Althouse: "One never truly knows what a lousy job the blogosphere is capable of until one is at the center of a story."

October 16, 2010

"One never truly knows what a lousy job the blogosphere is capable of until one is at the center of a story."

"NPR experienced the dark side of the blogosphere this week after management sent a memo to staff reminding them that journalists may not participate in political activities of any kind... NPR is not restricting its staff’s freedom. It’s protecting its credibility as a news organization that tries to give its audience fair, non-partisan coverage."

66 comments:

Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/16/10, 11:56 AM
Lincolntf said...: NPR will never change it's stripes, but there should be an Executive Order issued that states that they will never, ever claim to be "non-partisan" ever again. It reeks of the Soviet Union every time some NPR hack makes the claim.
Nobody believes it. Stop saying it.; 10/16/10, 12:02 PM
mRed said...: Their credibility is another's freedom. No skin off their back.; 10/16/10, 12:02 PM
mesquito said...: Seems to me that Smugapalooza and NPR would be a perfect match.; 10/16/10, 12:04 PM
Unknown said...: Why didn't they just say going to rallies is doubleplusungood?; 10/16/10, 12:08 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ha! - since when is NPR non-partisan?

Their people should be allowed to go to this thing:

Birds of a feather.; 10/16/10, 12:18 PM
campy said...: ... however, everyone who's ever listened to NPR knows what a lousy job they do.; 10/16/10, 12:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Bad blogosphere! Bad! Bad!
Regurgitate NPR spin or be scolded again!; 10/16/10, 12:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Bad blogosphere! Bad! Bad!
Regurgitate NPR spin or be scolded again!; 10/16/10, 12:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Anybody notice that it's apparently the left-hand side of the blogosphere that's been giving NPR grief over this?

Word verification: nesse.; 10/16/10, 12:34 PM
Trooper York said...: Seriously.

NPR is as non-partisan as John Sterling!; 10/16/10, 12:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Once Republicans take over the Congress, that would be an excellent opportunity to end funding for National Public Radio.

Why should Republicans fund their own opposition? It's fucking stupid.

The fact of the matter is that the United States does not require, and should not operate, a propaganda organization whose only goal is the re-election of Democrat Party apparachiks.

It's morally repugnant and goes against the very princples this country was founded upon.

Tea Party members ... listen up: NPR is dedicated to advancing the notion that you are racists. And they're spending your own tax dollars against you. When you put together your legislative caucus, make defunding NPR one of your top priorities.

Start a Congressional investigation. Subpeona their emails and start releasing what you find to the public.

Take away their tax dollars and return them to their rightful owners ... the American people.; 10/16/10, 12:40 PM
john said...: This morning, it its dogged pusuit of journalistic excellence, NPR asked the question: "Just what is this Tea Party thing about, anyway?" To get to the answer they interviewed..... Howard Dean.

Now, to be fair, Dean did say that not all Tea Partiers are racists.

Pretty hard hitting stuff, that.

(A few years ago excitable Andy referred to NPR as "unrelentingly left wing". At the time I interpreted that in a pjorative sense. Silly me.); 10/16/10, 1:00 PM
Big Mike said...: It’s protecting its credibility as a news organization that tries to give its audience fair, non-partisan coverage.

Well then it doesn't have to try very hard, does it? Because it hasn't had much in the way of credibility for years.; 10/16/10, 1:04 PM
Phil 314 said...: Another problem was that by warning staff not to attend the Stewart-Colbert rally NPR opened itself up to questions on how it handled Beck’s rally and the Oct. 2 gathering on the Mall for the “One Nation” progressive rally.

NPR did not advise staff to not attend those two rallies.

Comments not heard in the offices of NPR:

Damn, I so wanted to attend the Beck rally!

or

Hey text me when you get down to the Beck rally. I'm getting there early for a spot closer to the stage. I'll save you some space; 10/16/10, 1:10 PM
john said...: To be fair, again - NPR just like the rest of the MSM is starting their "full-court-press-season". Kind of like sweeps week, this season is scheduled 24-7 through the evening of November 2.

They promise they will get back to their regularly scheduled unbiased programming soon afterward.; 10/16/10, 1:10 PM
Anonymous said...: NPR teaches you how to "Speak Tea Bag"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120344047

It's still up on their website.

They fucking hate the American people who are joining, many for the first time, the political fray. They hate you with a passion. To them, you're tea baggers ... homosexuals who dip male testicles into your mouths.

That's what they think of you and they proudly say so on government websites paid for with your tax dollars.; 10/16/10, 1:11 PM
Phil 314 said...: hey Trooper, how appropriate to post a Yankees video on a thread dealing with...

smugness!!; 10/16/10, 1:13 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: I find it almost impossible to listen to NPR any more. All the shows that are ostensibly for entertainment purposes, A Prairie Home Companion, which I used to love, is a platform for Garrison Keillor's rabid anti-conservatism. What would they think about that in Lake Woebegone? Even Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me is loaded with snarky liberal jokes. Don't even get me started on Fresh Air.

On the other hand, I find NPR news, with a few exceptions, to be remarkably unbiased. I think Mara Liasson is probably the most objective political reporter in the entire media.; 10/16/10, 1:20 PM
GMay said...: Way back when, I used to listen to NPR religiously. NPR is actually what nurtured my political awareness and a desire to dig deeper into the news of the day.

And it was that same newfound awareness that turned me off to NPR. They can't fold fast enough.

By the way, are they still paying their execs big fatass salaries still?; 10/16/10, 1:23 PM
GMay said...: "A Prairie Home Companion, which I used to love, is a platform for Garrison Keillor's rabid anti-conservatism."

That was the nail in the coffin for me. That dude is batshit crazy.; 10/16/10, 1:24 PM
Anonymous said...: "On the other hand, I find NPR news, with a few exceptions, to be remarkably unbiased."

Look at how NPR reporters attempt to link Tea Party funding to shadowy secret organizations.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/09/17/129928863/tea-party-s-grassroots-watered-by-deep-pockets

Take special note of how they accompany the story with the photo. To them, Tea Partiers are all "birther" crazies illegally funded by secret conservative societies and obsessed with conspiracy theories.

It's the most pathetically biased news organization of them all.; 10/16/10, 1:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Apparently there are people on the left who identify with NPR's mission enough that they see NPR as conservative.

That's rich. Maybe conservative in programming format because they've gone mainstream, but ideologically pretty far left.

Obama lines up almost perfectly with their ideals. I sometimes can't believe my ears when they run a story that takes a somewhat non-partisan stance on politics. They must be burning up inside.

It's good to see them being hoisted by those very ideals by the loony left. Obama's probably in the same boat.

All the pop-social science/psychology dreams via social engineering their ideas could have for the rest of us, the appeal to any academic authority (that typically lines up with their ideals), the racial transcendence through big government spending...

THat's why I don't trust 'em. They'll be put to the test if Obummer and the economy continue to tank.

Let's see if they can pull off staying mainstream and non-partisan.; 10/16/10, 1:29 PM
Anonymous said...: "i think Mara Liasson is probably the most objective political reporter in the entire media."

And that's a fucking shame. Don't be fooled.

Mara Liasson is married to the founder of one of the Democrat Party's most reliable law firms in Washington, DC - Jonathan Cuneo of Cuneo, Gilbert, & LaDuca.

Cuneo started the firm as a way to raise money to fund ONLY Democrat Party political candidates. Government contracts go to the firm ... and the firm launders that money right back to Democrat Party hacks in the form of political donations.

Mara Liasson is a card-carrying member of the Democrat Party political elite in Washington.

Remember ... just because you're on Fox News doesn't mean you're a conservative. Arlen Specter was a member of the Republican Party for 30 years before he was outed as a Democrat Party mole.

He's now a proud Democrat.; 10/16/10, 1:36 PM
Methadras said...: NPR is about as politically leftard biased as an overt publicly funded organization can get.; 10/16/10, 1:39 PM
Trooper York said...: Hey Yankee fans are not smug.

We just are humbled by the fact that we have the greatest sports franchise in the history of the world.; 10/16/10, 1:41 PM
Trooper York said...: Oh, one more thing.

BOSTON SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; 10/16/10, 1:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Mara Liasson to Barack Obama in just three degrees of separation:

1) Mara Liasson is married to Johnathan Cuneo who founded Cuneo, Waldman and Gilbert ... a Washington, DC lobbying firm.

2) Cuneo hired Pamela Gilbert, a former attorney for the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

3) Pamela Gilbert - Mara Liasson's husband's employee - served on Barack Obama's transition team.

Mara Liasson ... one of Washington's most honest reporters? No ... she just hides her Democrat Party membership better than most of them so that she can appear to be unbiased and yet still influence the news.

http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=70828; 10/16/10, 1:47 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: New "Hussein" Ham said...

And that's a fucking shame. Don't be fooled.

Oh, I'm sure she's a liberal when the cameras are off. But if you listen to what she actually says, she pretty much restricts herself to reporting things that actually happened. She criticizes Democrats as often as Republicans, frequently disagreeing with Juan Williams on his facts.

As for who she's married to, well, Mary Matalin, no liberal, is married to James Carville, though I don't see how any human female could climb into bed with that creature.; 10/16/10, 1:49 PM
D. B. Light said...: Protect their credibility? What credibility?; 10/16/10, 2:01 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: I find it almost impossible to listen to NPR any more. All the shows that are ostensibly for entertainment purposes, A Prairie Home Companion, which I used to love, is a platform for Garrison Keillor's rabid anti-conservatism. What would they think about that in Lake Woebegone?

The people of Lake Woebegone are evil. No, seriously, I felt the same way:

Garrison Keillor, specifically, chased me away.; 10/16/10, 2:19 PM
Lincolntf said...: Diane Reem (?) entered my consciousness a few years ago when I moved within range of a new college/NPR station. That was pretty much the end of NPR for me. Between her "Bride of the Crypt-keeper" voice and her unreconstructed McGovernism, I just couldn't take it anymore.; 10/16/10, 2:25 PM
BJM said...: NPR has an ethics code?!; 10/16/10, 2:33 PM
Martin L. Shoemaker said...: Tyrone Slothrop said...

As for who she's married to, well, Mary Matalin, no liberal, is married to James Carville, though I don't see how any human female could climb into bed with that creature.

Only two theories have ever made sense to me:

1. Ms. Matalin is turned on by humor. Even when he's pissing me off (which is most of the time), James Carville makes me laugh. The wastebasket on his head in 2002 is still the funniest moment I can recall from that election. (And Mr. Carville may want to prepare that wastebasket for this November...)

2. James Carville must be hung like a walrus.; 10/16/10, 2:37 PM
BJM said...: @Ham

He's now a proud, soon-to-be unemployed Democrat.

There fixed it for you.; 10/16/10, 2:40 PM
ndspinelli said...: Hatch Act-lite @ NPR.

My bride is now retired from the Federal Court and we could have political yard signs if we so chose. If only any were worthy.; 10/16/10, 2:59 PM
Celia Hayes said...: "I find it almost impossible to listen to NPR any more ... A Prairie Home Companion, which I used to love, is a platform for Garrison Keillor's rabid anti-conservatism."

I feel the pain, too - I used to love PHC and never missed a broadcast, or the repeat on Sunday afternoon following ... but I haven't listened in about two and a half years. The choking cloud of self-congratulatory liberal smug was just too much.

The local public radio station has started their fall pledge drive. I'm wondering how many other formerly devoted listeners like me have been driven away?; 10/16/10, 3:40 PM
Big Mike said...: @Celia my family stopped years ago. And we've stopped contributing to the local PBS station.; 10/16/10, 4:04 PM
Alex said...: I just don't see a big GOP investigation on NPR if they win the House. The American people will have put them there as a majority to fix the economy, fix healthcare and not engage in idealogical agendas. But you can count on Jim Demint to spearhead just such a thing. He's that stupid.; 10/16/10, 4:15 PM
Calypso Facto said...: It’s protecting its credibility as a news organization that tries to give its audience fair, non-partisan coverage.
Ha ha ha! Those comedy at kooks at NPR crack me up!

Like most here it seems, me and my donation dollars were driven away from NPR over the course of the past decade by the affectation of superiority and smugness show after show after show....; 10/16/10, 4:36 PM
Fen said...: NPR "tries to give its audience fair, non-partisan coverage."

Does anyone actually believe this?

Where are our resident Libtards today? Surely, one of them swallows this swill.; 10/16/10, 4:48 PM
Calypso Facto said...: Fun facts regarding the remaining NPR listeners, when compared to the general population:

*125 percent more likely to own a Volvo.
*152 percent more likely to have a home valued at $500,000 or more
*194 percent more likely to travel to France
*326 percent more likely to read the New Yorker

We fund them publicly, why?; 10/16/10, 4:48 PM
Trooper York said...: "We fund them publicly, why?"

Because leftist propaganda does not pay for itself. So the government has to pay for it.

Look at the New York Times. Soon the government will be giving them a bailout.; 10/16/10, 5:05 PM
Trooper York said...: It’s like all the classical music and ballet that is also on PBS. It doesn’t support itself with ratings like the Real Housewives of Secaucus. It can’t survive on its own merits in the real world.

Good rule of thumb. If hd likes it, then it sucks and needs to be subsidized. Just sayn’; 10/16/10, 5:09 PM
David said...: Ms. Reid needs a remedial writing course. What a convoluted mess.

NPR is mostly boring.

Mary Maitlin and James Carville: Not Boring.

Let's put Maitlin and Carville in charge of NPR.; 10/16/10, 5:23 PM
Trooper York said...: Let Andy Cohen or Mark Burnett or David Chase or somebody else who has a freaking clue.

Then it will pay for itself.; 10/16/10, 5:33 PM
Martin L. Shoemaker said...: Trooper York said...

It’s like all the classical music and ballet that is also on PBS. It doesn’t support itself with ratings like the Real Housewives of Secaucus. It can’t survive on its own merits in the real world.

Hey, classical music supports itself... on CDs or MP3s. In fact the prices are usually lower than for other genres, so it's very affordable.

But I can't imagine paying (directly or through taxes) to watch someone perform it. It's music, it's for listening.

At least if you watch a rock concert, you'll get some fireworks and a laser light show and maybe some backup dancers in spandex. What do you get at a symphony? Some old fart waving a stick.; 10/16/10, 5:40 PM
Anonymous said...: "The American people will have put them there as a majority to fix the economy, fix healthcare and not engage in idealogical agendas."

Sorry, Alex ... but de-funding NPR is the way we go about fixing the economy.

You see, when the government takes money from Americans ... it hurts the economy. Americans don't have that money to spend on things any more, so jobs get destroyed.

The way to fix the economy is to eliminate this sort of wasteful spending. And this spending is even worse than wasteful ... it's immoral,

Worse yet, it keeps Democrats in power. See, Democrats are the problem with the economy. The more Democrats are forced from office, the better the economy will be.

Step 1: Defund NPR
Step 2: Lay off all those leaches
Step 3: Return that money to mom and pop.
Step 4: Mom and pop buy a new boat
Step 5: Manufacturer hires boat builders
Step 6: Boat builders pay taxes on their income

See how that works! By eliminating a wasteful government program that's sole purpose is to help the Democrat Party, then the Tea Party makes its own re-election even that much easier ... plus it's doing the right thing.

It's time we end Democrat Party theft of American's hard-earned livings.

And we're going to do that.

We're going to do that once we're in charge.

It's going to be morning in America.

Again.; 10/16/10, 5:41 PM
tim maguire said...: The comments over there are quite funny. Was there ever a person more out of touch with reality than the middle class white liberals that make up NPR's core audience?; 10/16/10, 5:50 PM
Alex said...: Sorry, Alex ... but de-funding NPR is the way we go about fixing the economy.

The swing-voters will see a GOP push at things like NPR, NEA as going after the small-change idealogical items rather then focusing on the big-ticket items like health care and taxes. If the GOP chooses to go the idealogical route AGAIN, the voters will put the Democrats back in.; 10/16/10, 6:21 PM
Alex said...: Look I'd love to de-fund all the lefty "arts" programs but in the big scheme of things, gotta keep "eye on the ball". Swing voters are very finicky and delicate.; 10/16/10, 6:22 PM
Anonymous said...: If the GOP chooses to go the idealogical route AGAIN, the voters will put the Democrats back in."

It's not "idealogical" to stop wasting Americans hard-earned tax dollars. That's just common sense.

We're going to try it and see how it works out. Laying off all those Democrat leaches should save us billions in wages, benefits and big fat public-employee union pensions.

We've tried it the Democrats' way for 40 years and look where it's gotten us! Ending wasteful spending is the right way to fix the economy because then we can give Americans their money back!

I doubt anybody would miss NPR in a few years since there are many other liberal news outlets to turn to that don't rely on taxpayer dollars forcibly taken from honest hard-working Americans by a bunch of fucking thieving Socialists.; 10/16/10, 6:29 PM
Alex said...: New Ham - you are part of the crazy Jim DeMint wing of the GOP that would consign us to permanent minority status. After all "principle" is more important then winning.; 10/16/10, 6:34 PM
Alex said...: We need more Scott Browns, Paul Ryans and Marco Rubios and less Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint and Michell Bachmann types. Do you notice that the lefties always use the right-wing psycho-talkers like Palin, DeMint and Bachmann as an easy way to demonize all conservatives? They never pick on Paul Ryan because he's articulate and doesn't spout crazy shit. But Ryan gets lumped in with the right-wing psycho talkers.; 10/16/10, 6:36 PM
Alex said...: A good example of how Jim Demint brings down the entire conservative movement:

Jim Demint crazy talk

Rich Sanchez just exposed him.; 10/16/10, 6:39 PM
Anonymous said...: " ... you are part of the crazy Jim DeMint wing of the GOP that would consign us to permanent minority status."

No, I'm from the part of the party that's about to return common-sense Republicans to power for the first time since Ronald Reagan.

Look dude, you Democrat-lites had your chance to run things and you destroyed our economy by refusing to end government sponsorship of the Democrat Party. Now, Democrats have taken over everything.

And it's not working out.

So, now we're going to take over for a few years. If our ideas don't work out, you'll have another chance. Hey, maybe we're wrong ... but we're going to try it our way and see how it goes. If you're right then you needn't worry because you'll be able to convince Americans of the rightness of your position and get elected and then you can do things your way again. But this time ... this is our time.

And it's time to defund NPR and PBS ... not on ideological grounds, but because it's a horribly wasteful use of Americans tax dollars in these trying times.

Once times are better and people are working again, and Democrats can manage to get themselves re-elected back into power (assuming that will be possible), then they're free to re-fund NPR if that's the way they want to go, but for now ... we need to save that money. Times are tough. Gotta make choices.

NPR has to go. You know ... just for now. For a while. Till times are better.

I mean really, do you think we need a government-run propaganda channel? When there's already 500 channels for people to watch that aren't funded by thieving Democrats?

I don't think that's essential money to spend right now when the deficit is so high.

It's time to end Democrat Party wasteful use of taxpayer dollars to support their party. That's not "idealogical" ... that's just common sense sir.

Join us and we'll lead America to a better future together.

Oppose us, and ... well, do I have to spell it out for you?; 10/16/10, 6:48 PM
Lincolntf said...: Give it a rest, Alex. Concern trolls are so 2008.; 10/16/10, 6:49 PM
yashu said...: Huh, I hadn't before considered the possibility that Alex & Ham might be congenital sock puppets.; 10/16/10, 8:16 PM
Clarence R said...: A Prairie Home companion has nothing to do with NPR. It is produced an distributed by American Public Media.; 10/16/10, 9:42 PM
traditionalguy said...: NPR is an acquired taste,. It helps if you realize that "National" in the name refers to Central Park east on Manhattan Island, only. Yet they are in fact 60-40 fair enough in running a conservative story view about 40% of the time. The other 60% has enough ridicule and condescension to enrage a conservative. But listening to another point of view is a health habit.; 10/16/10, 10:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, I weep for NPR!; 10/16/10, 10:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Mara Liasson ... one of Washington's most honest reporters? No ... she just hides her Democrat Party membership better than most of them so that she can appear to be unbiased and yet still influence the news.

I remember NPR's election night coverage in November 1994, the night of the big Republican landslide. The mask slipped. I recall in particular one of the female news anchors howling in despair, "Oh, this is terrible! as one Democrat after another went down to defeat.

Count me as yet another who no longer finds Keillor amusing, partly because of his smug "The trouble with Democrats is that they're just too darned nice and too darned intelligent!" schtick.

I've also had the pleasure of meeting the man who was young Gary Keillor's science teacher at Anoka High -- one hell of a nice guy, respected and loved by everyone in town. (My father-in-law has breakfast with him in a group that meets on Saturday mornings.) Although he doesn't talk about it, I've since learned that Keillor didn't do at all well in his class and has resented the man ever since, so Keillor made him the thinly disguised model for Lake Wobegon teacher Lyle Krebsbach. Yeah, that prick has held a grudge against Lyle, all these years.; 10/17/10, 3:21 AM
Anonymous said...: NPR leans left, but it isn't that bad.

Try listening to WBAI out of New York. They like to call NPR a tool of the right-wing media. And they mean it.; 10/17/10, 3:50 AM
test said...: Lincolntf said...
Diane Reem (?) ... voice...

I think this is the combination of decades of smoking and six martinis before air time.; 10/18/10, 9:17 AM
Fen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/18/10, 10:26 AM
Fen said...: NPR leans left, but it isn't that bad.

Che leans left, but he isn't that bad when compared to Stalin...; 10/18/10, 10:26 AM