[Kzyxtalk] NPR's All Things Considered

[David Gurney]

Why does NPR suck?


For a play by play account of the biased, mainstream, boring, limp-wristed
and excessively sanguine reporting on NPR, check out the blog "Why NPR
Sucks!


http://whynprsucks.blogspot.com/



KMUD out of Southern Humboldt is a local station that's very entertaining,
has a news department, and provides a daily forum (and other call-in shows)
and it truly represent its community,


They manage to do without NPR entirely.  Go figure.


...


On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 3:07 PM, Patricia Kovner <pkovner at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Is the reason KZYX no longer has a full news hour, because NPR programming
> has priority and there is not enough $$ for both?  I'd like to know how
> KMUD budgets it's much smaller income to expand its already full news hour,
> with several reporters, and no NPR.
> --------------------------------------------
> On Wed, 2/19/14, doug mckenty <dougmck at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] NPR's All Things Considered
>  To: "kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
>  Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 11:22 AM
>
>  Tim,
>  I thought the total programming fee
>  of 32k included the 22k for individual programs plus
>  membership fees like 8k for the NPR membership.  So the
>  total payout for programming was the 32k number.  Perhaps
>  you are right and they should be added for a total of
>  55k.
>
>  I stopped believing NPR
>  programming after observing their coverage of the run up to
>  the war in Iraq.  It has become my feeling that they are
>  just another corporate news source heavily influenced by the
>  corporate/government complex.  I know many believe it to be
>  an alternative, but I feel they are one and the same.
>   Their foreign policy is very one sided, from the point of
>  view of the American military establishment, with little to
>  no time for alternative perspectives.  The vast majority of
>  their "experts" come from establishment think
>  tanks such as Rand, Brookings, and the CFR, all of wich are
>  funded by corporate or foundation money.  NPR is heavily
>  influenced by the left/right paradigm which it then reduces
>  to the two party system they present as functional, with
>  little corruption influencing the game.  Alternative,
>  independant, and third party factions are almost totally
>  ignored.
>
>  NPR does very little
>  investigative journalism of its own, and after years of
>  paying close attention to alternative news sources, I have
>  found that if an anti-government or anti-corporate meme
>  starts to gain traction, NPR is always there to present a
>  very softball view of what are sometimes serious
>  civil/individual rights abuses.
>
>  I am also skeptical of its
>  attitude that it is completely objective.  By giving
>  equal credence to two points of view I often find that
>  NPR's coverage manages to give a measure of authenticity
>  to ideas that, on their own, would be completely
>  ludicrous.
>
>  The fluff pieces often
>  stuck between NPR's coverage of real news reminds me of
>  the soma pills taken in A Brave New World.  After an hour
>  of NPR we are all meant to feel pacified.  There is nothing
>  to worry about.  The USA is the greatest country in the
>  world.  Its military spreads peace and democracy and its
>  people enjoy freedom and abundance.  There is nothing to
>  see here, move along.
>
>  I just don't trust
>  it.
>  Having said that,
>  I have never advocated ditching it at KZYX.  I know a lot
>  of people do trust it, and a lot of them are paying members.
>   I would just like to see less of it and more Independant
>  and locally produced journalism and I would like to be able
>  to have this conversation on the air instead of on this list
>  serve.  I think discussion critical or complimentary of all
>  news sources should be part of the function of community
>  radio.
>
>  Doug M.
>
>
>  On Tuesday, February 18, 2014,  <nsi at mcn.org> wrote:
>
>  Thank you, Rick. --beth
>
>
>  ----- Original
>  Message -----
>  From: "Mitch
>  Clogg" <mitchc at mcn.org>
>
>  To:<kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
>  Cc:
>
>  Sent:Tue, 18 Feb 2014
>  20:38:24 -0800
>  Subject:Re: [Kzyxtalk]
>  NPR's All Things Considered
>
>
>  Why are people so
>  reluctant to cop to
>        liking stuff on public radio? NPR, Public Radio
>  International,
>        Canada radio and a slew of others put superb stuff in
>  the air. My
>        main station is JPR. It's out of Ashland and beams
>  here on AM 1300.
>        The signal gets dirty at sundown. I have to drag
>  myself away,
>        every day.
>
>
>        Mitch Clogg
>
>        Mendocino
>
>
>
>
>
>        On 2/18/2014 8:10 PM, Rick wrote:
>
>
>
>          And now for
>  something
>              completely different:
>
>
>
>            The subject of NPR's "All Things
>  Considered" (ATC) on KZYX is
>            an old, old worn discussion around here in
>  Ruralland, but I
>            would like to bring it up for discussion if anyone
>  is interested.
>            Unfortunately, I think Beth is right; there are
>  probably only
>            about 8 of us on this list and half of them are
>  just just
>            station lurkers or trolls, but I feel strongly
>  about this
>            subject
>
>
>          I happen to like ATC.
>              Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, not a popular stance,
>  but there
>              you have it. I like the international coverage
>  and some of
>              the science stories I find really interesting
>  and
>              entertaining. Can ATC be lame? You bet it can.
>  Sometimes I
>              just have to cringe at the fluff stories and
>  human interest
>              filler, but I am willing to put up with the duds
>  to get the
>              occasional good story and their good stories can
>  be very,
>              very good.
>
>
>          The argument
>  against ATC is not
>              so much how lame it can be, but how much it
>  costs the
>              station. I believe the bill is about 60k a year,
>  but I could
>              be wrong. Maybe someone can give an accurate
>  figure. Anyway,
>              the new slot at 6 pm with PRI's "The
>  World" I think is quite
>              good and it complements ATC perfectly by going
>  into some of
>              the international stories in a deeper way. The
>  PRI show must
>              be much, much cheaper and even might be free. I
>  don't know.
>              Anyway, I think it is really good. My
>  only criticism of
>              The World is that it is heavily weighted towards
>  interviews
>              and talking heads rather than on the ground
>  stories.
>
>
>          Two reasons for not
>              getting rid of ATC to me would be: The
>  international
>              reportage, but perhaps more importantly, many of
>  the donors
>              to the station contribute because of ATC. Cut
>  ATC and lose a
>              lot of listeners as well as a lot of station
>  revenue. I
>              don't want to see ATC go, but can we afford
>  to keep it and
>              if we dumped it, would the loss in revenue from
>  loyal donors
>              negate the savings?
>
>
>
>          Rick
>          Little River
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
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