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News & ArtsMonday, December 7, 2009
Media Confidential to NPR
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 3:00 PM
No one will miss Mara Liasson.
5
Mara Liasson, Juan WIlliams, Cokie Roberts, MIchele Norris... all hacks. Tavis Smiley bailed on NPR for a reason.
10
If NPR gave her the axe, she would just move to Fox, get a lucrative signing bonus and be billed as the anchor who was "too real for NPR."
11
@Dan, thanks for introducing me to balloon-juice.com.
NPR is the closest thing to a lifeline in my redneck bumfuck corner of the world right now, but today's Talk of the Nation in honor of Carl Kasell as he nears retirement, with Bob Edwards on hand, made me way nostalgic for the NPR of 20 yrs ago or more with lefty commentators like Michael Harrington, originally righty but intelligent commentators like Kevin Phillips, color essayists of all stripes, former R congresscritters who were intelligent gentlemen and compromisers instead of braindead fingerpuppets, and former D's who were not ALL gormless cowards and whores.
NPR is the closest thing to a lifeline in my redneck bumfuck corner of the world right now, but today's Talk of the Nation in honor of Carl Kasell as he nears retirement, with Bob Edwards on hand, made me way nostalgic for the NPR of 20 yrs ago or more with lefty commentators like Michael Harrington, originally righty but intelligent commentators like Kevin Phillips, color essayists of all stripes, former R congresscritters who were intelligent gentlemen and compromisers instead of braindead fingerpuppets, and former D's who were not ALL gormless cowards and whores.
13
Being a right-winger is always ok, provided you have a fine speaking voice that's easy on the ears.
Then again ...
Then again ...
16
@14 - Correct. Most non-local shows on KUOW are produced and created by other organizations - American Public Media, PRI, KCRW etc.
19
NPR is a national treasure, but it is essential that their news team remains as neutral and as thoroughly investigative as possible. It's the only news source of national news left (other than The News Hour with Jim Lehrer) that I trust to any degree.
21
@11: NPR's shift after 2000 horrified and informed me. Am still taking advantage of opportunities to ask people where they get their news. NPR was so convenient; my current piecemeal approach is not. But I can't stand the fair-and-balanced race to the bottom. It seems the target age for US news has dropped from 11 to 8 years.
Funny NPR interview recently between Channa Jaffe-Walt (local?) and an ex-pat who's been reporting from Japan for 15 years. She kept insisting on repeating his statements in a simplistic manner, until he sounded frankly amazed.
Funny NPR interview recently between Channa Jaffe-Walt (local?) and an ex-pat who's been reporting from Japan for 15 years. She kept insisting on repeating his statements in a simplistic manner, until he sounded frankly amazed.
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@10 FTW. You can't expect a good outcome. Shuffle her into obscurity, don't fire her.
@5- Tavis Smiley is one of the most softball interviewers I've ever heard. When he asks a hard question, he never follows it up even when the interviewee completely redirects or obfuscates. Plus his taste in music is appalling. Muzak by Black people is still Muzak.
@5- Tavis Smiley is one of the most softball interviewers I've ever heard. When he asks a hard question, he never follows it up even when the interviewee completely redirects or obfuscates. Plus his taste in music is appalling. Muzak by Black people is still Muzak.
24
Is she the one who says "The Dow Jones Industrulls?' Because that tiny hint of regional accent was so cute.
25
What complete asshatery -- this whole idea is lefty ignorancy at it's best!
Anyone who's seen her appearances on FOX (And the FSN panel in particular) knows she's not a shill for them; she most often offers a contrarian POV to their normal hackery & GOP-centric opining.
And anyone who pays ANY attention to news programming knows she sure as shit is NOT going to move to FOX if fired from NPR. (More likely CNN, MSNBC and/or PRI)
Me, I hate FAUXnews. But if we liberals can't tolerate distention and won't let our people hang out with -- and be one of the few voices of reason that can represent a sane point of view to -- "the other side"...
...well, what the hell makes us that different from those closed-minded conservative asshats we're all claiming to be better than, huh???
Anyone who's seen her appearances on FOX (And the FSN panel in particular) knows she's not a shill for them; she most often offers a contrarian POV to their normal hackery & GOP-centric opining.
And anyone who pays ANY attention to news programming knows she sure as shit is NOT going to move to FOX if fired from NPR. (More likely CNN, MSNBC and/or PRI)
Me, I hate FAUXnews. But if we liberals can't tolerate distention and won't let our people hang out with -- and be one of the few voices of reason that can represent a sane point of view to -- "the other side"...
...well, what the hell makes us that different from those closed-minded conservative asshats we're all claiming to be better than, huh???
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