3/9/2011 1:34:31 PM

With the exception of the tea-party racism comment, everything else he says is completely factual. Everything else is completely true and needs to be said. There IS a huge portion of Americans who are uneducated, anti-intellectual, xenophobic, and/or easily swayed into ridiculous beliefs by conservative media. Its the major contributor to so many of this country's problems.

Even so, Schiller repeatedly pointed out that these were his own opinions and not that of NPR. The article also states that Schiller's position at NPR does not grant him any editorial access.

When I read this last night, I was pretty disappointed with NPR's decision to take a hard line against Schiller. I guess it just goes to show how true his sentiments are - don't want to put off the vast xenophobic middle America.

BTW - I'm certain you can put a camera on ANY fundraiser sit-down for ANY media organization and find the company rep saying whatever he thinks the donor wants to hear.

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 1:58 PM. Reason : .]

3/9/2011 1:50:11 PM

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/03/three-strikes-at-npr-why-vivian-schiller-was-ousted/72265/

and my favorite paragraph:

Quote :

"In what turned out to be her swan song, she delivered a stirring speech at the National Press Club on Monday with this message: "NPR's audience is not a left and right coast phenomenon. We are urban and rural: North and South; red state and blue state. Our listeners are equally distributed throughout every part of America -- because of our unique network of local member stations. Rooted in their communities, locally owned, operated and staffed. These are citizens serving citizens." Schiller recognized that NPR faced implacable opponents who needed to be answered: "At a time when our industry is cutting back, when punditry is drowning real news and thoughtful analysis, NPR is moving continuously forward with quality reporting and storytelling delivered with respect for the audience.... As guardians of the public trust, we have an obligation to address the current crisis in journalism and not simply fall victim to the turbulence of these times.""

3/9/2011 3:25:37 PM

Quote :

"With the exception of the tea-party racism comment, everything else he says is completely factual."

only, it's not. it's opinion. and it's vile opinion. yes, there are uneducated people, by they are swayed by BOTH conservative and liberal media. Conservatives aren't the only bad guys in this. I'm sorry that you only see the conservatives as evil, but painting every single conservative as a dumb, racist, bigoted redneck is wrong.

3/10/2011 3:32:10 PM

Anyone who respects Michelle Bachmann is dumb.

3/10/2011 5:46:53 PM

and all conservatives respect her?

3/10/2011 7:09:59 PM

I would bet a majority of “Tea Partiers” do.

3/10/2011 7:19:36 PM

and your point would be... it's still an opinion

3/10/2011 7:22:09 PM

Did he say all conservatives?

3/10/2011 8:14:39 PM

I find it funny that worse things are said during any given hour on fox news and an NPR representative is goaded into saying something far more tame while trying to appease potential donors, and somehow this is made into a big scandal.

3/10/2011 9:22:04 PM

but it was caught on camera!

3/10/2011 9:30:43 PM

any given hour, Kris? really? Do you even WATCH the channel enough to make that statement? give me a break

3/10/2011 10:21:57 PM

defender of all things wrong from the right...

3/10/2011 11:28:37 PM

well I just switched to fox news and didn't have to wait 5 seconds to see Bill O'Reilly comparing the Koran to Mien Kampf, so I stand by the statement

3/10/2011 11:59:04 PM

And how much tax money did Fox News receive in last years federal budget?

3/11/2011 12:56:25 AM

There's a point somewhere in your statement. I'm sure of it!

3/11/2011 1:03:08 AM

Question, actually.

Let me put it another way. Kris, I agree with you completely. Fox News is too biased and therefore all government financial support of Fox News should be eliminated. The same goes for NPR. Then they can say and think whatever the hell they want and I won't care.

The same can't be said for you, which for some reason thinks it should be a scandal when someone says something ridiculously biased on cable television. You will never be happy with a biased NPR, government supported or not.

3/11/2011 1:07:38 AM

Your comparison of NPR to Fox News isn't even remotely apt. Would you like your fraction of a fraction of a penny that you contribute to PBS?

3/11/2011 1:21:08 AM

Quote :

"With the exception of the tea-party racism comment"

the link between the teabaggers and racism is well-documented

3/11/2011 2:50:12 AM

I listen to a lot of NPR...as a conservative. Maybe I'm fooling myself into thinking I'm a conservative (I certainly voted for Republicans in the last election), but I just don't see a ton of bias out of the basic news reporting. The DR show? Yeah, definitely. But just the basic news coverage is about as neutral as it can possibly get.

3/11/2011 6:57:54 AM

the only people who think the news on that station is biased have either never listened to it, or don't realize that the DR show is not the news. but i'm ok with it not receiving funding, i don't understand why it should.

3/11/2011 8:21:02 AM

Are we talking PBS, NPR or both?

3/11/2011 9:19:08 AM

theres so little real news on NPR that its pretty easy to confuse the talk/fluff shows for real reporting (same as fox news)

3/11/2011 9:39:11 AM

That depends on the NPR station in question. If you're talking about the talk NPR stations then yeah, there's a lot of opinion and interview programming that really shouldn't be counted as news. But if you're talking about the music NPR stations then the news updates are pretty easy to distinguish.

Defunding the CPB wouldn't just affect NPR affiliated talk stations, it'd affect the music stations and PBS.

3/11/2011 9:41:54 AM

The good things on NPR are:
Car Talk
PHC
Marketplace
BBC news


everything else can be cut.

NPR "news" cant even find enough real news to fill 30 minutes.


PBS is fine. Its not a go to source for news or anything but the kids shows are definitely worth keeping around and probably worth funding more


[Edited on March 11, 2011 at 9:47 AM. Reason : a]

3/11/2011 9:44:26 AM

Bullcrap.

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me also has it's good moments.

Also, to help your confusion I went to wikipedia. Here's a copy/paste of what's listed under their news programs.

All Things Considered, hosted by Robert Siegel, Michele Norris and Melissa Block
Weekend All Things Considered
Morning Edition, hosted by Steve Inskeep and Renée Montagne
Radio Expeditions (with the National Geographic Society)
Weekend Edition Saturday, hosted by Scott Simon
Weekend Edition Sunday, hosted by Liane Hansen
Talk of the Nation: public affairs call-in (host Neal Conan)
Science Friday science issues call-in (host Ira Flatow)
Tell Me More: public affairs/interviews (host Michel Martin)

NPR is also responsible for distributing these news programs


On Point, public affairs call-in program hosted by Tom Ashbrook (WBUR)
The Diane Rehm Show, public affairs call-in program hosted by Diane Rehm (WAMU)
Fresh Air, interviews with cultural news-makers hosted by Terry Gross (WHYY)
Latino USA, Latino issues hosted by Maria Hinojosa (KUT)
Justice Talking, legal issues hosted by Margot Adler (University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center)
On the Media, media issues hosted by Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield (WNYC)
American RadioWorks, provider of documentaries on Morning Edition and All Things Considered hosted by Ray Suarez (American Public Media)
America Abroad, international affairs program hosted by Ray Suarez (PRI and NPR Worldwide)

[Edited on March 11, 2011 at 9:49 AM. Reason : /]

3/11/2011 9:47:32 AM

more like wait wait where the hell is the radio dial get this awful shit off my radio.

[Edited on March 11, 2011 at 9:48 AM. Reason : a]

3/11/2011 9:48:15 AM

im not confused.

The news programs in that first list are all your basic news stories off the wire. NPR doesnt add anything the other news orgs dont

The second list is talk shows, not news. They're the same as o'reilly or glen beck or whatever.

The American Radioworks guys are probably responsible for all the bad parts of Morning Edition and ATC

3/11/2011 9:52:53 AM

i don't want stuff added to my news, i just want news. and i want it on the radio so i can listen to it during my morning and afternoon commute. npr and bbc news fill those voids.

3/11/2011 10:12:49 AM

I miss Weekend America.

3/11/2011 10:19:56 AM

Quote :

"the link between the teabaggers and racism is well-documented"

Actually, it's not. Care to offer any proof for this assertion?



And wiki lists all of those as "news shows?" really?

TOTN and Science Friday are talk shows, and TOTN is fairly liberal in its slant, at that. And the second section, as someone else pointed out, is all talk shows, with the notoriously liberal Fresh Air listed. LOL.

3/11/2011 10:47:43 AM

You make me want to become a premie and change my status to "notoriously liberal".

3/11/2011 11:14:34 AM

Quote :

"I find it funny that worse things are said during any given hour on fox news and an NPR representative is goaded into saying something far more tame while trying to appease potential donors, and somehow this is made into a big scandal."

I agree. I'd like to see NPR stand up and fight for once, instead of just caving at every attack.

3/11/2011 11:40:26 AM

No news organization should be receiving any government money. One of the primary purposes of media outlet is to serve as a watch dog against government. As such, no news organization should, at any point, be made to feel that some percentage of the funding is dependent on maintaining a certain message. News should be a purely private sector business.

3/11/2011 12:18:20 PM

News as a purely private sector interest is subject to the same levels of potential corruption as news sponsored by the government.

Particularly in the current climate of mega-corporation controlled media.

Ideally news organizations would be non-profit private entities, but we're obviously not able to handle something like that. The best we can have a tenuous balance between government and publicly supported media and corporate supported media.

3/11/2011 1:00:09 PM

non-profit doesnt mean anything

3/11/2011 1:05:17 PM

True, but it's a better alternative than A and B.

But there really isn't a good alternative. So you get some government sponsored media and hope that it doesn't become a propaganda arm for their government masters(funneling things from the CPB to NPR and PBS probably helps with that, but it's not a perfect solution). You also get some corporate media and hope that doesn't become a propaganda arm for their corporate masters(too late).

3/11/2011 1:13:04 PM

There's a great alternative: it's called the Internet. Google makes it so you really don't have to go through a talking head to get your news. Old people are keeping traditional news outlets going. I mean, really...who here would list Fox/CNN/MSNBC as one of their main news sources? If so, are you fucking dumb? I can literally go to Google news and get a better idea of what is going on in the world in 15 minutes than if I had watched 24 hours of CNN.

3/11/2011 5:13:30 PM

You do realize that large swaths of the population do NOT get their news from the internet. There are a lot of people who do get their information from the TV and the Radio.

Also, you can't use the internet while you're driving (or at least you shouldn't be). So there's still a role out there for radio news.

It's not just old people too, unless you have a very broad definition of "old." It's mostly the under-40 crowd that's switching over to internet news.

3/11/2011 5:18:47 PM

Quote :

"You do realize that large swaths of the population do NOT get their news from the internet. There are a lot of people who do get their information from the TV and the Radio."

Of course I realize this. These people are getting probably 20% of the important news that they should be hearing.

Quote :

"Also, you can't use the internet while you're driving (or at least you shouldn't be). So there's still a role out there for radio news."

Internet radio exists and is usable in a car, though I don't know how many people out there take advantage of it.

3/11/2011 5:30:16 PM

i'm under 30 and prefer radio news, so does everyone in my household.

3/11/2011 11:18:21 PM

Quote :

"These people are getting probably 20% of the important news that they should be hearing."

3/11/2011 11:35:34 PM

Sometimes I've had to switch off Fresh Air because it was painfully biased

3/12/2011 2:48:27 AM

I am generally watching hockey by that point but Marketplace (that comes on right before it) is my crack addiction.

3/12/2011 3:34:59 AM

In news that should surprise nobody, the Ron Schiller video was deceptively edited to make it look much worse than it was. Not that anybody who was offended by this video, called for his resignation, or demanded the government defund NPR over it would ever give a shit.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/does-raw-video-of-npr-expose-reveal-questionable-editing-tactics/

I can't believe that had to come from, of all places, Glen Beck's web site.

3/13/2011 2:09:30 PM

credibility revoked
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/17/house.of.reps.npr.funding/index.html?hpt=T2

Quote :

" House votes to stop NPR funding Washington (CNN) -- The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would bar federal funding for National Public Radio -- a longtime target of conservatives irritated by what they consider the outlet's liberal bias. The bill passed 228-192 in a sharply partisan vote. Most Republicans backed the measure while every Democrat opposed it. While the measure was expected to pass the GOP-controlled House, it is believed to have little chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled Senate. The move to strip funding comes after a conservative activist secretly taped a NPR fundraising executive criticizing Tea Party supporters and saying public radio would be better off without federal money. On Tuesday, the House voted to cut $50 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps support NPR. That measure was part of a larger bill to keep the government running for the next three weeks. The House moved last month to eliminate all federal funding for the CPB as part of its bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. That bill, however, failed to pass the Senate. Among other things, the measure which passed the House Thursday would bar any of NPR's affiliate radio stations across the country from using any federal funds to purchase programming from NPR. Forty percent of NPR's funding comes from member station fees, according to the outlet. Roughly 2% comes from federal grants. "We have to deal with the fiscal reality of this country," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. America has to figure out "how to do more with less. ... We can't afford to be all things to all people." Public radio "has been wildly successful," Chaffetz argued. The outlet's total number of listeners is rising, so "it should be moving toward a model where (it) can sustain" itself rather than relying on taxpayers. NPR's listeners are largely "wealthy" and "well educated," claimed Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee. "It is time for us to remove the federal support system ... and see what NPR can do on (its) own." "With the national debt over $13 trillion, the government simply can't afford to fund non-essential services," said Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado. "NPR can survive on its own." We need to "remove the taxpayer from the equation." According to NPR's website, the outlet currently provides content to 900 independent stations, reaching 27.2 million listeners every week. Democrats argued that NPR serves a vital public function. Stripping it of public funds will do little to reduce the federal deficit while cutting popular programming in small towns and rural areas across the country, they claimed. "This bill would wipe (programs like) 'Car Talk' off the road. It would wipe 'Lake Wobegon' right off the map," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts. "GOP used to stand for Grand Old Party. Now it stands for Gut Our Programs." Markey argued that many local public stations would not be able to attract a sufficient audience and fundraising base to survive keep without easy access to NPR's signature programs, such as "All Things Considered." This bill "will snuff out stations from coast to coast," he predicted. "This makes no sense." The GOP has launched an "ideological crusade against balanced news," claimed Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, circulated a letter to House members earlier in the week citing press reports that he said demonstrated that James O'Keefe -- the conservative activist who set up the taping -- "deceptively edited" the video to target NPR. "Biased? No. Unbiased," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. "NPR speaks the truth. ... It provides a fair and balanced presentation.""

3/17/2011 5:39:23 PM

My favorite thing about the current crop of GOP is how less they are actually interested in governing and are more interested at just attacking liberals and liberal causes directly.

3/17/2011 5:52:58 PM

now all we need are more staunchly-liberal democrats

3/17/2011 5:54:28 PM

Quote :

"credibility revoked"

except not at all

3/17/2011 6:43:47 PM

It's worth noting that this defunding still has to pass the Senate and be signed by the president neither of which are likely to happen thus making this a symbolic gesture to give the likes of Hannity and his ilk something to thump their chest about. What this does show, however, is that once again conservatives are full of garbage and have no intentions of focusing on jobs but rather spend their time attempting to poke liberals with a stick. Pathetic.

3/18/2011 12:56:51 AM