#NPR Radio

[tk-n-la]

2023 KJAZZ BLUES BASH

[simply-ivanka]

Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency. 

Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting. At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff. 

Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.

But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming. 

It is one thing to swing and miss on a major story. Unfortunately, it happens. You follow the wrong leads, you get misled by sources you trusted, you’re emotionally invested in a narrative, and bits of circumstantial evidence never add up. It’s bad to blow a big story. 

[fanboy-feminist]

One thing that does irk me about public radio is that there’s always a hard pivot from election coverage to classical music.

So, now that they’ve wrapped up their special coverage of the election, I’m just listening to Mahler symph 7 and refreshing Associated Press every 3 minutes like a crazy person.

[arctic-hands]

Virginity is neutral and there's no shame in being one or not being one and being a virgin well into adulthood is totally benign and you shouldn't let worry you whether you want sex or not but will someone PLEASE tell me why at my latest trans-vaginal ultrasound to find out what the fuck else is wrong with my body the tech who met me in the back of the clinic scanned me–thirty one years old for the record–up and down with an unimpressed look on her face and asked "Are you a virgin? Because we don't do this test on virgins" ???

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Rinat Harash

In over three weeks of extensive coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, National Public Radio (NPR) has managed to commit an impressive amount of journalistic wrongdoings, misleading tens of millions of devoted listeners across America.

Since the atrocious Hamas massacre on October 7, NPR has been overwhelmingly focused on the victimization of Palestinians, while interviewing biased individuals, omitting critical facts, and including outright distortions.

One of NPR’s most egregious reports from this period, which includes all of the above, is Daniel Estrin’s “Examining who carried out the brutal violence in Israel three weeks ago.”

In this despicable attempt to humanize the perpetrators of the deadly carnage, rape and kidnapping, listeners need to suffer through empathy-inducing descriptions such as this:

On October 8, a militant returned to Gaza with Mohammed’s cellphone and personal effects and told Mohammed’s family what happened. He said Mohammed had made it a mile or two inside Israel, and an Israeli aircraft shot him — five bullets to the chest, one near the neck. Mohammed recited a prayer before he died. The neighbor told us Mohammed had led a pretty ordinary life. He didn’t finish his high school matriculation exam. He worked as a taxi driver. He got married, had lots of friends and family at his wedding, started a business selling food products. But everyone in the family and neighborhood knew he belonged to the militant wing of the Iranian-aligned Islamic Jihad.

NPR’s Estrin then turns to interview Mkhaimar Abusada, whom he introduces as “a political analyst” in Gaza.

In fact, Abusada is also Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, who has called for violence against Israelis. Surely, this is a relevant piece of information to mention when NPR gives him the platform to say: “Hating the Jews or hating Israel as an occupier ��� that probably explain the brutality that took place on the 7th of October”.

At the end of the report, Estrin includes an edited version of a phone call from a terrorist to his parents in Gaza on October 7. The full recording of the call, released by Israel on October 25, clearly includes the terrorist’s father congratulating him after the son boasts of killing ten Jews.

NPR’s version — through Estrin’s narration — omits this. Instead, it makes it look like the family wanted the son to return home and never supported his actions. It even goes as far as evoking empathy for their plight under Israeli bombardment.

[jolikmc-thoughts]

So. At the time of writing this, Donald J. Trump is exactly three electoral votes away from becoming the 47th President of the United States of America. (At least, according to NPR.) For those holding out hope for Kamala Harris? Let me just say…

It's not over 'til it's over.

It is, in fact, still possible for Harris to get those remaining 47 electoral votes and win the election. Similar things have happened before. Remember 2016?

Hopefully, we'll see what happens by tomorrow (Thursday). Until then?

[gameraboy2]

Star Wars on public radio, 1981 poster by Celia Strain

[fleshmess]

Reminder to donate and keep local radio alive!

[nprshowdown]

Rules:

Hey there! Welcome to the NPR "Show"Down.

Poll Basics:

Brackets will be randomly seeded, as I do not have a reliable measure of how popular each show is.

This tournament includes NPR-Distributed Shows that aren't necessarily made *BY* NPR

Polls are queued and will last one week each.

Propaganda:

I love propaganda! Please submit it to my Ask Box or tag me in posts about it!

Propaganda is ongoing. If you submit some BEFORE a poll airs, I will put it on the poll itself. Afterwards, it will be kept as an ASK.

You can submit both Offensive and Defensive Propaganda about shows.

I trust that you all understand that this objectively silly and will not get legitimately get angry about radio programs.

However, this is a civil debate forum and Harassment, hateful, and otherwise outright distasteful asks will be ignored.

Submissions:

All National NPR and APM/NPR-Distributed shows will be included, but please submit your own local picks (Or else you're gonna see a VERY uneven amount of KQED shows). These will be added to the list anonymously and any propaganda you want to include will be included in the poll.

Any show you submit must be distributed through at least 1 local public radio station.

All shows must have some sort of archived internet presence so that I, and possible poll voters, can give it a listen on-demand.

Submissions are Due December 1st!

[broadcastarchive-umd]

Announcer Carl Kasell and host Peter Sagal of National Public Radio's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! in a publicity photo. The program continues, but Kasell retired in 2014.

Originally posted May 16, 2014.

[scant-lemons]

Drove through The Middle of Nowhere, USA on my way to university and I had no cell signal so I turned on the radio and found myself listening to the most unhinged NPR special on rats.

It had two “rat” cohosts (they had those chipmunk voice changers) talking about how rats were misunderstood and hardly spread any diseases, and hating on Alberta for wiping out rats. There was an interview with Todd the Rat Man who had 37 pet rats (only 12 at once though) and was deciding whether or not to get rid of them in order to actually get a date (spoiler: he kept the rats). They ended with a 10 minute marital spat between two other voice-changer rats about how they needed to not eat their children, because apparently rats do that;

And i just want to say, this is exactly what I want from public radio. Take my tax dollars. I want them to promote whoever had the idea for this. Make them the boss. The head honcho. They deserve a gajillion dollars a minute for this

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Full transcript is up at the link. 7-minute listen.

[phroyd]

We lost a great news anchor and news interviewer who was the voice and character of National Public Radio from its premier, up until the organization's deterioration into Politically Correct programming and its compromise on hard news stories in service of protecting the feelings of its pathologically sensitive listeners. Rest In Peace, Bob Edwards.

Phroyd

[gastricotv]

Tiny Desk Concert | Dua Lipa

[discow1tch]

I recently listened to the ANH radio drama and I think my big takeaway is that it sold me on Luke being bisexual. In all the scenes with Biggs their dynamic is very "older guy (probably gay) and his younger friend who's obsessed with him (in a gay way)"

[labelleizzy]

Seed banks may be a secret weapon against climate change : NPR