A well penned missive about tonight's Some Things Considered (NPR)

[AP]

I think I'm about to all but give up on expecting NPR's ME and ATC to be neutral reporters on the upcoming election. Lately, my routine for listening to these shows' election coverage has been to ask myself: am I listening to John Kerry's voice? George Bush's voice? Am I listening to a message that George Bush wants me to hear about Kerry or himself, even if it's not coming from George Bush? Is it a message about Bush that Kerry wants me to hear?

Well, lately, I hear very little from Kerry (unless it's meant to criticize Kerry), I hear a lot from Bush directly, and I hear a lot of messages from people who aren't Bush, but who emphasize Bush's message. And anything that could remotely be perceived as a criticism of Bush is rarely put in the context of the campaign, or in the context of a choice on election day between two policy agendas.

Today's ATC is a perfect example. The first story in today's show that was relevant to the election was "Report: Saddam Had 'Intent', But No Weapons." Marie Louise Kelly waited until the end of the story to put it in the context of the election and made sure to tell listeners that this story wouldn't have any influence on the election.

That was followed by the LAMEST excuse for repeating Bush campaign attacks on John Kerry I've heard recently (and that's saying ALOT, because NPR et al. are trying pretty hard to do this). "Before Bush Speaks, Partisans Preach to Faithful" was little more than free advertising for the Bush campaign. What would Kerry have to pay to have you play clips from his stump speeches for as long as you played clips from Bush's? And don't give me any BS about there being a legitimate news story behind that. What ATC was doing was transparent, and NPR should be ashamed of itself, and its local affiliates should be ashamed to broadcast this trash.

And what was that followed by? "On the Campaign Trail, a 'George Bush Special.'" Mind you, I haven't heard John Kerry's name mentioned positively ONCE yet. I've been told that he gains nothing from Sadaam having intent but no weapons. I've heard him called a "waffler." I've heard repeated jokes about him. Yet we're already on to George Bush being humanized for ordering his own food before we give Kerry any chance to respond to the attacks? Oh, come on.

Incidentally, I applied my aforementioned test to your "Bush, Kerry Fight for Ohio" story. Here's what I came up with: OK, finally I heard Kerry's voice talking about the campaign. But after Bush's, and Bush is already way ahead in total time on tonight's broadcast. And, after all, how could you do a story that's explicitly about the CAMPAIGN without actually letting us hear from Kerry? Ok, I'm sure you'll figure out a way to do that before November if it's still close, but not tonight. The real zinger in this story was ATC playing the voice of Bush campaign workers READING THEIR PHONE BANK SCRIPT!!! The Kerry campaign worker talked about mechanics of the campaign. The Bush campaign workers got to read their GOD DAMNED SCRIPT ON THE AIR. That was worth a million dollars to the Republicans. The Kerry callers have to do this one person at a time, and will probably reach only 10,000 people today. But NPR just ensured that Bush's script will have reached 10,000,000 listeners tonight. Mara Liasson better be getting a check from the Bush campaign -- and she should add a line to her resume: assistant campaign manger. She's doing a great job of helping Bush with media and GOTV.

And where does all this leave me as a listener? It leaves me begging my local affiliates to start thinking about decentralizing the control over the message. How about an hour of ATC and ME and 2 hours of locally controlled, locally relevant news? I'd rather have my local stations produce versions of national, state and local news. I'd rather have people who live in my community interpret world, national, and local events. I'm going to give up on expecting NPR to be responsible producers of the news.

[senseandsensibility]

1. I loathe NPR

They are in the bag for * big time, and have been since 2000. Their shilling for * is as offensive as CNN"s or Faux"s. If any DUers have not listened for awhile and doubt this, tune in to ATC or ME and see for yourself. I tuned them out long ago, but I admire you for monitering them and holding their feet to the fire. They are the enemy, and it burns me up that most people think they're liberal. How long will it take that one to burn itself out?

[KittyWampus]

2. Thanks AP, You Really Are A Good Writer & Very Sharp

I too gave up on NPR long ago and rarely listen.

Couldn't live without Prairie Home Companion, I'm afraid.

[AP]

3. The problem really is just with ME, ATC, Dianne Rehm, Marketplace and...

...a few other national shows with heavy support from industry and from DC insiders.

And the problem isn't so much with the concept of NPR. It's just that some powerful interests dominate a few very popular shows.

Do you know that NPR affiliates have to pay the full license fee for ME and ATC whether they broadcast 1 hour or all three?

If they could pay pro-rata, I bet a lot of stations would dump a couple hours and use the money they save to produce their own local news, but they don't because, so long as they're paying for it, they're going to air the whole thing (and they'd be paying twice for the air time twice if they had to pay to produce something local).

I wish local NPR stations could just play a few of their own stories over the crappier NPR stories. (I wonder if their contracts require them to play 50-whatever minutes an hour?)

[KittyWampus]

4. Concept Of NPR- Remember You're Saying About The Appeal To Suburban Women

you are correct. People who mention NPR in conversations with me are invariably women. Liberals who haven't seen through the "veil" yet.

Many people won't notice the bias as well as you. It's kind of subtle.

[AP]

5. Yep. I guarantee you that hiring that new anchor, Michelle What's-Her-Name

was part of a conscious strategy to manipulate women.

And to repeat for emphasis, the message ME/ATC repeatedly sends to women is: "it's enough to be middle class. You can't be asked to do anything more to contribute to the political life of America than to just be middle class and to consume."

So many of their stories are designed to make women feel like they've achieved something if they've gone out and bought something. Yes, it's so hard to be middle class. You're a hero if you go to work, and come home, and stop somewhere in between to buy shit.

Don't protest. Don't vote for Democrats. Don't care about anything more. And the real criminals in America are the people who get in the way of your consumption and your complacency. And that includes people who make you feel bad for feeding your baby processed non-organic foods.

I think I read somewhere that the CIA finds it very easy to manipulate women in order to subvert governments they don't like. I can't remember where I read that. Some of their most effective propaganda is aimed directly at women. I'm so sure that NPR has heard that too.

[KittyWampus]

6. Food Smooze- Did A Piece About How EVERYONE Is Installing WINE CELLARS

had a wine cellar builder on the show. How Biff gets one in his McMansion that holds 100 bottles so Binky has to have a cellar installed that holds 120 bottles of wine.

:puke:

Disclaimer- I was trapped in traffic and radio reception sucked. Had to do something so I rolled my eyes at the blatant consumerism ( I live in the Hamptons and am surrounded by Wine Cellar WASPS) :D

[AP]

7. Hey, you live in the Hamptons, and you haven't had all of us over

for the weekend?

[KittyWampus]

9. My Family Owns A Bed & Breakfast... So I Actually COULD

you organize it and I'll be happy to have some DU'ers over. :)

[AP]

10. Sweet.

[Kolesar]

8. Wow. I hope you sent that to ATC and your local affiliate(s)

Send it to Brooke and Bob at On The Media. Their show is about the media, but I finding them doing the best news coverage on that network (NPR). I don't expect they would read it on the air, but they would appreciate the analysis of ATC.

[AP]

11. FAIR has a weekly program some affiliates carry, and Media Matters are

obviously the other people to complain to, eh?

(I did send it to my local affiliate, and to NPR.)

[AP]

12. I just reread this and I can't emphazize enough how appalling it is that..

...Ms Liasson played Bush's phone bank script on the air.

If she wants to be fair and balanced she should let Kerry read his phone bank script on the air too.

It's just outrageous that NPR did that.

Embedding that little bit of campaign assistance in a news story is stunning.