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Friday, May 6, 2011

Media Obama/Osama: Et Tu, NPR?

Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, May 6, 2011 at 8:31 AM

"Heard this on NPR's Morning Edition this morning, in what appears to be a PRE-RECORDED news segment. I guess public radio cutbacks began with editors."

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I said something the other day about the "Obama" death photos. But only to a friend in her living room, after two glasses of wine. And I immediately facepalmed.

Posted by moosefan on May 6, 2011 at 8:46 AM

I like the Daily Shows take on this as Stewart pulled out a "Osama/Obama Flub Jar", tossed in a buck and put it back under the desk.

Posted by Kinison

on May 6, 2011 at 8:47 AM

I've started to say Bin Laden because I have made the same mistake WITHOUT the glasses of wine.

Posted by bareboards on May 6, 2011 at 8:47 AM

It's an honest mistake made often. I heard it on NPR on Monday (last day I listened). It make it myself often, so I use only "bin Laden" to avoid the error.

Posted by Lose-Lose on May 6, 2011 at 8:52 AM

I'm sorry, I don't understand this. I've never made this mistake or come close to it. Maybe it's because I always call him "Osama bin Laden" and not just "Osama". He's not Cher, he doesn't get one name.

Posted by Fnarf

on May 6, 2011 at 9:00 AM

Hey, the President's here in my town! I can see Air Force One from my office!

Posted by angel in indy on May 6, 2011 at 9:05 AM

Just about everyone in the media has made this mistake. Cut them some slack.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on May 6, 2011 at 9:09 AM

@7, this. Radio presenters especially don't rely on teleprompters, and often just speak off the cuff without a script. When you're speaking quickly while watching the clock for at-breaks and listening to responses and thinking about how to set up your next segment, sometimes you trip over words. Should an editor catch it in a pre-recorded segment? Yes. Is there time to then go back and re-record? Probably not. News happens quickly.

Posted by Luckier on May 6, 2011 at 9:13 AM

It's one thing to make a flub on a live broadcast, but this was a report filed by a correspondent. It should've been noticed and corrected.

Posted by DOUG.

on May 6, 2011 at 9:15 AM

Maybe it's because we don't say many words that start with "o" and end with "ama"? I blame neurons.

Posted by Geraldo Riviera on May 6, 2011 at 9:16 AM

No, this is not an accidental mistake. Foux news has been conflating Obama and Osama for 3 solid years. By intent, in an effort to demean Obama.

Fnarf is correct. Why would anyone, any of us, or anyone at NPR ever just call the criminal "Osama"? As a stand alone. It's like calling the guy who shot JFK "Lee" instead of Lee Harvey Oswald. Has anyone ever done that? No. We've been duped into shortening his name to just Osama by the right wing media, who has done it intentionally to conflate the names of Obama and Osama.

And NPR fell for it.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on May 6, 2011 at 9:29 AM

I'm no expert, but I don't think Arabic first name/surname structures are the same as they are in Western culture. So I don't think it's all that strange to call bin Laden by what we would think of as his "first name". That said, it's not "Obama"!

Posted by DOUG.

on May 6, 2011 at 9:44 AM

@12, Osama is indeed his given name, and bin Laden is his family name, meaning "son of Laden" (just as "Johnson" originally meant "son of John"). There are many, many bin Ladens around the world, something like 600 of them. They're one of the wealthiest families in the world, big in construction and close to the Saudi royal family (morons like Will in Seattle think that means the Saudis supported him, even though they stripped him of his citizenship and expelled him from the country).

Posted by Fnarf

on May 6, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Hey, Dan, in a recent podcast you referred to Maggie Gallagher as the head of the "National Organization of Women," at the end of your rant - maybe you shouldn't throw stones! ;)

Posted by Gendun on May 6, 2011 at 10:10 AM

Salon.com had an interesting article about why we make this mistake--and it's not intentional.

http://www.salon.com/news/osama_bin_lade…

I mean, sure, it shouldn't happen on a pre-recorded segment, but in general it's not intentional (the way, say, "Democrat Party" is).

Posted by Brett Alan

on May 6, 2011 at 10:35 AM

Wait, are you saying that in that clip emphasizing the difference between the names, the mistake is made again? Or that clip is in response to some other NPR report that flubbed? I'm confused :( There must be an audio track here?

Posted by BEG

on May 6, 2011 at 12:41 PM

Can we stop pretending there's some kind of deep meaning behind this mistake? I did it the other day. Is it because I secretly think Obama is a terrorist?

Posted by beef rallard on May 6, 2011 at 12:42 PM

Both my husband and I did that last night, but we were a) ranting, and b) drinking. And both of us caught ourselves and rolled our eyes in disgust at our mistake.

Posted by Geni on May 6, 2011 at 1:52 PM

@14: I heard that, too! I save the podcasts up for long drives through the mountains of NC...I was shouting NOOOO!! at my ipod as I listened to it last weekend, the truckers must've thought I was nuts. Bad TSARY, bad Dan!

Posted by emma's bee on May 6, 2011 at 3:47 PM

Some of this "confusion" would be fixed if people used the alternate transliterated spelling of Bin Laden's name as Usama which is just as proper a transliteration as Osama.

Posted by Weekilter on May 6, 2011 at 5:15 PM

21 Comment Pulled (Spam) Comment Policy

It's not just the name of the target that is getting misstated, but the name of the team that killed Bin Laden, as well:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/05/1…

A German news show used a fictional "SEALS Team VI" logo from Star Trek fandom rather than the actual Navy SEALS logo. The reporter described aspects of the Star Trek logo to demonstrate how fitting it was for the team that took out Osama bin Laden, without realizing that it was completely the wrong logo!

Posted by Oh Suzanna on May 11, 2011 at 1:20 PM