NPR Will Stop Referring To Obama As ‘Mr.’ On Second Reference To Avoid Appearance Of ‘Favoritism’

[RetroGamer1971]

Source: www.mediaite.com

One week after MSNBC’s hosts of The Cycle pondered if it was disrespectful for news organizations to refer to President Barack Obama as simply “Obama” after the first reference, National Public Radio’s managing editor has determined that the organization will jettison their policy of calling presidents “Mr.” on the second reference in order to avoid the appearance of “favoritism.” NPR announced Friday that they intend to refer to him as simply “Obama” on the second reference, as many other media outlets’ style guidelines recommend.


Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/online/npr-will-stop-referring-to-obama-as-mr-on-second-reference-to-avoid-appearance-of-favoritism/

---

I have been accused of not using "Hard news sources worthy of DU", in my posts by one of the moderators. So here is the NPR Onsbudsman's link for further clarification. http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2013/01/17/169645406/bringing-the-president-down-a-notch-npr-ends-calling-him-mr?ft=1&f=17370252

[Blue_Tires]

1. Wow...weaksauce

Then to be consistent, NPR can't call ANY world leaders Mr./Miss/whatever

[Richardo]

2. Why not refer to all public figures as 'Mr' or 'Ms' or 'Dr' every time?

[malibea]

46. I agree with you.

That is a good question and seems simple enough- in addition to good manners. I refer to President Obama as "President Obama" out of respect. But if some people can't quite have enough commonsense, respect- and courage- to call the President "president" then "Mr." will have to suffice. But by no means, should the President be referred to only by his FIRST name- it is both disgusting and disrespectful!:

No one-in the media- referred to George W. Bush as "george" nor Ronald Reagan as "ronald". I wonder why?

[Drunken Irishman]

3. How about "President Obama" initially and "the President" on following references?

Ridiculous.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Unclear post. Do you mean Gov Palin is one of your favorites when she's drunk?

or when YOU are drunk?

Or do you turn her speeches into drinking games? That always works for me.




Edit to add: or do you mean Drunken Irishman is one of your favorite commentators? If so, disregards everything I said earlier.

[Drunken Irishman]

11. Dammit. The post was deleted. Should I be flattered?

POST AGAIN, RETROGAMER!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. I hope it wasn't something I said ...

... but sometimes I can't resist replying to posts about Sarah P.

She's strangely attractive, in a "gape at a train wreck" sort of way.

Maybe I'll see if there's an unfrozen beer in the garage, and hoist one to my favorite ex-governor.

[RetroGamer1971]

13. He is one of my faves.

[Drunken Irishman]

17. Hey, thanks! :)

[pasto76]

22. like it not, that is the appropriate way to refer toa ny president

makes me vomit in my mouth everytime I have to say 'president bush' did this or that.

weird thing in this culture, titles dont mean anything now. Just another way to make your average dumbshit think that the president 'aint no better than me'.

[alp227]

41. The NY Times has a similar "Mr." policy I think. Don't know NPR's intent.n/t

[question everything]

42. If the Wall St. Journal does, why can't NPR?

Even in its most scathing editorials, it starts with President Obama and then moves to Mr. Obama. Never Obama. (Of course, this is the style of the WSJ)

[Liberalagogo]

5. And in breaking news

NPR has decided to refer to Queen Elizabeth as "that ol' English beeyatch."

[ReRe]

27. .

[dlwickham]

49. that would be the queen's ex daughter in law

Sarah Ferguson

[Enrique]

6. I want to hear what The Magistrate thinks of this

also, CaliforniaPeggy.

[Kurovski]

16. "My Dear Obama"?

[bluestateguy]

7. NPR made an unforgiveable mistake when they declared Gabby Giffords dead

So they are not a news agency to me.

[Phlem]

9. And at the other end of the spectrum

Fox news steps up it's skewering of the President.

-p

[pnwmom]

10. Interesting that this happens during the office of our first African American President.

The need to avoid favoritism apparently wasn't so obvious when the President was white.

[kestrel91316]

15. GMTA, lol

[kestrel91316]

14. Very telling that they decided to do this with a black president. Just watch -

with the next president, who will almost certainly not be black, they will return to the original policy.

[valerief]

18. When did Presidents stopped being called President????? nt

[pnwmom]

19. When the first African American was elected?

[valerief]

20. Yeah, sorry to say, I think you're right.

[sofa king]

45. No, it goes back way more than that.

The conservative media, particularly radio host G. Gordon Liddy, spent hours a day railing about "Clinton," being quite deliberate about dropping any honorific for that President. They tried very, very hard to make the President's last name a pejorative.

But it goes way, way farther back than that. To an early American press, the War of 1812 was Mister Madison's War. Back then, calling the President "Mister" was high insult.

[malibea]

53. Good Answer!

Good Answer!

[SemperEadem]

21. exactly... what's wrong with "the President"...

there's only one at a time...

[Wolf Frankula]

24. IIRC it was during the Carter Administration

The media hogs (I can say that, I was one in those days) started calling him just 'Carter'. Then when Bonzo's co-star was elected, they always called him 'President Reagan' until Iran-Contra broke. Then he was just 'Reagan'.

Wolf

[CBHagman]

29. Various news outlets have referred to presidents as "Mr." long before this.

Back in the '80s I remember someone in my family complaining that it was disrespectful for reporters to refer to Ronald Reagan as "Mr. Reagan" rather than "President Reagan."

[malibea]

47. I want to know also!

Good question? Very, very, good question valerief!

[Dont call me Shirley]

23. One of the national news, either CBS or ABC, refers to President Obama as Mr.Obama. It gets my goat.

[graegoyle]

25. Appearance of stupidity to follow.

[and-justice-for-all]

26. Its President Obama..PERIOD.

[MBS]

31. +1000 n/t

[Auntie Bush]

35. +1000 The media should always refer to him as President Obama or Mr. President. The public

has a right to address him the way they want. I never once called Bush Mr. or President.
However all media and politicians should be respectful no matter how they feel personally. It's just being polite and having manors and showing respect to the POTUS.

[malibea]

48. And might I add: and for the last time!

You're absolutely correct! President Obama, period. For the last time! Case closed.

[ReRe]

28. NPR?

...I cut them off a long time ago.. They have no credibility anymore. Just saying...

[Turborama]

30. You are misrepresnting what one of the hosts said to you and you should edit the OP accordingly

Here's what they actually said:

OKNancy
Re: Petition to unlock a thread: Another School ...

I don't understand your reasoning. Yours is an obvious duplicate topic. It was posted after the one I linked in your thread.
Perhaps just post yours on to the older thread. That is what you are supposed to do with updates.

Does this help you understand the lock? I'm not sure I've answered your objections correctly.

As long as I have you.... you are new and I appreciate you posting, but watch out for your sources.
Try to use mainstream sources if at all possible. Gawker, mediate, jezebel, no matter how good are not the best ones if you can find some other hard news organization.

Here is the SOP again:
Statement of Purpose

Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1240207409#post5

BTW things are a LOT more relaxed here than they were in DU2's LBN. No blogs whatsoever were allowed, now we see Salon/Slate/etc being used all the time.

[MBS]

32. NPR has become weak-kneed lately

Disappointing. I know that they're under HUGE pressure from the right-wing crazies, and to some extent I sympathize with their attempts to deal with that pressure, but this is nuts. It's not good journalism, it's not even basic good manners, and it's just plain stupid.

[Faryn Balyncd]

33. Bush appointees turned NPR into corporate shills. Their morning broadcasts nauseate me.

It is far more damaging to have right wing talking points coming from the frauds at NPR who relish their ancient reputation of being "liberal", than from the buffoons on hate radio who only speak to their shrinking choir.

[KansDem]

34. "Their morning broadcasts nauseate me."

I tuned out NPR when Cokie Roberts reported on the Bush "charm offensive" during the 2000 campaign (if he's elected, she said, Bush will use his "charm" to get things done in DC... )

Occasionally, however, I'll hear a few minutes of NPR's morning shows (wife still listens to it) and it strikes me the NPR hosts all over-enunciate. As if they feel a need TO...MAKE...EVE-RY-THING...CLEAR. I mean, I feel like I'm in kindergarten!

Is it just me or do you have the same feeling?

[Kolesar]

39. Cleveland public radio, "Ideastream", is excellent

I hate the way NPR reports the position of RW American Jews and hints that it represents most of American Jews. I am a skeptic, btw.

[Auntie Bush]

36. Well the Right Wingers sound and act like they are kindergarteners.

[n2doc]

37. Sooo..the media can call Newt "Speaker"...and call Rmoney "Governor"

but can't call President Obama, a SITTING president, by his earned title?

[Kolesar]

38. America adopted "President" to substitute for a British "Your majesty"

...whatever that linguistic construction is called.

Yes, I hate hearing them call Gingerich "Speaker".

[Politicub]

40. Uhm. He is the president, which means they're not showing favoritism by saying Mr.

But I prefer the president for subsequent references.

[yurbud]

43. I intensely dislike honorifics of any kind, but I want to know what they did for past presidents

[BanTheGOP]

44. Simple policy

For any Democratic, Green, or progressive politician, use the honorific.

For any GOP or libertarian, call him "That stupid fuckwad."

[JoeyT]

50. NPR has apparently been spending every

waking moment trying to find ways to make themselves suck more. Onward and upward NPR, to suck like you've never sucked before. We believe in you!

I quit listening to them quite a bit back. If I wanted to listen to right wing guests whine all day without being called on their garbage I'd watch Fox.

[defacto7]

51. NPR has been completely off my list

for a long time. Frank James wrote for NPR throughout the campaign and it was blatantly clear he was a GOP shill. He is the worst of the worst. What does NPR do after the campaign? They make him the head of the political editorial staff.

NPR lost it completely with deregulation.

[jonthebru]

52. I personally would follow these guidelines:

The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage: The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World's Most Authoritative Newspaper is a style guide created in 1950 by editors at the newspaper and revised in 1974, 1999, and 2002 by Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly. Although it was written for New York Times journalists, it was also published for use by others.[1] Much of the information is specific to neither The Times nor New York.

The Times's book requires that the surnames of subjects (sports-related columns being the most notable exceptions) be prefixed with a title (such as Dr., Mr., Ms., or Mrs.).

It doesn't say anything about "second reference."
And yes Cokie Roberts is junk and NPR News has generally gone down hill...