NPR Check: Q Tips

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Q Tips

NPR related comments, critiques and observations are welcomed and encouraged.

51 comments:

Anonymous said...: i might have missed the thrilling return to the war on Iraq "history" but I suspect that series died a quiet death.; 12/14/11, 9:18 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/14/11, 10:25 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Nice to see that Adam Davidson is being rewarded for blacklisting Elizabeth Warren from on air and reciting GOP Right Wing Free Market talking points with nice soft job at the NYT.

Here's his first "he said, she said" nothing burger column of recyeled cliches:
The Wild West of Finance - NYTimes.com:

As Dean Bank has repeatedly demonstrated, Planet Money can't be clueless, it pro-corporate GOP bias is clearly a feature not a bug.:

Adam Davidson's done quite will for producing one-side shallow economic illiterate pieces of pro-corporate propaganda.

Membership in the 1% Club has it privileges. But what out Adam, Karma is a bitch.; 12/14/11, 10:26 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: I would sooooo buy this T-shirt Via RAYGUN

if I could change it to say, . . .

"I Listened to NPR before it gave up on journalism"

"I Listened to NPR before it called torture harsh interrogation"

"I Listened to NPR before it reporters' salaries placed them in the 1%"

"I Listened to NPR before it stopped reporting on human rights violations"

"I Listened to NPR before it just recited GOP talking points"

"I Listened to NPR before it black listed Elizabeth Warren"

"I Listend to NPR before it called dead civillians suspected terrorists"

"I Listened to NPR before Mara Liason started working at FOXnews full time"

"Listened to NPR before it fell in love with drones"; 12/14/11, 11:18 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: Now that protesting has begun in Italy, it didn't take long for Sylvia Paggoli to begin dispensing her special brand of sneering contempt towards the protestors.

Sylvia Paggoli's sneering contempt towards Italian protestors

Like the OccupyLA report last week, it's often as instructive to listen to the "reporter's" tone of voice as it is the actual words being said.

fartis (as is most of NPRs reportage); 12/14/11, 1:46 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: To add to my previous comment, why wouldn't you protest onerous property taxes while the Vatican gets away scot free? Paggoli seems to have a "how dare they" attitude towards people who don't want to be crushed by the stupid austerity forced on them by the people who should be going to jail for causing the mess in the first place.

uvent; 12/14/11, 1:51 PM
Anonymous said...: obama caves on defense bill and that's news?

And how often does something have to occur before it is no longer "rare"? Heard it again in regard to defense re-up.

And maybe off-topic but only ever so slightly: Remember back when Rayguns was calling out the "Welfare Queens" and how they were nothing but parasites and drug users pumping out babies by the barrel. And it led to a culture of dependence? Well, I don't remember many American working class/middle class raised voices against this racist stereotype. In fact they elected the Rayguns to a second term. Then Clinton "reformed" welfare for the above reasons stated by Reagan. Still no outcry. Well like Grumppy pointed out:Karma is a bitch because now the unemployed are the 21st century "welfare queens".

edk; 12/15/11, 8:15 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: It isn't caving if it's actually what you really want.; 12/15/11, 12:51 PM
Anonymous said...: patrick: You "get it", my friend. I don't want to turn this into an anti-Obama polemic but . . . The guy has done nothing but lie since jump. But even when shown videos, papers and statements to press etc you can not get people to see they are being had. I have a close friend and we have been through the protest wars over the last 20 years but we can't get to Occupy demos because it would mena acknowledging that Obama is working for the 1%. When we went to DC in March we did not reqally particpate because he could not see that Obama is complicit (naybe after the fact) in torture and illegal wars/occupation.

edk; 12/16/11, 7:43 AM
gDog said...: Dear Frumpy,

Thank you for completing our recent NPR Listens survey.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback, and we thank you for your help in perpetuating the fiction that anything you wrote will affect the future of public radio.

Hear death and die,

Ben Robins
The NPR Listens Panel

tednearc; 12/16/11, 11:32 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: @ edk: I completely agree with you. I reached that painful conclusion before the end of 2009 by which time I had begun to seriously regret my voting for him in both the primary and general election and for the tiny campaign contribution I sent. The first clue that registered in my mind (as opposed to the earlier clues I should have seen) was the appointment of Geithner. The steepening of the slide downhill began for me with the look forward not back crap with regards to the crimes of the previous administration and then his obvious intent to continue them while making a speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

I've had some unhappy conversations with friends about Obama that are identical to some of my unhappy conversations with the very same friends about NPR. The unwillingness to see things for what they are when the steadily accumulating evidence can do nothing but obliterate the previously held views of what both Obama and NPR have turned out to be.; 12/17/11, 10:14 AM
gDog said...: Check out Dr. Michael Wilkes' commentary that appears on KCRW. I love this guy!

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/so/so111218biting_the_hand_that; 12/18/11, 11:48 AM
RomfordRob said...: This mornings "edition" (Mon 12/19/11) was a doozy. First there was lots of sneering regarding the death of North Korea's Kim Jong-Il, (boooo hisss) in addition to constant reminders of consequent "security" issues
(why was I not surprised?) from that extremist, poverty-ridden, nuclear-weapon-weilding country (and for a moment there I thought this was a domestic report).

But what really caught my attention this morning was a new NPR angle on drone warfare. Today, Renee treated us to a consideration of PTSD among drone
controllers. You know, those poor beings that reside in the US and in the line of duty may be asked to surveille a community or individuals in far off lands for perhaps weeks and months -- then be ordered to kill these people on command (presumably because other people have decided that they are "bad guys" or have become a "threat to the United States"). Then, having done this they have to return home and live a "normal" life in the burbs.

As usual, NPR gets the angle wrong. I've long since given up wondering what the average NPR listener makes of the daily doses of drivel dished up by Renee, Steve and co -- but what would interest me would be an in-depth study of the drone controllers
themselves. (A decent historical parallel here might be those hapless gas chamber operators at
a Nazi concentration camp, 1942). The result might be an insight into and exposure of fascistic elements alive, well and in normal ho-hum day-to-day operation here in the United States -- in addition to a redefinition
of what it means to be "human".; 12/19/11, 9:57 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Glengreenwald calling out NPR's drone fetish, has upset the (not a)Ombudsman.

He don't have problem with NPR's uncritical defense contractor PR wet kiss:

Get Your Drones Here: Is NPR Advertising Domestic Drone Use? : NPR Ombudsman : NPR

Here's the article by Greenwald:

NPR’s domestic drone commercial - Salon.com

Enjoy the horror; 12/19/11, 10:58 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Re: NPR Drones Are Cool story this AM.

I took an almost perverse fascination with NPR explaining that a few pilots were suffering PTSD, it had to mention killing civillians without mentioning we are killing civillians. The reported talked all around it.

Mission accomplished by NPR.

NPR: Where every dead civilian was a "potential terrorist"; 12/19/11, 11:03 AM
gDog said...: PTSD is bull hickey. It's not a disorder to be revulsed by something awful you've perpetrated or had perpetrated on you. The "stress" is perfectly natural. It's the bombing and maiming of civilians, etc. that's a disorder.

lamshe; 12/19/11, 11:06 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: If you have a facebook account check out the comments on Sunday's wet kiss Bush/Cheney memory-hole interview with Paul (lost $8 billion) Brenner.

http://www.facebook.com/NPR

The listeners are not amused.; 12/19/11, 11:28 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: And another thing,

Mort than four weeks later and still the crack Planet (worship)Money team hasn't done a story on the $7 trillion Federal Reserve bailout of the banks and Wall Street.

Now that's quality journalism and explains why Adam got so pissed at Elizabeth Warren, you can't say anything bad about the elites an NPR underwriters on Planet Money.; 12/19/11, 11:50 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Congrats to #NPR for making the list twice. The year in media errors and corrections features Osama/Obama, Giffords | Poynter.; 12/20/11, 11:09 AM
bpfb said...: ^ They'll no doubt see the placement(s) as a badge of honour; in the fine current trend of "failing upwards."

Gee, why can't i git me a cool wordver like "Fartis?"

"beninc" (sounds like a danged $40 corporate sponsor); 12/20/11, 10:32 PM
a.m. said...: One suspects that the NPR's mildly GOP-unfriendly coverage of the payroll tax extension fracas has less to do with the fanatical intransigence and zealotry of House Republicans than it does with the recent WSJ editorial criticizing them. I notice that NPR has been brandishing that editorial in most news stories/updates on the subject, as if to say: see, even the WSJ thinks their behavior is ridiculous, so it's ok if we say so--or at least timidly imply it--too! If the conservative WSJ and other right-wing media outlets were mum or supportive of the GOP on the issue, I'm sure we'd be getting the same pussyfooting he-said-she-said business we're accustomed to from NPR.; 12/22/11, 6:29 AM
bpf-schamid said...: ^ Yup. More toadies than trailblazers, I'd have to say.

"schamid"; 12/22/11, 12:10 PM
larry, dfh said...: When you hear newscasts about how the 'holiday season shopping' is 'up' this year, mixed in with other cheerful economic news, realize that SF-0 can tell you many things. But the fluffers of the rich choose to tell you only certain tings, and there's a reason for this.; 12/25/11, 1:59 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Happy Holidays everyone!

Thank you for being an island of sanity and integrity in a crazy world.; 12/25/11, 8:58 PM
gDog said...: Garrison Keillor replacement audition.

bulge; 12/28/11, 12:51 AM
Anonymous said...: whyy was running beg-a-thon marathons last week and in the background was a version of Pink Floyd's MONEY ( don't give me that do good bullshit). They have stopped using that. Hmmm . . . maybe they listened to the words?

Heard MEshill Norris do a special report on something forgettable and then a beg-a-thon appeal where she did not have "the Voice" going on. This is why i like this site; someone here pointed out the use of affectation and that has got to be one of them.

On Christmas day whyy ran a show called Voices in the Family with Dr. Dan Gottlieb. The topic was greed and his take away? He did not want to make anyone "feel guilty". Especially since he is immersed in a station and a co-hort of people that are well-off. And they sure don't want to add obvious guilt to the angst they already must deal with every day. My favorite was the guy who would have been ". . . embarrassed, frankly" because his dogs had fleas. I'm telling you that whyy is so indicative of First World trials and tribulations. Like my dog got fleas and man, it is soooo embarrassing. Sheesh!

edk; 12/28/11, 8:49 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: edk: That was probably me or Porter Melmoth going on about vocal affectation. Inskreep did it on purpose at the end of a segment on the Voyager spacecraft while playing the theme to Star Trek:Voyager in the background and then made a stupid joke about it. They all know they're putting on vocal airs.

What I really hate most is when they put on that tone of voice when they think they are asking a seriously hard hitting or in their tiny little minds an insightful question but actually ask something mind numbingly stupid instead. They all sound exactly the same when they do that, especially the women. But so much of the time both the men and the women sound so much alike I have to listen closely to tell them apart.

dosping; 12/28/11, 11:44 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: edk: Got your message in my guestbook from my website. Tried sending you a message to your e-mail address but it bounced back. Not sure why, will try again later. thanks.; 12/28/11, 12:29 PM
bpf-ablerfe said...: Funny, that over the holiday weekend I reverted back to the "hometown" station I had to abandon due to distain of $-4-0, as well as their own lacking locak programming - wanted to hear what goodies "Music Through the Night" would pull out (and no complaints there, at least!). But soon as they switched over to Weakened Edition Starring Schcott the Wipe (the Renayyy Mundane spot about all the oh-so-relevant stories that McNews brought to your privileged ears was a nice touch - haw), all those mocking little dances came right back to me as I jiggied my way to the merciful off button. Come to think of it, it sounded exactly as I had left it - all those years before.

PS: Harry's impression of Mr. Snoozy was spot-on! Thanks for sharin', gDawg.

"ablerfe"; 12/28/11, 12:30 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Post on the NPR (not an)Ombudsman's Open Forum and Looking Ahead to 2012, and possiblly to be deleted:

"I am confident it will be safe to assume that the Ombudsman will continue to ignore questions and comment from listeners on his own blog, facebook page, etc.? Since Mr. Schumacher-Matos has taken the job he has yet to personally reply to ANY post a single listener.

I thought it would be hard to be worse than NPR CYA Torture Apologist Alica Shepard, I was wrong.

Mr. Schumacher-Matos has repeatedly refused to provide specific substantive answers to numerous complains from listeners and even other journalists and professionals i.e. Dean Baker, Glenn Greenwald, and Jay Rosen. He has chosen to recites PR buzz words, ignore the substantial criticisms and embrace "he said, she said" journalism at it's worst in his reply.

Due to your demonstrated contempt for the people you are suppose to represent, defending NPR's pro-Corporate/Defense State reporting the past year has been a failure for the Ombudsman's office, but since NPR has redirected it fund raising to Corporations and abandoned it commitment to serve the American public you have repeatedly that probably no big deal with you bosses.

You've demonstrated how little interest you have in the NPR listening public or authentic and honest journalism."; 12/28/11, 1:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Grumpy you are just so hard to please. When we had a notOmbutt you said she was a torture apologist; now i remain mute and that you find objectionable. God, there is just no pleasing some people.

BPFB: You ever hear the saying about leopards (don't be scared) and spots?

WXPN another waste of air (i remember when these jocks were "cool and hip" in the late '60s and early '70s) now they just got old) ignored "news" for most of its life but asfter 9/11 they fell for that liberal crap about being disengaged from the world having something to do with the cause. They then bought NPR news casts. But they found that to be too high a financial price so now I hear: "It's 8 o'clock and no news is good news".

I oppose Ron Paul on the grounds of his social Darwinism but I agree with much of his policy statements. This morning Steve and Linda were discussing the Iowa caucus and who would win. The two people most likely to finish 1 & 2 are Rommney & Paul. So who did they focus on? Rommney and Gingrich (don't call me pudge). No Paul at all. Is that because he opposes military adventurism around the world or his insistance that a nuclear Iran is not a threat to US or is it his lack of fanatical support of Isreal? Or is it all three since 1% Radio is all about support for the State of isreal (the 51st state), war on Iran and a continuance of US empire. I think i'll ask the NotOmBott.

Hey why do I have to type 8 characters and others here get like 5 letters in order to prove my humanhood? just askin.

And finally, though we often might feel we are shouting in the wilderness I think we are having an effect if only in 1% Radio fundraising. This year-end beg-a-polooza is a step forward which they wouldn't take if they weren't in bad finacial shape.

Predicting something after the fact is bogus but . . . I knew Cornish was going from her spot on WE Sunday. But npr needed a legitimate reason to get her out of there. Might look bad if they admitted she was a fail. But I knew because I keep track of weird things like the number of responses to the Puzzle. When Lyanne was there she got four figure responses week after week. Cornish gets 3 figures week after week. Her listenership has dropped off the cliff I think.

Why would Norris affect "the Voice"? Thinking out of the box here.

And finally? I hope to see us all here in 2012 Happy and safe New Year you all.

edk (I swear I'm done for 2011).; 12/29/11, 8:30 AM
gDog said...: "What's new on Wall Street?" Marketplace continually asks...and, no, it has nothing to do with OWS.

copotory; 12/29/11, 12:38 PM
Ben Balz said...: Quil's Shills! "Green" Pentagon Propaganda 12/29

Another afternoon, another Pentagon PR puff-piece, this time brought to us by Quil "The Shill" Lawrence:

ATC 12/29 Military Green Tech in Afghan...

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/29/144395953/u-s-military-tests-out-green-tech-in-afghanistan

Sure, Quil Lawrence was the "reporter", but one wonders where, oh where, such a preposterous story idea came from,

and who on the NPR editorial staff greenlighted this stinker?

What an insane premise --- that our military is "going green" because the wars for oil are using too much oil (and even admittedly, that one out of 50 oil convoys kills a GI).

So if we're killing people all over the world in wars for oil, not to mention the collateral deaths of our own cannon fodder to protect the oil en route, let's at least save a few drops here and there.

We'll get our comrades-in-arms at NPR to broadcast a PR puff-piece about it, and (ding-dong!) some positive little spin will be transplanted into the heads of their idiotic and complacent listeners...

Guess what? Not quite.

Sincerely,

Benoit Balz,

New York, NY; 12/29/11, 7:36 PM
bpfhuatio said...: ^ Nice one, BB. And a proper lashing indeed.; 12/30/11, 7:38 AM
gDog said...: We already have much to rue in the new year: Natural born killer Rachel Martin will be hosting Sunday Mornings.

NPR General Manager/CIA psyop spook David Sweeney likely pulled some strings to put their National Security Correspondent in this soft underbelly of American Liberal consciousness: those liberal listeners who miss church to hear how it is in the liberal world according to S40 radio, covering military and intelligence issues with a woman's touch.

omman; 1/1/12, 2:36 PM
gDog said...: Here's another hit piece on education. The audience is instructed that

lecturing has never been an effective teaching technique

...by one Emily Hanford, who has a degree in "American Studies" from the elite, private Amherst College, and so, well, she ought to know, huh?

insformi; 1/2/12, 12:12 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: Given the mind numbingly familiar drum beating regarding Iran coming from NPR, the New York Times and the Washington Post, I wonder how long it will be before the betting pools start up speculating on when the war begins if they haven't already?

trattent; 1/3/12, 9:03 AM
bpf-powling said...: ^ Y'know what's gonna be my bellwether on that? When Thomas "Give War a Chance" FriedMan's flabby jowls undulate up-&-down as opposed to side-to-side.; 1/5/12, 8:09 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: Inskeep tries to get a writer of a novel about Islam to demonise his own religion in his own usual heavy handed way. Said author successfully in my opinion turns the tables on Inskeep.

American Dervish

unativ; 1/5/12, 8:20 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: @bpf-powling: For some reason your image of the flapping jowls of Thomas Friedman conjured up a more Lovecraftian image in my mind. The Jowls of Cthulhu!

pokyatti; 1/5/12, 8:22 AM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Dean Baker catches NPR reciting GOP talking point and misinformation on: Impact of the Minimum Wage on Employment and Low-Income Families | Beat the Press

NPR "asserted that many of the workers helped by the increase will be teenagers in middle income families who work for spending money. In fact, an analysis by Heather Boushey and John Schmitt of the last national law raising the minimum wage found that 70 percent of the people who would benefit were over the age of 20."; 1/5/12, 8:49 PM
GRUMPY DEMO said...: Good catch Patrick,

Inskeep would never ask a Catholic author why they didn't mention pedophile in their novel about a Catholic neighborhood.

Inskeep and NPR part of the Security Nation. where every Muslim is a terrorist.; 1/5/12, 8:55 PM
Patrick Lynch said...: This morning on the top of the hour "news" blurb the automaton reading his script said that Obama said that the health care mandate that everyone purchase health insurance or pay the penalty was because it was needed to address a crisis in the "health care market". If that statement is true, what a bizarre thing to say. Isn't health care "reform" (and I have to use that term very loosely) supposed to address a crisis in making sure everyone has health care who needs it?

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be transcripts of these top of the hour blurbs on the NPR site, only podcasts. I'm also somewhere where I can't listen to the podcast right now so maybe a bit of Googling is in order...; 1/7/12, 8:20 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: I see that news blurb guy from this morning was referring to this:

source of health care market quote

When coming out of the mouth of the NPR announcer it sounded to me that this was more about being pro-corporate than about ensuring everyone has health care. I came away with the same feeling after reading the Bloomberg article.

@Grumpy Demo: Thanks. At first I wasn't even going to listen to the story but once I realised what the story was about decided to see what Inskeep would do in the interview and he did not disappoint with his attempt at trying to make all Muslims look like bad guys. It seemed hard for Inskeep to wrap his reptilian brain around the idea that we are all more complex creatures than his attempts at vilification would allow.; 1/7/12, 8:32 AM
D.O. said...: We're still trying to figure out how relatively intelligent people (not people working for intelligence) continue to headline stories on sociopaths posing as presidential candidates day after day after day. We thought Man Bites Dog stories don't survive the 24 hour spin cycle, but that's in the reality-based world we guess.

O wait! Sorry. We must be thinking of that other NPR, the one that used to be a valid news organization. Our calendar seems to be off......a few decades or so.; 1/9/12, 6:30 AM
Anonymous said...: 240 submissions to puzzle-master will shortz on sunday. Lyanne had that many before she went off the air.

Pale imitation of Janis Joplin

Yeah war! Yeah America! with your host Leon Panetta.

There is a new book out that attempts to link mental illness and greatness in leadership positions (mad people good in crisis) so I never wonder about the "sanity" of politicians. And listening to 'em not one of them is sane in my book. but that's just me.

edk; 1/9/12, 8:30 AM
Anonymous said...: mr. norris "at work"

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/09/top_obama_campaign_aide_lobbied_for_bank_bailout/; 1/9/12, 11:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Yves Smith takes apart Davidson's recent Europe-bating article. More than a little embarrassing I would think:
http://www.alternet.org/economy/153701/american_exceptionalism_and_worker-bashing%2C_adam_davidson_style/?page=1; 1/10/12, 8:54 AM
Anonymous said...: temple of Doom extolling the wonder of military tribunals said lawyer client privelege will be "protected" in a more "robust" manner. But according to many this is certainly untrue:

http://nysbar.com/blogs/BestofNYSBA/2012/01/new_guantanamo_rules_might_vio.html

and once again (nott)Ombudd caters to right-wing as he responds to some listener whine about santorum google "problem". How do i know the listener is right-winger? Why I used the google

edk; 1/11/12, 10:57 AM
Tom in Denver said...: Yesterday, NPR's Ron Elving compared Gingrich super pac video on Romney' days at Bain Capital to GWB's use of the Willie Horton attack ad used against Dukakis in the 1988 Presidential race. Outrageous comparison to make !!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/
2012/01/11/145022016/
bain-attacks-on-romney-recall-notorious-willie-horton-ads#commentBlock

Here's the Bain vid if you've not seen it--Elving doesn't link it in his piece:
http://www.webcasts.com/kingofbain/; 1/12/12, 11:21 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: Dean Baker rips NPR a new one over that horrible private equity piece they did this morning. Right up there with the Kodak piece also this morning that basically said their workers had it too good now get over it.
Dean Baker Rips NPR for puff piece on private equity

I have to say that making journo love to private equity firms is one of the things John Ydstie does best.

Here's the Kodak link:
Julie Philipp's condescending Kodak retiree story; 1/13/12, 11:26 AM

Tracking rightwing, pro-government, and corporate bias on NPR News

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Q Tips

51 comments:

Twitter Feed

DONATE

Profiles

Emailing Me

A REMINDER FROM NPR'S OMBUDSMAN

Regarding Q TIPS

Comment Guidelines

Search This Blog

Contact NPR

News and Commentary

General Media Critics

Public Media Critics

Economic Antidotes

Friends and Shared Links

Followers

Blog Archive

Blog Pictures

Labels