A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

NPR JULY 31, 2006 PRESS RELEASE

"Scott Hensley, founding editor of and former contributor to The Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog, joins National Public Radio on Monday as part of its expanded health coverage.

Vikki Valentine, NPR’s supervising science editor for digital news, says Hensley is one of two additions to the Web health staff. The other is producer Kathleen Masterson, who will develop and coordinate special projects.

Hensley will blog about the news of the day and develop a tone and strategy for NPR’s health blog, as well as build a following. Eventually he will work on longer format stories for use on the site and on the air. Valentine says she expects the rest of the health staff will contribute more to the blog."

NPR has a Health Care Blog? Yep.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/

As a public service for Mr. Hensley and to welcome him to NPR, I've had our staff here at Grumpy Industries International prepare some tips from NPR's style book based on NPR's reporting the past year. This should get you up to speed:

-Single payer is black listed, you can't interview any advocates, doctors, or journalist that support this position, because it's "not on the table*". No stories, no columns, no mention, ever.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106969104

-Never, ever, ever, mention campaign donations or think tank funding when reporting on the GOP and the industry. See: Memory Hole.

-The uninsured cannot be interviewed, profiled or otherwise acknowledge, as well as effective Government health care programs like Medicare, VA, etc.

-No stories are permitted about woman's reproductive rights, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and similar groups are black listed. Also, doctors that perform legal, ethical, medical procedures are to called "Abortion Doctors" even thought this is not a professional title or industry term. Anti-birth control pro-lifers are to always be portrayed as main stream and treated with the utmost respect, even if they've been convicted of attempting to bomb a clinic.

http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=operation+rescue&dateId=0&prgId=0&topicId=0

-Remember to report on only what's "on the table" check FOX and the GOP they set the table for NPR. When in doubt remember: WWPD (What Would Pharma Do?)

-If you happen to know the definition of torture please share it with NPR's Ombudsman, Alicia Shepard. Really, she doesn't know the meaning of the word.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/02/npr/index.html

-The accepted ratio of interviewees is that for every progressive or Democrat, you should interview no less that Six Republicans, AEI members, NRO writers, or industry lobbyists. See NPR's coverage of the Economic stimulus earlier this year as good example:

http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2009/02/are-we-stimulated-yet.html

-Bipartisanship: NPR defines as doing what the GOP wants, especially when the GOP loses the election.

Good luck Scott, you'll need it.