NPR's View From No Where, . . .

is intellectually dishonest and corrupts journalism, while normalizing extremism.

Who Really Runs NPR—Liberals? Right-Wingers? Dollar Signs? | The Philly Post:

"If you listen carefully to Spiegel’s report, you can detect the bias—in favor of sanity. The bulk of the report is a sharp rebuke to conversion therapy, including an interview with a therapist who calls the practice “distorted at its core.” This accords with Spiegel’s accomplished mental health reporting throughout the years. She is an experienced writer and reporter who has done superb work. There is little possibility that she believes, personally, that conversion therapy is legitimate. But she appears to be hamstrung by “balance.”"

Former nPR Ombudsman waits until she left nPR to do her job.

Over at Poynert.org nPR's former (not an)Ombudsman, Alicia Shepard, writes about her former emplyer: Former NPR Ombud fact checks new Juan Williams book, ‘Muzzled’ | Poynter.: "NPR selectively used its ethics code with him."

It curious, and sad, that Ms. Shepard waits until after she is no longer on the nPR payroll, to act like an Ombudsman:

"Sometimes I was told that because he was a contractor, NPR’s ethics code didn’t apply. Other times, I was told he had more leeway with the ethics code because he was a senior news analyst."

"NPR selectively used its ethics code with him. "

These two facts where never shared by Ms. Shepard with any of nPR's listners. While the "listeners' representative" to nPR she steadfastly defended nPR's management, with the exception of minor mistakes and ignored listeners' repeated inquiries about Mr. Williams' unprofessional behavior. I know, I was one of the listeners she ignored.

I wrote to Ms. Shepard repeatedly asking for an explanation of why Mr. Williams was permitted violate nPR's Code of Ethics and never got anything but a form email back. Numerous times, I formally requested on her blog an explanation citing the specific sections that Williams (and Mara Liasson) were clearly violating.

Perhaps in her next column she can explain why she defended nPR's Management unprofessional and unethical treatment of Harry Shearer? While also ignoring Mr. Shearer's direct questions:

http://www.npr.org/templates/community/persona.php?uid=5935964

I guess the most important thing you learn after "thirty years of journalism" is keep management happy.

I won't be torturing, er "harshly interrogating" myself waiting for an answer.

Some Elections Are More Equal Than Others

Yesterday a state referendum was held on a state's domestic partnership law, it passed by slim margin.

No, Grumpy is not confused or drinking early in the morning, in addition to Maine, where Gay Marriage lost, there was a referendum in Washington State (Who knew?). Not NPR' s Morning Edition.

"Washington's Referendum 71 -- which asked the state's voters to weigh in on the state's domestic partnership law -- was approved by a narrow 51-49 margin -- meaning same-sex couples get to keep state-granted rights otherwise given only to married couples. That's with 100 percent of the vote counted."

If you listened to NPR's Morning Edition this morning you would have heard numerous reports about the Maine referendum, also that 30 states have rejected Gay Marriage.

Number of time the Washington State vote was mentioned by NPR?

Never.

Yeah right, no agenda there.

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.

NPR & Liasson: The Death of Irony

Pardon me, Ms. Liasson: Have you looked in a mirror lately?

Oh God Kill me now, Maria "The FOX" Liasson’s report on political language today on NPR's Morning Edition don't know weather to laugh or cry, so I think I'll rant.

NPR, now a temple of FOX Orwellian newspeak, pot calls the Washington kettle black.


This is hilarious, Mara Liasson, a full time FOX News employee for more than ten years, is reporting and complaining about the misuse of words by politicians? Every Sunday Mara sits down with her buddies at FOX who have called Obama "Baby Killer", "Marxist", "Fascist", "Communist" and worse.

Also, there's that silly little fact the Ms. Liasson and NPR won't call water boarding torture, it a “harsh interrogation technique”. Despite, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights says that water boarding is torture. The International Committee of the Red Cross have called what the U.S. did “torture.” Water boarding is unambiguously in violation of the International Convention on Torture, which has been ratified by 140-some countries. Yet NPR’s official editorial policy is that NPR doesn’t know the definition of the word torture.

Ms. Lasson and NPR's uncial embracing of GOP/FOX talking points for the past six years has done much more damage to political discourse in this country than any politician has done. Politicians obfuscated for cemeteries, that’s nothing new there, but what’s NPR's excuse for "aggressively interrogating" our language when it reports the news?


NPR, just like FOX de void of any self-awareness or sense of irony.

[Even more snarky aside, Mr. Liasson's bio at FOXNews.com reports she joined FOX in 1997, it also lists her numerous awards and accolades. Guess when the last time she won an award for her reporting? 1997. I wonder if there's a correlation between working for FOX and lack of professional recognition?]

THE NPR'S OMBUDSMAN SPEAKS

NPR's GLOBAL WAR ON NOUNS

From the consistently well produced and thoughtful WNYC's On The Media , actual program transcript from the June 26, 2009 . Host Bob Garfield interviews Alicia Shepard, NPR Ombudsman, about her logic on defending why NPR is not calling torture "torture".

BOB GARFIELD: The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights says that waterboarding is torture. The International Committee of the Red Cross have called what the U.S. did “torture.” Waterboarding is unambiguously in violation of the International Convention on Torture, which has been ratified by 140-some countries.

It seems to me that the only people who think it’s a debate are the Bush Administration, who are the culprits. So how does that constituent a debate?

ALICIA SHEPARD: Well, there are two sides to the issue. And I'm not sure, why is it so important to call something torture?

Grumpy adjusts his glasses:

"I'm not sure, why is it so important to call something torture?"

"I'M NOT SURE, WHY IT IT SO IMPORTANT TO CALL SOMETHING TORTURE" ?

"I'M NOT SURE, WHY IT IT SO IMPORTANT TO CALL SOMETHING TORTURE"?

WTF? EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG, EXPLETIVE DELETED,EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG! EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG, EXPLETIVE DELETED, HOLY CRAP! (homage to Peter Boyle) WTF? EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG! EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, . . . (a half hour passes) ."

Ahem, well at least the host doesn't let Ms. Shepard off the hook, in fact he gets her to admit the NPR's euphemisms for torture reflect a pro-Bush bias:

BOB GARFIELD: I put it to you that embracing a euphemism for torture validates a political position. You’re trying to be apolitical but, in fact, to embrace terms like “harsh interrogation tactics” instead of calling a thing by its name, in effect, gives credence to the Bush Administration’s argument, does it not?

ALICIA SHEPARD: Yes, I think it does. I think using terms like “harsh interrogation tactics” or “enhanced interrogation techniques” does validate the Bush Administration. So that’s why I said why not just describe it. I think when you detail something and explain specifically what it is, then the public can decide.

BOB GARFIELD: NPR certainly has no difficulty calling murder “murder.” It doesn't call it “enhanced argumentation technique.” The terrorists call themselves “freedom fighters” but NPR calls acts of terror “acts of terror.”

ALICIA SHEPARD: Right.

BOB GARFIELD: In other respects, NPR hasn't taken a position against, you know, nouns. Why this one, in particular?

It goes down hill from there for Ms. Shepard. Like a good Beltway Village, Mr. Garfield's logic bounces off her like bullets against superman. Believe it or not, she attempts to create a (false) moral equivalency in NPR's coverage of abortion (a legal medically ethical procedure) to torture (illegal medically unethical).

Here's her closing statement, remember, she is an actual journalism professor:

And so in my opinion, as somebody with almost 30 years of journalism experience, it’s not the role of the media to take on characterizing things.

Believe it or not words escape me, so I'll let some else contradict Ms. Shepard's argument:

As someone who studies the media, writes about it and believes in it, I can easily say that Jon Stewart may profess to be a comedian but he is also one of the best journalists in the country.

He holds people in power accountable on a daily basis. he provides context and he does it all in a way that is totally enjoyable to watch
-Alicia Shepard, commenting on Planet Money blog, re: Jon Stewart vs Jim Crammer 03/13/09

I wonder what changed Ms. Shepard's mind about what constitutes good journalism in less than three months?