NPR+Iraq = The most pathetic F***ing reporting known to man

[clem_c_rock]

This just f***ing takes the cake. 2 weeks NPR ran a story on how Falluja is the safest city in Iraq and how the Iraqis living in Falluja were looking to the American troops for their security.

Now they just ran a story on Iraqi comdedians and how they have "new found" freedom to joke as they please - a "Freedom" they never had under Saddam.

The next person who want's to pretend they're well informed "Because I listen to NPR", might just get a punch in the nose.

How much of our piece of shi media can we take!!!

[Last Lemming]

1. Ann Garrells

gave good radio reportage dateline Iraq

Nobody, NOBODY, is giving good coverage now. It's too dangerous to go anywhere. The last independent reporter there was almost "accidently assasinated" on the way out of Dodge.

[clem_c_rock]

8. I disagree

I feel the guardian and the independent have been giving decent coverage as well as these folks:

http://www.robert-fisk.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/

[mrfrapp]

18. The Independent

I would have agreed with the Independent giving decent coverage up until this morning. The frontpage headline was, "Iraq: Is the tide turning?". After reading the content of the article(s) the answer is a fairly obvious "no". So I'm left to wonder why the editor felt it necessary to create the impression that it is. It's a well worn propoganda tactic and discussed in Outfoxed. My patience is wearing pretty thin with the tabloid jounalism in that paper.

I have no idea why you think the Guardian offers decent coverage. Perhaps it's changed in the last year but the last I looked it was the leading Blair cheerleader and had been from the outset. Granted, the opinion columns tend to be opposed to the war but the editorial position of the Guardian falls into the party line like all other branches of the media.

edited: for clarity

[bertha katzenengel]

13. Yes, she did. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

2. They got bought out by a top Bush campaign contributor

and have now all drunk the Kool-Aid.

[sui generis]

3. NPR is a lost cause

STOP GIVING THEM MONEY

Until they return to their roots I've stopped contributing (and listening). I've written them twice and also reply to their KERA membership renewals regularly.

Also, pick up the phone and call them.

[barbaraann]

4. I've never listened to NPR because they always seemed insipid to me.

So at least I'm not disappointed that they have become tools of the BFEE.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Damn

Well, that's why I don't give public radio my money anymore.

[sherriftruman]

6. I'll tell you what's fucking pathetic

It's the fact that on a site which celebrates democracy you can't have fully spelled-out curse words. What the F? Ridiculous. Last time I checked, a democracy was interested in freedoms, especially of speech. And the fact that you have to censor your heartfelt indignation with joke-ass asterisks is too much to handle.

Oh yeah, and you're right about NPR, which Greg Palast referred to as "National Petroleum Radio" when I interviewed him. It's a bought-and-sold network that's utterly worthless to progressives, unless they're the limousine types.

Sherrif

[clem_c_rock]

9. Kind of like "What the F?"

[sherriftruman]

16. Touche, turtle

But did you count my other unedited curse words? Gorgeous. Say it with me: "FUCK!!!!"

See, no one died.

[clem_c_rock]

17. Had to do that to you brother.

I agree - Fuck is the best fucking word practically ivented.

More fucking uses than any other.

Fuckin' A.

[Ms. Clio]

25. Nobody forces anyone to censor any fucking thing here

You're allowed to curse all you fucking want, the mods don't censor it unless it's part of a personal attack. But there are a few prissy Penelopes who get all like, oh my God, people saying fuck make DU look so vulgar and low-class and scares away the moderates.

Well fuck em if they can't fucking take it, is what I say.

[PowerToThePeople]

7. I've been noticing the right turn for a while

At least "car talk" is still fun. But news, nah, I'll stick to Amy Goodman and DU for that..

[Junkdrawer]

12. Completely Agree...

On domestic issues, NPR at least tries to appear to be impartial, but on foreign affairs, it's tow-the-administration-line 100%.

Amy is my morning wakeup news Monday to Friday.

[BiggJawn]

19. Hah-hah, you beat me to it...

Usually, these "Take a Dump on National Propaganda Radio" threads get a Greek Chorus of "But I LIKE NPR! They have Garrison Keilor, and those funny 'Cartalk' guys! I never learned SO much about how my Vovlo runs before I started listening to THEM! And Diane Rheem! I just LOVE her show!"

They have NO News, only "News" (nudge-nudge-wink-wink)

Awww...I'm just jealous because I can't find anyone to blow me like Mara and Cokie blow Bush...

[deutsey]

10. I had to stop listening to them around the 2000 election

I'm a loyal Pacifica supporter now and don't miss NPR in the least.

[glitch]

15. 2000 was my break-off too. But I do miss what they used to be, or what I

thought they were. Perhaps they were always promoting the rw corporate line and I just didn't notice.
I am still looking for one straight in-depth news reporting radio network. As it is now I have a playlist that grabs from all over: Pacifica various, NPR (for certain locally produced, NOT CPB shows), AAR, unaffiliated community radio, Radio Power etc.
Sigh, used to just turn on the radio. On the other hand, my listening is much more diverse now.
So, on balance, perhaps I am glad they went blatant.

[BiggJawn]

20. I wanted to call my local NPR outlet...

...and offer to pledge $100 if they'd dump NPR and become a Pacifica affiliate...

But the station manager knows me.

[spooked911]

11. I gave up on NPR some time back and haven't missed it at all

I listen once in a while only to see how lame it is.

I had given them money a few years back, but now refuse to. I haven't written to them because I feel it is a waste of time.

[DS1]

14. It's good for a long drive, on Friday afternoons when they report

about mostly fluff with All Things Considered. There was an interview with a guy from The Mekons once that was quite entertaining, but Iraq reporting sucks :shrug:

[TexasSissy]

21. I don't get your complaint. What's wrong with those stories?

I mean....are those the only stories about Iraq that they are doing? If those stories are true, I see nothing wrong with them.

[clem_c_rock]

23. What's wrong - let's see here

Have you been following what atrocities have been taking place in Falluja? Well, if you listen to NPR, you'll NEVER hear one thing about. Why? Why do they choose to always give us this happy face.

I listen to NPR at least 50 hours a week, compare it w/ what's being reported by independent/investigative journalist and it's beyond maddening what NPR is not reporting.

If this was meant in sarcasm, I apologize.

[TexasSissy]

24. No, I wasn't being sarcastic. And why are you apologizing? I asked

a question. I guess your answer is....it's not that those reports are false....it's that NPR is reporting ONLY positive stories and not giving the full picture. Which I guess is what the original post should have said? For those of us who don't listen to NPR all the time? I listen to it hit or miss on the way to work, sometimes, and that's it. I prefer music, rather than thinking of "issues" before I tackle the legal world.

[spanone]

22. Did they mention that Iraqi children were better off under Hussein???

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1457630,00.html

~snip~
Let them eat bombs

The doubling of child malnutrition in Iraq is baffling

Terry Jones
Tuesday April 12, 2005
The Guardian

A report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than they are now. ~snip~

[Paola Paolo]

26. War in Iraq was a bad idea

I think it has been said enough about the war in Iraq. I’m sorry for recalling to that but I just can’t get it out of my head and want once again raise the topic.

I tried hard but couldn’t find any positive aspects of the war. Bush’s pledges that we gave freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq is a pure bulshit. They did not want it and they did not ask for it. We were looking for chemical weapons but there was none. So what do we have in result?

1.The White House dug a pit for itself when started the war in Iraq
2.The society in the U.S. broke up into two - the proponents of Bush’s international politics and his opponents. Discontent rises among the people.
3.The economy is in stagnation. The currency is weakening and the U.S. has huge international debts.
4.The army is demoralized. Soldiers in Iraq turn into mental patients. Surely, it will be like after Vietnam - people who stayed alive and came home from Vietnam started to suffer of schizophrenia and often died by their own hands or went completely mad and started hunting their neighbors. Plus add here the scandal over the Abu Ghraib prison and the tortures over Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. I think there is something to think about.

By the way, the situation in the army is an individual question. As independent non-governmental experts report, “every American soldier in Iraq keeps his finger on a trigger ready to open fire at any moment. “First shoot, then think or you will die”, they usually say. Fear in their eyes, chaos in their minds and no security”.

Then, it is not surprising that American patrol shot to death Italian military intelligence officer Nicola Calipari when he was driving his car to the airport with the just rescued Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena. This event was only the tip of the iceberg. Pentagon wasn’t able to conceal the fact as both attacked Italians were people of quite great calibre. In fact, there were over dozen cases when American troops accidentally wounded solders from Poland, Ukraine, South Korea, Great Britain and Roumania.

In addition to that there is a huge problem in respect of military discipline, drug taking among soldiers, mental condition of the manpower, the rise of casualties, moral decay and criminality. Pentagon thinks it all endanger the security of the U.S. military forces.

[CroixRoussienne]

27. Great First Post!

I am a newcomer to DU, but I have read alot of posts, and you sure nailed your subject. I don't know how on-topic it is, but as a critique of the Iraq war, it is one hundred percent TOO TRUE!

NPR is a dead horse. CPB going the same way.