NPR Watch

[liminalOyster]

Almost none of my friends or family share my antipathy for NPR, so please don't take my own feelings towards it as a put-down or judgment. I think, as with a lot of the trappings of post-millennial progressivism, I revile it because it seems to stand in for and so prevent the emergence of a real political bloc that represents me. I wouldn't call myself a classic Lefty by any means but I do have moments where I see the very last stragglers of the 70s out in groups of 4 or 5 on a street corner on the weekend with signs imploring me to honk if I hate blood for oil and I get wistful to think they will all be gone in 20 years. The Left never did well with aesthetics but in their clownishly simply moralism, they did sometimes get out there to serve as an immediate reactive conscience for the body politic against militarism. NPR, Obama, Nate Silver have made us all love war as long as its lead by cosmo-pols.

[seemslikeadream]

well when you just happen to mention the two shows I mentioned .....hard not to....come on it was a blatant put-down...how dare I be so smarmy to listen to a free radio show while driving my car everyone does not have the money for Sirius

do you tell your friends and family how smarmy they are ...bizarrely detached pseudo-reflection?

I also hate the fucking wink-nod-smarmy-faux-erudition of their entertainment programming so much at this point. It's always the same ponderous and bizarrely detached pseudo-reflection on this or that secular humanist parable, be it Serial or This American Life or Radio Lab.

self righteousness abides!


no one has ever made me love war

I don't know anyone that listens to NPR...no friends....no relatives .....just me for a bit of entertainment once in a while but even that seems to label me some frickin lefty with no sense of reality because I like good music and a laugh occasionally

I've listened to NPR over the years...I never became addicted to their obvious sinister bent maybe I am just not lefty enough

I guess I don't hang around with "those" kind of people

[liminalOyster]

SLAD, those are genuinely the first three shows that came to mind for me. I did not have you in mind or mean any judgment, insult or put down. Probably my own feelings towards NPR are somewhat silly and overly emotional, but they're mine; no disrespect implied to anyone who enjoys a spot of "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" to unwind. Cheers.

[seemslikeadream]

ok I'll accept the fact that you did not read my post

I do find it rather silly this baby bath water thing

being an absolutist is never a good thing...except about trump

out in the boonies when your choice of a radio station is Rush or NPR I'm just going to go with Car Talk

say what you want about This American Life or Radio Lab just don't bad mouth World Cafe

but sure enough someone will trash my taste in music now

[82_28]

We should try and cut our self imposed losses and in the holiday spirit assume that not everything is meant personally. It sucks to have to modify behavior, but in this case, the topic is NPR and not phantom perceived slights.

[Elvis]

Simmer down, y'all! ...LOL ...it's only NPR.


Every week for years I set my alarm clock for "Car Talk"—on Saturdays, and I'm not a morning person. Probably my favorite program on radio.

Its replacement in my local timeslot, "Hidden Brain," is excellent so far. Been setting my alarm for it!

"This American Life" has a lot of great segments; if I'm puttering around the house on Saturday, I usually have it on.

The several "stories" programs are hit & miss for me. Some are overproduced with excessive music and sound effects. Others are terrific.

"Fresh Air" has largely become a celebrity chit-chat, often focusing on some dramatic TV show (wtf?). Unless the guest is someone I'm really interested in hearing, I usually run to change the station.

I'm a fan of "The Thomas Jefferson Hour."

My 'market' has four NPR affiliate stations, so I switch around a lot. Plus we have two or three excellent small community stations that carry more radical stuff. Then there's CBC, which I pick up off the air here.


It's the NPR news department that deserves scrutiny.

[seemslikeadream]

sorry I just get a bit cranky thinking one of my favorite radio shows is no more...except for reruns!



I miss the puzzler most of all

Merry Christmas everyone

[Elvis]

Love those guys. R.I.P. Tommy.




It should be known that Ray & Tommy quietly supported some very good causes.

[Sounder]

NPR has always had very interesting 'side-bar' material. Of course any efficient propaganda outlet must have a substantial stable of cred builder material. For a long time NPR remained a preferred choice for me despite shortcomings. Still around the time of the Iraq 'war' it all became too much and I swore off all but incidental radio and TV engagement.

Only a few days ago my partner told me that she would no longer listen to NPR. This was a bit of a surprise to me because she treats her relationship to media rather differently than I do.

I only pray she does not become cynical like me, as then I might lose my best sane connection to propaganda land.

[Jerky]

If anything, it seems to me that the main problem NPR suffers from is that they stretch themselves too much to be TOO "FAIR". They buy into bullshit bothsiderism as much as they possibly can (because, let's face it, if they didn't, they'd soon find themselves de-funded). So they have to kowtow to the mythological "nice" Trumpers, the people who really only voted for the man out of "economic anxiety" and not because he hates him some niggers, spics and homos just as much as THEY do goddamnit.

Can't say as I blame them. Folks gotta eat.

J

[liminalOyster]

The vast majority of NPR's funding no longer comes from the feds.

Funding[edit]
In 2010, NPR revenues totaled $180 million, with the bulk of revenues coming from programming fees, grants from foundations or business entities, contributions and sponsorships.[22] According to the 2009 financial statement, about 50% of NPR revenues come from the fees it charges member stations for programming and distribution charges.[22] Typically, NPR member stations receive funds through on-air pledge drives, corporate underwriting, state and local governments, educational institutions, and the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). In 2009, member stations derived 6% of their revenue from federal, state and local government funding, 10% of their revenue from CPB grants, and 14% of their revenue from universities.[22][36] While NPR does not receive any direct federal funding, it does receive a small number of competitive grants from CPB and federal agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce. This funding amounts to approximately 2% of NPR's overall revenues.[22]

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of NPR funding came from the federal government. Steps were taken during the 1980s to completely wean NPR from government support, but the 1983 funding crisis forced the network to make immediate changes. According to CPB, in 2009 11.3% of the aggregate revenues of all public radio broadcasting stations were funded from federal sources, principally through CPB;[37] in 2012 10.9% of the revenues for Public Radio came from federal sources.[38]

In 2011, NPR announced the roll-out of their own online advertising network, which allows member stations to run geographically targeted advertisement spots from national sponsors that may otherwise be unavailable to their local area, opening additional revenue streams to the broadcaster.[39]

2013 saw the launch of Center Stage, a mix of native advertising and banner ad featured prominently on the NPR homepage, above-the-fold. The launch partner for Center Stage was Squarespace.[40]

In 2014, NPR CEO Jarl Mohn said the network would begin to increase revenue by having brands NPR views as more relevant to the audience underwrite NPR programs and requesting higher rates from them.[41]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding

[Jerky]

Yes, that's true. And I was and am well aware of that.

I said nothing about the federal government. I said they would be defunded if they didn't tow the bothsiderism party line.

Do you think that's just a GOVERNMENT phenomenon?

J

[liminalOyster]

Oh apologies for misunderstanding. The classic line about NPR in my circles has always been that, historically, their news/politics coverage editorial slant was constricted by the threat of government de-funding, specifically. That's no longer so relevant, is all. Not to say other benefactors and funding streams have no editorial influence.

[Jerky]

No worries.

People are actually always making the assumption that NPR and public broadcasting in general are paid for by the federal government, so perhaps I should have been clearer.

Merry Christmas!
Jerky

[Cordelia]

...........addressing inequality in all its forms.

.......working to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.

^^^Two of many banalities offered up hourly from NPR Contributors like The Ford Foundation and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

From article quoted up-thread:

“I should’ve seen the truth about the time most NPR shows were pushing for war in Iraq, buying into the WMD lie. Or maybe I should’ve realized the truth when Kevin Klose took over as President of NPR in 1998. Klose came straight from a nice seat as director of the US Information Agency, described as “a United States agency devoted to ‘public diplomacy’ (AKA propaganda).” So when you have one of the top government propagandists as your president, one can assume your reporting is slightly biased.”

Thanks for that reminder that when Klose took over, NPR news presentations noticeably changed; Scott Simon was mongering early on in the endless 'war on terror' :

Even Pacifists Must Support This War

Updated Oct. 11, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

By Scott Simon, the host of National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition With Scott Simon."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1002759309780687920

and......

“On September 11, Americans, with our 40 different kinds of coffee drinks and diet pills, heard that roar. And that blast awakened a gratitude to live in a country worth loving—worth defending.”

https://www.friendsjournal.org/2001104/

I often get Simon mixed up with a co-host on 'All Things Considered’; they both sound so self-righteous and cloyingly reverential. 'Morning Edition' and 'All Things Considered' reporter 'interviews' w/Gov't/Industry officials often sound so spoon-fed, I imagine the participants rolling their eyes.

It's ironic that in 1998 (after Klose took the helm) Washington NPR week day talk-show doyenne Diane Rehm almost literally lost her voice and was diagnosed w/spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder that made her voice sound strained and strangled. She'd been w/NPR since 1973; after losing her voice, she soldiered on before retiring in 2017.

When my budget allows I contribute to the NPR local affiliate because I listen a lot; I don't have t.v. and its my main source of audio news. If I can tune out the regular who constantly giggles, 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me' is a hoot, I like to listen to the Sunday cooking show 'Milk Street Radio' when I'm hungry; listen to some of the weekend story-telling shows and, of course, the news.