


NPR related comments and critiques welcomed and encouraged.

55 comments:

Anonymous said...

To The Point, anti gay bigotry:

http://gawker.com/5859548/why-npr-host-warren-olneys-apology-wasnt-enough?tag=bigotry

JayV said...

Got an email today from NPR Listens, inviting me to participate in a survey. "In this survey, we will be asking about your awareness and knowledge of various philanthropic foundations, and your feedback will help us better understand the role of foundations in supporting NPR."

Did any of you NPRCheckers get the same email request?

Waiting for the day there's a survey about corporations that contribute to NPR.

Anonymous said...

Dean Baker on NPR's recent Rand, Hayek, Keynes "series." In the comments "Steve" describes the uniquely NPR-style balance to the thing:

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/keynes-hayek-and-rand-nprs-false-symmetry

Mytwords said...

You have to love how NPR treats it's 99% freelancers when they are given the attentions of the 1%'s police-thugs. Julie Walker, freelancing for NPR during the police attack on Liberty Square got arrested and NPR can't even put her on the air - but relegates her to a mention in the back alley of The Two Way...

Reminds me of the cover-over they did when another NPR affiliated reporter got attacked back in 2007 in LA. They admittedly did give her time on Tell Me More - but nothing on the signature news shows.

gDog said...

"Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the New York Police Department's policy of keeping the media back, saying it was intended to keep them out of harm's way."

Don Corleone: "Why did we shit-can that reporter and drop her off the end of the pier? It was for her own protection. We worried about her getting roughed up maybe."

"forsta"

larry, dfh said...

Yesterday on Turd-of-the-
Nation was a superfluous run-down on all these repub. debates, and a caller called them on ignoring Ron Paul. Almost at the end of the segment, the 'guest' cnbc somebody or other, said that Ron Paul wasn't being covered because the 'guest' thought he could not ultimately be the candidate. The actual quote:
...why doesn't Ron Paul get covered more, is because in the estimation of most people who follow this process, his chances of winning the Republican nomination are essentially nil.
Obviously s-f-0 and NeoCONan and ken rudin are 'in the club' because such a ludicrous statement was accepted as cherished wisdom.

GRUMPY DEMO said...

Excellent story that NPR wouldn't touch with a ten foot microphone from PRI's The World on Jewish settlers attacking Palestinians:


Israelis Settlers Attacking Settlers | PRI's The World

"Standing on her roof and wearing a black headscarf, Sufan recounts how her family’s cement house has been attacked dozens of times by settlers in recent years.

“They throw stones at us. They spray paint on our windows and our house. And they throw Molotov cocktails on us,” she recounted.

Sufan says the family’s olive trees have been cut down, their sheep poisoned and their cars vandalized.

Across the West Bank, according to the United Nations, attacks by extremist Jewish settlers on Palestinians or their property has nearly tripled in the last two years. Some incidents follow the pattern of “price tag” attacks. They’re carried out in retaliation for specific Israeli government actions, such as the demolition of buildings in illegal settlement outposts"

Now that was what real reporting is, none of NPR's chicken "he said, she said". Giving equal time to the thugs making death threats. At least it's consistent, as mention in prior comments, NPR ignores Right Wing and State sponsored violence in Israel as well as the US.

GRUMPY DEMO said...

Yesterday on ATC, NPR does text book uber demonstration of "he said she said story" on Tea Party Crazies stopping flourdation in Florida.

Fluoride In Drinking Water? No Thanks, Says Florida County : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Another, "no context, no background report" (tm) Dean Baker. If NPR gave the context, it would have to admit that this a decades old crack pot Winger conspiracy theory from the 1950s.

But if NPR did that, the Tea Birthers would complain, better "balanced" story equating crack pot conspiracy with science.

gDog said...

NPR reports "hundreds" of demonstrators in NYC for OWS today. Perhaps what they meant was "hundreds of hundreds." http://occupywallst.org/article/thousands-gather-foley-square/

"salimphy"

gDog said...

It's worth noting that participation in the OWS was huge despite the fact that a large segment of teachers and OWS-supporting parents could not attend because it's back-to-school night.

"mingraco"

Nate Bowman said...

As you might have guessed, i've given up on NPR. The increasingly-evident entrenchment of their allegiance to power has made me want to spend my efforts otherwise.

I still come here to catch up on things and am glad you all are still here. I almost never go to the npr site any more, to the extent that nprcheck comes up first when I start filling in the url.

In thinking about the OWS and the claim by the authorities that they are technically private parks and the owners can do what they want, it occurred to me that these same (powerful) parties were given variances to create structures beyond the limits of zoning regulations and were often given public spaces in return for creating these new public spaces that just happen to be privately owned and therefore have, in the end, no allegiance to the public.

On another note: great takedown of corporations as people by Robert Reich
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-reich-corporations-20111116,0,4904997.story

JayV said...

So above NPR story titles, I see now they've eliminated the link to Comments. When was this done on the NPR sites? It must have been within the last week, I reckon. What's left are links to Twitter, Facebook, Google + (that's recently added) Share, and Recommend. You won't find the total number of comments made, either. I only checked two or three stories, so I don't know if it's hit or miss, done consistently on all the news/blog pages or just a glitch in the system and it's being fixed now. What it is, is a blatant attempt to discourage comments.

GRUMPY DEMO said...

Not, NPR specific but how Washington "major news organizations" behave.

Another example of what a failure American journalism has been since 2000. Saudi representative speaking at National Press club is asked by reports:

"There's been a lot of talk about the legitimacy of the Syrian regime, I want to know what legitimacy your regime has, sir. You come before us, representative of one of the most autocratic, misogynistic regimes on the face of the earth. Human Rights Watch and other reports of torture detention of activist, you squelched the democratic uprising in Bahrain, you tried to overturn the democratic uprising in Egypt and indeed you continue to oppress your own people. What legitimacy does you regime have -- other than billions of dollars and weapons?"

For defending human rights, he is suspended from National Press Club. Nothing our corporate owned media hates more than attacking one of their client states.

Journalist Questions Legitimacy of Saudi Regime, Is Suspended from National Press Club - Sam Husseini

Here the reporting pointing out the hypocracy of The National Press Club:

"Another issue is that tough questioning seems to be done selectively, and of course this is an issue not just at the National Press Club. When individuals who seem at odds with the establishment, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Jeremiah Wright have spoken before to the Press Club, they were very critically questioned. Others, however, are treated rather reverentially. I have participated, and at times benefited from some of this. When the Austrian Neo-Nazi Jörg Haider came to the Club, Hickman, the same moderator at the Turki event, allowed me to give him quite a grilling with several followups -- at least four or five, much to my joy -- and congratulated me for my efforts afterwords. "

This would be sad if it wasn't unexpected.

GRUMPY DEMO said...

Hi Nate! Miss your very insightful, well thought out comments at NPR.org by somenone who's coments are neither.

Guess you got tired by the (not an)Ombudsman never replying to comments on the website?

Meanwhile, your decision to avoid NPR is validated by another #NPRfail, noted by Jay Roysen, NYU Journalism professor:
Quote and Comment: "“We have no idea who’s right” journalism… Routine practice at NPR. "

Mytwords said...

Ok, so the 1%'s riotsuits attack a former Poet Laureate of the US...wonder if that bastion of cultural finesse, NPR, covers it? No.

Anonymous said...

i imagine 1% Radio is cranking up the presses to report this:

It's also not surprising that Portland was one of the cities that a Justice Department official says coordinated recent evictions of Occupy movement across the country "with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies."

At whyy they always say deleware valley "public media" station. They add that "the public" means members.

edk

pss: Anybody hear from Informed vet lately?

lidia said...

regarding this comment

http://www.juancole.com/2011/11/army-vs-people-in-egypt.html#comment-80239

Thank you for stating the obvious thing, not a usual treat now on Cole's, but even bigger thanks for making Cole look like a fool or a lier (or both) in his "answer". I would thank you on the Cole's, but I am not allowed there anymore :)

Jay Schiavone said...

Meanwhile, Michele Norris takes advantage of her leave of absence to almost criticize Rush Limbaugh for an ugly, bigoted remark he made on his dreadful show. Naturally, she allows the possibility that his remark is somehow not race baiting. NPR habits die hard.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/sharpton-calls-limbaughs-remarks-about-first-lady-a-distraction/?gwh=01419AB7C73432B6B513AD86F64861B0

Anonymous said...

in philly Nutter has "offered" a protest pit to Occupy Philly. And part of it is the construction project going on at Dilworth. Do I think WHYY will look into the financing of this project?

Now we learn the Philly newspapers have recieved millions from the city and more promised from the state. This ius exactly the kind of thing the 99% are talking about. Coporate welfare and privatizing profits is a big part of what's wrong here. Plus, I see it as buying influence on a watchdog. But then i am a socialist.

edk

Boulder Dude said...

Okay, in yet another telling bit of insight into the former NPR Ombot, Alicia Shepard's POV. Yesterday in a tweet she disputed the study that showed that watching FOX news makes you dumber than not watching any news.

JayV said...

Inside the the NPR listener's mind

Jim Romenesko - Follow @nprresearch on Twitter and you’ll get an endless stream of “fun facts” about NPR listeners. The most recently posted tidbit: “NPR News listeners were 94% more likely to have signed a petition in the past 12 mos.” Here’s what else the radio network knows:

* 15% of its listeners view their cell phone as an extension of their personality.
* They are 20% more likely than the average adult to buy Godiva chocolate.
* Nearly 4 in 5 prefer classic and timeless fashion rather than trendy fashion.
* They are 73% more likely than the average adult to view radio as the most trusted medium.
* They are 20% more likely than U.S. adults to pay more for eco-friendly products.
* They are 27% more likely than the average adult to own a bread-making machine.
* A third of of them give to religious organizations.
* They’re 108% more likely than the average adult to go to live theater.
* They’re 42% more likely to drive a car with manual transmission.


Just from the above sampling, it looks that that listener is among the monied elite?

Anonymous said...

Boulder: I read some of former Bott/notBott and she sure seems like she really hates the people that came to the page and complain carp and criticize both her and npr. The new guy has a different approach - he's deaf,dumb, and blind.

Heard a "fact checking" piece by Tom Gjelton(sp?) Irony is not dead.


stress tests for banks exposed to greek and euro debt. It was said that only the too big to fail banks would be tested. Too big to fasil? I thought they were a thing of the past. I think it is to prepare for the eventual bailout of BoA.

And last but not least? Happy Thanksgiving. All of us should take care and stay safe.

edk

Anonymous said...

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/17/142476663/occupy-america-the-commemorative-game

gDog said...

This "commemorative game" has got to be a Madison Ave-hatched brain child to trivialize the urgency of now.

"Hand out list of 17 grievances against the city, including alleged discrimination and tax giveaways. Pitch a tent!"

They couldn't call it simply "discrimination and tax giveaways," it had to be modified as "alleged," since actual discrimination and tax giveaways never really happen in these you-knighted states.

"maitessi"

larry, dfh said...

Kinda like this place: somebody listening to S-4-0
so you don't have to.

Mytwords said...

Best comment at the stupid NPR Occupy Game site:

Occupy TheWorld (OTW) wrote:
This reminds me of the new game where Progressives stand by as Conservatives shut down NPR.

Zing!

Benoit Balz said...

Drones make it easy to kill brown people who live in the sand! Eleven minute feature story right here:

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/26/142781012/war-by-remote-control-drones-make-it-easy

How can these MFers at NPR look themselves in the mirror? Do they consider themselves journalists or propagandists?

When will somebody at NPR answer that question?

RomfordRob said...

Benoit -- You have done it again. Drawn my attention to fresh NPR lunacy and criminality. Just left the following message on the discussion forum:

OK -- So by not standing directly against this insane and murderous technology we are saying "... whatever irresponsible psychopathic morons run the US (George W. Bush, Obama, Romney? Perry?? Bachmann???) -- it's OK with us -- our tax monies can be spent (military spending now at more than $1 million / minute!!) partly on drones to kill "suspected" "enemies" " -- as adjudicated by said irresponsible psychopathic morons.
What kind of idiotic sheep are we? Long live the Occupy movement that rejects just this kind of madness!! And down with NPR that propagates and attempts to popularize and normalize this kind of wickedness. NO!! It's NOT OK, people -- FOR GOD'S SAKE WAKE UP!!

Anonymous said...

check out a sponsor of NPR - Unysis.

Anonymous said...

If there is indeed a "new game where Progressives stand by as Conservatives shut down NPR",

Do they let progressives join that game on the side of the Conservatives?

If so, I'd like to play.

Anonymous said...

Do they consider themselves journalists or propagandists?

When will somebody at NPR answer that question?"

They answer it each week when they collect their paycheck from NPR.

Folks like Terry Gross are arguably the most disgusting of all. Gross was actually working for NPR before it became completely co-opted and corrupted.

She has seen the transformation and, after everything, STILL chooses to keep collecting that paycheck (which must be well into six figures by now).

What does THAT tell you about her "integrity" and "honesty"?

Patrick Lynch said...

You mean on the days Terry can be bothered to show up at all? When she's there, she sounds like she's suffering from the same terminal ennui that Garrison does on the Ennui Home Companion. The last few times I bothered to try to listen she had her sub host interviewing or run an old piece from the Mesozoic era.

But if you want to talk about NPR folk who were there before the crossing over to the Dark Side, lets talk Susan Stamberg. I can't even remember anymore what she was like before she became their current "special" arts reporter. All I know is that now she's the worst of the non news/non financial reporters. Her arts "coverage" is the most shallow, cliche filled and sometimes fact challenged crap that makes my radio speaker cringe every time a word of hers makes the speaker vibrate in response to her noxious tones.

Her piece on the Impressionists made my head implode with her assertion that the Impressionists were the first to use bright colours or rebel against an art establishment. Evidently she had never heard of the magnificent English Pre-Raphaelites whose hey day was from 1849-1920ish who not only used bright hues but also openly rebelled against the mudpies of the Royal Academy by using something other than brown on their palettes. Or for that matter the original Italian Renaissance artists before Raphael who used lots of bright colours in their paintings. Or Roman frescoes. Or Egyptian tombs. Or cave paintings. Not that Susan Stamberg could be bothered with two minutes of fact checking on her breathless assertion.

As much as I hate listening to her talk about painting like the piece on David Hockney where he was creating pieces on his iPhone and then e-mailing them to select people (Stamberg shamelessly tried to get on Hockney's e-mail list but his dismissing her brazen attempt was totally priceless)but what really makes me crazy is anytime she does a piece on film. She is apparently required in her NPR contract to utter the term "movie magic" as if there is still such a thing to anyone who pays minimal attention to such matters.She apparently thinks shes imparting great secrets about how movies were and are made. She also like many NPR drones acts as though we modern folk are so much wiser than those who came before as though people from other times possessed no sophistication because they didn't have the internet or NPR to tell them how cultured they should be. Since by now she's at least as old as dirt should know better than that.

gDog said...

I'm a big Hockney fan, glad he had the good taste to eschew the distasteful Stamburg. "You could print a Hockney e-mail, if you were lucky enough to get one." Haha.

gDog said...

Here's a story you won't find on NPR:

Toying with the Happy Meal: Is McDonald’s evading the law?

"plogrit"

Anonymous said...

gross makes well in excess of 200k and her program runs 13 hours a week on whyy. They tell us it is because she is so popular but i suspect those 8 hours of repeats are meant to save money. They throw a bit at Fresh Air, a bit to Dollar Bill Marzzo and the rest keeps them on a "net" financial basis. 8 hours of programming must cost 'em something.

Radio Times uses the same method but they are taking up 20 hours of airtime. Add to that repeats of Car Talk, Prairie Home, This American Life, Studio 360 and you get very little original programming.

edk

bee-pee-eff-bee said...

^ I duzn't callz it "Gross Air" fer nuthin.'

"monch" (!!!!)

Patrick Lynch said...

So, did anyone hear the Morning Edition segment yesterday I think it was where they talk to a local NPR reporter about how peaceful the dismantling of Occupy LA was? You could hear the foaming at the mouth of Renee Montaigne that there was no violence from protesters or police.

Well, a not so funny thing about that...
That's Why They Had The Media Pool

hastriu

GRUMPY DEMO said...

Anyone notice the new NPR sponsor: Alliazn?

The network that wouldn't run paid adds for the award winning movie, The Big Uneasy | A Film by Harry Shearer, it was too "political
." Dosen't have a problem taking money from a company that was involved in the Holocaust and may still owe millions of reparations to the families of victims of the Holocaust.

This and other fine NPR programs brought to you by Alliazn, a corporation with a proud history of insuring Nazi concentration camps and assisting the Nazi in their final solution . . .

Miami lawmaker wants Allianz ads pulled from NPR stations, CNBC - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

"Allianz, with annual operating profits of $8 billion, has struggled with its image in the United States because of its history of aiding the Nazis during World War II. The company’s reputation took a major hit in 2008, when the public learned of its secret negotiations with the New York Giants and New York Jets for the naming rights to the Meadowlands Stadium.

The deal, which would have generated $25 million a year for the two teams, fell apart amid public outcry when The New York Times and other media reported that Allianz insured concentration camp facilities and sent cash due to Jewish beneficiaries to the Nazis."

Anyone think, Planet (worship the)Money will notice?

NPR: We'll help clean up any corporate reputation, no matter how dirty.

GRUMPY DEMO said...

UPDATE: via @TheHarryShearer pointed out the Allianz is actually a sponsor of APR (American Public Radio) sponsor of Market Place and Prairie Home, not NPR programs.

I am sorry, mistakes were made, let's not dwell on the past, the appropriate staff has been persecuted. They are trying to destroy Gumpy Demo, but Grumpy Demo won't let them.

GRUMPY DEMO said...

"It’s not surprising when one of the more reactionary media pundits criticizes electric cars or pans efforts to raise the fuel efficiency of America’s cars and trucks. But when National Public Radio gets the story wrong on the 54.5-mpg target set for 2025, it’s time to set the record straight."

NPR Story Misses the Mark on Electric Cars | Roland Hwang's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

Benoit Balz said...

Wonder when NPR's going to touch this one, so far we're hearing nothing:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203833104577072771910500442.html

Pakistan Was Consulted Before Fatal Hit, U.S. Says

Anonymous said...

a history of war/occupation of Iraq underway at npr. But . . . let's start on the 19th of March cause if we started earlier we would have to disclose our role in the echo chamber Bush used to lie us into a war of choice which is a war crime.

edk

Benny Balz said...

Dear Sir or Madam,

The first slot on Saturday ATC is becoming the place to hear Pentagon propaganda.

Long, magazine-length military stories lead off the broadcast, regardless of what else is going on in the world.

Last week, we heard about "drones" and how they're "changing the face of war". This week, we got a re-cap of an Iraq war the American public did not need or want, done in a methodical way that rings to the ear like Pentagon-centric spin:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/03/143090345/a-look-back-the-beginning-of-the-war-in-iraq

Is that really what's going on here? Maybe not, but to the ear, it sure sounds like it. It certainly doesn't sound like unbiased journalism (but at NPR, very little does).

Who's setting the agenda for NPR, and who greenlights these story ideas?

"More reflections and analysis to come, for the next four weeks!" Stay tuned to the lead-off slot on Saturday ATC to hear it all.

These aren't just garden-variety, pro-military puff-pieces. They're sounding more blatant, edging toward full-blown revisionism.

Spin and revisionism that smacks of propaganda, positioned upfront on a big weekend broadcast? Say it ain't so!

I mean, to repeat: Maybe that's not what's going on here, but it sure sounds that way.

Sincerely,

Benoit Balz
New York, NY

RomfordRob said...

Yeah, That's been my question tacked on to complaints to NPR -- How are these appalling decisions reached? Who is making these calls to run this Pentagon-propaganda crap?

[BTW -- After the OWS effects, perhaps the word "corporate" should be discouraged/frowned upon/made unacceptable parlance and pushed to the periphery of the language -- as t'were the 'C' word. So each the word comes up in discussion I shall go "Hmmmm ...." and kinda growl like Steve Inskreep would were he ever to interview Ralph Nader .. ]
"... NPR Corporate Sponsors ... Hmmmm"

Mytwords said...

I've put up a couple of Twitter notes on the latest NPR/Pentagon rubbish. And I and the evil General Warlove have recently posted. To find their comment, click on either 'Oldest' or 'Most Recommended'.

miranda said...

For thy delectation: "New NPR chief Faces Tough Landscape," NYT: http://nyti.ms/sgHoDl

Anonymous said...

the impact of war (total propaganda) was financed to the tune of 4.1m by an organization known as California Community Foundation. A big player in that group is Booz Hamilton Allen. Here's a link to just who and what BAH is and does.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/companies/booz-allen-hamilton




They occassionally have ads on NPR. This is who and what calls the propaganda shots at npr (1% Radio)

edk

gDog said...

Hey Ed, from a year and a half ago:
http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2010/04/dick-and-jane-and-off-button.html

Anonymous said...

I thought I found a "cut-out" for DoD to funnel money into NPR to produce their "Impact of War propaganda. I found a site for California Community Foundation and they (CCF) are connected to Booze-Hamilton- Allen:

Booz Allen's core business is contractual work completed on behalf of the US federal government, foremost on defense and homeland security matters, with limited engagements of foreign governments specific to U.S. military assistance programs.

(I googled Booze-Allen CIA).

I wrote to Ombudsman and got no answer. I mentioned the 4+m CCF gave to NPR to produce Impact of War on her "blog". I can't find the web-page where I found the grant and noticed Booze-Allen was part of this CCF. And when I mentioned this connection on her blog the time for questions was over.

Makes me think . . . Uhm. I'm just saying.

edk

"equilly"

Patrick Lynch said...

Glenzilla totally rips apart NPR on its "story" about the use of drones in the US. Infomercial indeed!
NPR's Domestic Drone Commercial

oniso

Mytwords said...

OMG! a little glimpse of the NPR we wish was there... A rare tip o' the hat to NPR (as noted by FAIR and Dean Baker).

gDog said...

Aye, my first positive comment for NPR in many millenia: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/12/09/143398685/gop-objects-to-millionaires-surtax-millionaires-we-found-not-so-much

nongerli

Benoit Balz said...

I second the above comment!

Very surprising. I was actually tuned-in expecting to smash the radio. Well, wonders never cease.

Anonymous said...

looking for the "job-creators that don't exist is just an example of the exceptions prove the rules.

If Iran did't get that drone (shot down, hacked down, or caught in a butterfly net) we (American listeners to NPR) would never had knowledge of it and the fact that it was "lost". All we get now is drone love and this would not have been in the set npr is trying to establish. Drones good, at least until the Chinese develop them.

edk

Anonymous said...

from beyond the grave (or where ever ex ombudds/not ombudds go)



http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Warning-in-Gary-Webb-s-by-Robert-Parry-111209-583.html

Jay Schiavone said...

We're all stunned, but pleased, that NPR actually investigated a significant claim by a powerful group. But isn't that merely the minimum anyone should expect from a news organization? Congratulations NPR for showing up at the office wearing a clean shirt. I smell a Pulitzer.