March 9, 2011

NPR's Vivian Schiller resigns... and she's not even related to Ronald Schiller, the NPR guy who's reputation went to hell yesterday.

What's the matter with NPR?

91 comments:

Unknown said...

I think it's another chapter in the collapse of the blue model, as Walter Russell Mead calls it.

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)




Possibly a job with J Street or HRW, I’d suggest the Ikhwan Muslimeen but they have “problems” with womyn in management positions.

kent said...

As Ace commented ,earlier this A.M.: "I like to think that somewhere, Juan Williams is laughing his ass off."

The Crack Emcee said...

Nothing. It is what it is. A better question, regarding NPR and a lot of things they've supported, is what took everyone else so long to catch on? And I'm not joking:

THAT's the question we should be trying to answer.

AllenS said...

Too many Schillers?

rhhardin said...

"The immortals have their bias!"

- Friedrich von Schiller

SteveR said...

The revelation is not new information, the reactions means that funding they say is no big deal, is a big deal.

The Crack Emcee said...

kent,

As Ace commented ,earlier this A.M.: "I like to think that somewhere, Juan Williams is laughing his ass off."

Me, too.

But I want to say it again:

This isn't a case of "What's wrong with them?" but "What's been wrong with us?"

To not ask the question correctly is to further avoid the truth.

Fred4Pres said...

Time to cut the federal funding.

And this is not a surprise, not to those of us paying only cursory attention to NPR. It is an out of control partisan organization. Nothing wrong with that, provided its supporters are paying for it.

Jim Gust said...

Time for NPR to be taken off of the public dole. Why isn't federal funding of NPR a violation of the First Amendment?

traditionalguy said...

The internet got her. The day has come that neither Schiller could continue anymore to point a finger at non-intellectuals while they pushed bad arguments over the true facts. The internet has shown real intellectual content together with an apptitude for facts and that has swamped the old NPR meme of their being a needed opposition to country dumb hicks.

former law student said...

Too much subservience to big donors.

I agree about the Schillers. Read Goethe, instead.

Fred4Pres said...

Of course Juan Williams is laughing his ass off, this totally vindicates him and reveals NPR's management to be the mendoucheous scum we always knew them to be.

Phil 314 said...

Ms. Schiller took the helm at NPR in January 2009. Before joining the organization, she was a senior vice president at The New York Times Company, where she was general manager of nytimes.com.

Telling.

Institutional blindness

wv: latins Don't ask me, ask the Professor.

Pastafarian said...

"What's the matter with NPR?"

I'd say the heart of the problem is the fact that they're not forced to turn a profit. Their board of directors will replace Schiller with another CEO and their choice, once again, won't be based on competence, it will be based on politics and hollow Ivy League credentials.

Had NPR been subjected to the same market as other networks, it would have went out of business ten years ago and we wouldn't be subjected to this spectacle of bad management. And to the cringe-inducing radio voice of Ira Glass, doing his best impersonation of a smug 15-year-old boy, as we flip through channels trying to find classical music.

Patrick said...

Myopia. They just can't imagine that anyone could hold a worldview inconsistent with NPR's.

Henry said...

Ron made Vivian a dupe.

What could she say when called in front of Congress now?

The most important asset for the next head of NPR is that he or she be ignorant of all previous answers to the public funding question.

* * *

I will add the Ron Schiller actually spoke the truth on the funding point -- as has Vivian Schiller. NPR can survive fine without public funds, but some rural stations cannot. Where Vivian has fudged is on the viability of the larger urban stations without funding.

I lost my sympathy for public broadcasting when WGBH bought out the local commercial classical station, moved all of its classical music programming over, and filled its day with inane pseudo-intellectual opinion shows.

Michael said...

What's wrong with NPR is that the service is produced by and for a relatively small and extremely parochial segment of American society - people who read the NY Times and the New Yorker and congratulate themselves on how much smarter and more refined they are than everybody else. TheyW therefore have no interest in actually understanding other points of view (unless they are edgy and transgressive and anti-capitalist), as proved by the idiotic comments re the Tea Party, etc. FWIW, I more-or-less like NPR, particularly PHC, Car Talk, Says You, etc. I could even stand the news coverage, except that my wife gets mad if I point out the biases and inaccuracies. The only thing that's truly intolerable is On the Media.

TWM said...

This plus a viewing of the latest Charlie Sheen rant just makes this week the bestest eva'.

Rich B said...

I am sure that NPR will be much better once it shakes its addiction to public funding.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that NPR is a fantasy world for people who don't ever want to leave college, enter the real world, and accept the reality of costs and consequences.

Joe said...

My granddaughter likes watching Elmo videos. That alone is reason enough to strip NPR from ALL funding, government and otherwise.

Unknown said...

Wossamatta?

How about everything.

It is, after all, Bill Moyers' network and a more miserable hypocrite has rarely polluted the American scene.

kent said...

As Ace commented ,earlier this A.M.: "I like to think that somewhere, Juan Williams is laughing his ass off."

Saw him on Hannity last night and he's very angry - don't blame him.

I'm Full of Soup said...

We put the fear of God in NPR. Whoulda thunk that could happen?

Greg Hlatky said...

"Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain"

- Friedrich von Schiller
The Maid of Orleans

kent said...

Ron Schiller decides not to join the Aspen Institute

Heh-heh-heh. ;)

ricpic said...

...what took everyone else so long to catch on?

The "people who count" aka the beautiful people have known for a long long time that NPR is hard left and that's perfectly fine with them, because for the mostpart they too are hard left. And since, when all is said and done, the people who count are the people in the driver's seat, I predict confidently that NPR will not be defunded.
Also, watch how reluctant the Republican establishment is to pursue defunding and how quickly the issue is dropped. As they see it why arouse the wrath of the BP's, or of their own wives, over such a piddling issue.

tree hugging sister said...

I'm still a Curious George! we've heard from Schillers ad nauseum, the NPR board and now the Aspen Institute (who have just informed us that one Schiller will not be employed there after all and scrubbed the glowing "whoopee/welcome!" from their website)..what about the sponsors? Especially the "Jewish" one?

commentor said...

You can always tell when a particular news source is unbiased when one extreme of the political spectrum rabidly defends it.

Christopher in MA said...

One of Ace's commenters posited that Ron Schiller's worst offense wasn't his dismissal of those on the right as gun-toting racist hicks - that's received wisdom for them - but admitting that NPR could survive without government largesse.

I'm a Shaaaaark said...

Ron Schiller decides not to join the Aspen Institute

I wonder if he reached that conclusion for himself, or if someone at the Aspen Institute made it for him.

Rumpletweezer said...

The problem with the people at NPR is they believe their own news. Shiller(s) listen to the news they themselves produce...and they believe it...oh...sorry...my sides hurt from laughing...

rhhardin said...

"Vivian brought vision and energy to this organization."

Lifelike.

bagoh20 said...

At this point, Crack is asking the right question. What is wrong with our culture that is supports, not just tolerates, but supports strongly such incompetence and bigotry just because it's the right flavor for a minority of the people out there. Supported through government, media and over stretched taxpayer dollars.

It fine for it to exist, but that we force so many to support it while it insults them is embarrassing.

Joaquin said...

Let’s consider who PBS is broadcasting to. Who is American Experience, Nova, Frontline, The Independent Lens, The News Hour, American Masters, Austin City Limits, Charlie Rose, and Antique Road Show aimed at? I can easily make the argument that Archer Daniels Midland, the Annegberg Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the like are broadcasting to themselves and their peers.
Let’s also look at the PBS of radio, NPR.
The format of NPR includes Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Radiolab, Talk of the Nation Science, World Café, and World of Opera. If you’ve listened to NPR, and have an ounce of honesty, it’s easy to recognize that they are not broadcasting to Raul in the barrio, Keshia in South Central, Bo in W. Virginia, or for that matter, Joaquin in Hialeah.
Could one not make the argument that it is WASPS broadcasting to WASPS in what they call the“pursuit of the highest artistic and intellectual accomplishments?” And IF that argument can be made, do you not also have to question the need of tax payer funding?

The Beebs Blog said...

Schiller's Ode to Joy.

MikeR said...

Do I get a prize for finding a mispelled word in the title?

Tom from Virginia said...

A man in Havana loses his parrot. He reports it to the Ministry of Lost Pets and tells them "if you find my parrot, please understand that I do not agree with any of his political opinions."

Anonymous said...

I went to a taping of the quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" in Austin, Texas. It was obnoxious. The host, I can't remember his name, spent half the time pandering to the presumably (I'm sure in his mind) liberal Austin audience. They should have named that episode "Wink, Wink, Don't Tell Me". He acted on the assumption that no one in the audience could possibly have a different political opinion than he did (along with all those who produce the show, presumably) and spoke accordingly. He specifically and vocally denigrated Republicans and made no effort to provide any balance. Even if the majority of the audience was Austin liberal, it was a tacky way for a guest in the city to behave towards its citizens who had spent money to come watch. I was disgusted at his obnoxiousness and no longer listen to the show on occasion as I used to. There is no way I want any of my tax money going to people like him or those who make him possible. Did I mention the pandering? It was embarrassing. A joke or two would have been fine but he didn't know when to stop.

Original Mike said...

"After news of the videotape broke Tuesday, NPR issued a statement from Vivian Schiller that said his remark's were "contrary to what NPR stands for and deeply distressing to reporters, editors and others who bring fairness, civility and respect for a wide variety of viewpoints to their work everyday.""

But the problem, of course, is that this is not true and it's finally caught up with them.

Original Mike said...

"The internet got her."

God bless the internet.

jerryofva said...

Joaquim speaks the truth. The audience for NPR is made up of what used to be called the American patrician class. Patricians have always had contempt for the plebes and do everything to seperate themselves from the "masses." That's why the Hamptoms and Newport exist. Just consider CPB, NPR and PBS the Hamptoms of the airwaves.

Just remember, if you like serious music there is always a choice that is superior to to public radio -- WFMT in Chicago. It's a commerical radio station and there really is an AP for that!

MadisonMan said...

The host, I can't remember his name, spent half the time pandering to the presumably (I'm sure in his mind) liberal Austin audience.

If he was a good host, he'd have mentioned that the Green Bay Packers are the World Champs!

I've been to a taping of Whaddya Know? It was interesting to see after having heard the show many times.

Bruce Hayden said...

I think that Ann's headline is a bit weak - She was apparently forced out by the board, and the resignation was not all that voluntary.

That said, of course, many, if not most resignations in such situations are forced, or close to it. Asking for someone's resignation is much more polite than telling them they are fired.

Richard Dolan said...

Note that the NYT piece refers to "the Republican filmmaker James O’Keefe" and "a Republican filmmaker." Has the NYT ever identified anyone as the "Democratic filmmaker," "Democractic actor," etc.?

Just wondering.

Bob K said...

What is the likelihood they hire a black or Muslim as a permanent replacement for her?

Joseph of FP said...

Leaving means not having to answer any difficult questions.

O'Keefe claims there is more to come on this story. If true, then perhaps she is leaving before the next shoe drops.

Clairvius Narcisse said...

i won't know how i feel about this until beck tells me my opinion.

An Edjamikated Redneck said...

Why both Schilers?

ZERO TOLERANCE.

Remember these are the same people who see no difference between an actual gun and a fish stick accompanied by a verbal 'BANG".

WV: dompli- a poor suburb of Pompeii

Phil 314 said...

Ron Schiller decides not to join the Aspen Institute

DAMN YOU KOCH BROTHERS!!

Fr Martin Fox said...

I'm feeling schadenfreude over the Schillerdammerung. Schame on me!

Anonymous said...

If I were to stereotype, I'd say similar sentiments can be heard anytime 3 or 4 college professors get together for lunch.

But, I'm not.

LawGirl said...

Crack is definitely asking the right question, but it's a mistake to think that it's the first time this question has ocurred to many - perhaps most - of us. I've wondered why NPR/PBS get public funds for years. The advent of the Internet and its ability to allow millions of voices from the same number of perspectives to compete in the marketplace of ideas from the comfort of their own armchairs should have sounded the death knell for NPR/PBS.

Even before Al Gore invented the Internet though, there has never been any purpose to government-run media, espeically vis-a-vis the First Amendment. It seems to me that one of the primary policies underlying 1A is that the "press" is an entity separate from the government about which it is writing.

John Scott said...

NPR's demographics: http://www.wqub.org/media/NPR%20Profile%20stats%202009/NPR%20demographics.pdf

Sorry, but that group doesn't need subsidized entertainment.

TMink said...

Businesses without competition, and people for that matter, get sloppy and lazy. And you do not need to even consider an employee's competence if you are in an endeavor which does not compete.

This is the essence of government.

Trey

The Crack Emcee said...

Fred4Pres,

Of course Juan Williams is laughing his ass off, this totally vindicates him and reveals NPR's management to be the mendoucheous scum we always knew them to be.

Does it totally vindicate him? How? Didn't he just get out before everybody caught on? And I ask again:

What does NPR say about the rest of us?

TMink said...

O'Keefe has MORE videos to realease. This is just the beginning of the story!

Trey - who is reaching for the popcorn

wordsmith2 said...

The sister of one of my friends posted a Facebook comment on Ronald Schiller's remarks about Tea Partiers being racist: it's true, so why is what he said a problem (paraphrased). When I suggested to her that not all who support the Tea Party are racist and that she might very well know more Tea Partiers (and even Republicans) than she thinks, she replied that the NAACP put out a report that white supremacist groups have taken over the Tea Party movement, ergo the whole movement is racist. But those of us who hold an opinion that is different from the liberal groupthink should nevertheless feel free to speak up.

BTW, the title line of this post should read "whose" rather than "who's."

lemondog said...

Schiller's Ode to Joy.

In 1988 in celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein conducted "Joy" as "Ode to Freedom."

The fall of NPR?

Christopher in MA said...

Orwell was spot-on in dissecting fools like the Schillers. From 'The Lion and The Unicorn:'

"In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman, and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse-racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true, that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during 'God Save the King' than of stealing from a poor box."

Change "English" to "American" and "GSTG" to "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the mindset of a great many (though, fairly, not all) of NPRs fan base is well and truly limned.

Franklin said...

The Koch brothers made them do it. Them or Bush. Or Karl Rove.

Anonymous said...

Pretty soon, there will be enough people who "resigned" as a result of O'Keefe's work to fill a taping of Politically Incorrect.

Quaestor said...

@wordsmith2
Your friend's sister seems, ah, how to put this... not well-endowed. Is her brother similarly impaired? And if so, do you consider your friendship charity work?

marklewin said...

Both democratic and republican leaders and their filthy rich and powerful corporate donors love the media and public scrutiny on this issue....for it detracts from massive amounts of deceit, destruction, and criminality engaged in by these same and political and corporate leaders. In our highly polarized and digitized counry, I think government funding should be cut-off to NPR. Overall, I am less concerned about the money flowing from the federal government to NPR than I am the money flowing from our for-profit media outlets to our federal, state, and local goverments.

VanderDouchen said...

Michael Moore: makes sophmoric documentaries taking on "the man" in order to stuff his pockets with millions while speaking against capitolism.

Okeefe: Makes short films that tear down power structures that have exploited Mercuns for decades.

BTW, I think Meade ghost posted this, based upon the headline. A speaker profficient in latin would not have posted anything thusly. It had to be a middle-murcan.

WV:stional Io sto cha

Lucius said...

The tendentiousness of NPR's "news" broadcasting has, if anything, gotten even more shameles post-Juan Williams-firing.

The other week I heard during "All Things Considered" an 'argument' purporting to reconstruct how the Founding Fathers 'might' have felt about supporting public broadcasting. See, they created the postal system because it was important to have an informed electorate, so that, you know, [privately funded-- but let's not mention that!] newspapers could circulate. And see, just like they needed newspapers then to keep abreast, so too today we need [publicly-funded] NPR! What would the electorate do without it!!?!

wv: sedatr Like NPR!!!

john said...

What will these changes do to the future of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me"? I really need to know.

Quaestor said...

lemondog wrote: In 1988 in celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein conducted "Joy" as "Ode to Freedom."


Schiller's lyrics and title were as perfectly suited to the occasion of 1988 as they were in 1785 -- even more so, yet Bernstein just had to revise the text... the man had such a tin ear. That a ham like Lenny Bernstein is considered a seminal figure in modern American music is just more evidence that the 20th century was the nadir of Western art. Let us hope fall of NPR is more than mere that, but the herald of a new day when the good and the beautiful in art can rise above the pretentious scum which the irredeemably leftist-statist NEH and NEA have foisted upon us.

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)


O'Keefe's work to fill a taping of Politically Incorrect.

Or to provide an audience for it…..

Anonymous said...

wordsmith2 said:

"When I suggested to her that not all who support the Tea Party are racist..."

not "all"?

as in, not all Wisconsinites flee to Illinois or bang drums in their State capitol?

Christy said...

I like NPR. And I hate NPR. But I am never a passive listener. I'd hope most of us could listen and discern truth and prejudice from what we hear. Alas, the polls on Walker after the MSM bore down on him disabuse me of that hope.

tree hugging sister said...

The one think I've found funny during the course of discussions about NPR is how many of US...listen to NPR! It's been pretty surprising. (In the interest of fairness and disclosure, I've actually worked the phones for fundraisers for our local community college stations in two different states. I mean, I DO listen...) We survive with our brains intact, can clearly see the bias, but apparently enjoy the diversity of the programming and welcome the headrush it gives us, when they piss us off so unmercifully that our eyes fog from the blood frothing in response.

I doubt you'd see as well rounded a group on, say, Kos.

Michael said...

I would compromise and fund the same proportions as before to the highly noted "rural stations." Nothing for the major markets. Nothing.

Original Mike said...

"I doubt you'd see as well rounded a group on, say, Kos."

I don't know how many times I've responded to someone's rant about Fox News with the question, "Do you actually watch Fox?". The answer is, invariably, "No".

Capital Punisher said...

grammar, professor!

Henry said...

Tree Hugging Sister wrote: The one think I've found funny during the course of discussions about NPR is how many of US...listen to NPR!

That would have been true of me about 15 years ago.

When the eternal smugness of the spotless minds of NPR finally became unbearable I only tuned to WGBH to listen to their local Jazz and classical music programming.

When WGBH jettisoned its classical music I gave up on them.

BJM said...

The Jim Hanson Company, owner of Sesame Street, and Disney, owners of The Muppets, could easily fund Sesame Street. It has been estimated that Sesame Street product endorsements earn $50 mil annually.

Wall Street has earned hundreds of millions from Sesame Street while taking taxpayer money. (Disney and Hasbro are publicly traded companies, the Hanson Company is privately held by Hanson's progeny.)

I'd say that's corporate welfare.

Why doesn't the entertainment industry fund PBS and NPR?

Methadras said...

What's the matter with NPR?

Leftards collapse when they get caught with their ideological pants down.

Lance said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lance said...

I forgot Vivian Schiller was head of nytimes.com before taking the NPR gig. How involved was she with the Times Select paywall nonsense? She signed the letter telling everyone that the paywall was being abandoned. Anyone know if she was involved in starting it?

Lance said...

Why doesn't the entertainment industry fund PBS and NPR?

It's kinda nice to have TV programs that aren't chock full of advertisement and product placement. Look at what Disney's done with ESPN and their kids channel, they're total garbage.

Unknown said...

The argument, guys, is not whether NPR is good or if an ad-free NPR is good; the argument is, why should non-listeners have to pay for it.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

marklewin said...

Overall, I am less concerned about the money flowing from the federal government to NPR than I am the money flowing from our for-profit media outlets to our federal, state, and local goverments.

Absolutely. We should stop collecting taxes from those companies immediately!

Kirby Olson said...

Shut it down as a mental hygiene issue: that station oozes liberalism, which can be contagious, and is airborne.

Joe said...

It's kinda nice to have TV programs that aren't chock full of advertisement and product placement.

I take it you never watch PBS and have never been to Toys R Us.

And what are those things on NPR every 20 minutes. Certainly not commercials. How about Informative Breaks?

David said...

The "matter" with NPR is that they are running an echo chamber for the bigoted, at taxpayer expense.

Not all bigotry is racial.

David said...

[Vivian Schiller] signed the letter telling everyone that the paywall was being abandoned. Anyone know if she was involved in starting it?

Almost certainly, the paywall pricing policy would have been set by the Chairman. As the NYT web site says "Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. was named chairman of The New York Times Company on October 16, 1997. As the Company’s senior executive, he is responsible for its long-term business strategy."

He does, however, give the Vivian Schillers of the world the job of announcing consequences of failed strategies.

This is probably where Ms. Schiller learned about integrity.

Paul Kirchner said...

Ann, if I weren't too late to this thread to expect notice, I'd like to ask if there are constitutional issues regarding government-funded media. In PBS and NPR we have tax-supported media outlets that have a strong ideological slant. Could this be challenged on a constitutional basis?

Maybe the slant isn't so much the issue--everything can be perceived as having some sort of slant--but the idea of government supported news coverage.

Lance said...

I take it you never watch PBS and have never been to Toys R Us.

What's your point? Are you saying Sesame Street shouldn't license merchandise? Why would that be a problem?

To me the problem is the other way around, having to sell time to advertisers in order to survive. This to me is the problem with the modern entertainment industry, instead of making money selling good entertainment to paying customers, they've become over-reliant on advertising and product placement. Disney Corp. being an excellent example.

I'm not saying PBS or NPR should continue to receive govt. subsidies. As the Sesame Street example demonstrates, there are other ways for public programming to survive. And if that includes corporate sponsorships, well, that's better than the stupid mass-consumer advertising we see on garbage networks like ESPN, MTV, TNT, etc.

test said...

"Ron Schiller decides not to join the Aspen Institute"

This story is getting better and better.

Sadly, he'll find a job at an NGO whose image among lefties is more important than its retail image.

The charity / NGO complex is a jobs program for otherwise unemployable liberals.

Fen said...

she replied that the NAACP put out a report that white supremacist groups have taken over the Tea Party movement

She's got that reversed. Its black supremacist racists that have taken over the NAACP.