10 March 2007

Oh, REALLY, NPR. I expect better.

When I worked for the big ol' bank, I spent more than 10 hours a week in the car, driving from city to city, and I was a hopeless addict of NPR. I still listen to NPR, just not as much as I used to. Yes, they're liberal, yes, they get government funding. I don't care.

Yesterday, I was listening to All Things Considered on the way home from work, as I do most weekdays, and I heard two stories that had me so incredibly annoyed. First, in this story about US-Russia relations, some random Idiot Administration hack said essentially that a strong Russia is OK, as long as that strong Russia promotes things that the US agrees with. Because heaven forbid that someone, somewhere, should have an opinion that differs with the administration.

Part of the story talked about how President Doofus isn't getting along with President Putin these days...gone are the times when he could 'look into Putin's soul'. That was fun. But the tone of the whole report...gah, it bugged me.

And then immediately following that little bit of annoyance was this story, I shit you not, about Orange Juice Diplomacy. Truth being stranger than fiction, I couldn't make this one up if I tried. The report mentions the role that orange juice may play in relations between the US, Iran, and Syria. It was complete fluff, total E! Entertainment Television-level reportage. I was actually shouting at the radio (behaviour that is usually reserved for Fox News) about how incredibly stupid that segment was.

The only time I've ever turned NPR off in frustration was during the week of September 11th, 2001, because at some point during that whole horrible time, I couldn't take it anymore. Not one more second of information about who died, what they thought had happened.

I was pretty close yesterday, though, with that Orange Juice story. Until a friend phoned, and I had to turn it off anyway to hear the phone conversation. Thank goodness.

NPR, I expect so much better of you. I expect thoughtful, reasoned debates; excellent research; stentorian tones. I do not expect pap, fluff, crap, especially when it lasts as long as that piece did, and I also don't expect to hear the words 'orange juice' 15 times in a 35 second time frame.

I would write to them to express my annoyance, but I write to them fairly frequently, and I'm sure I'm on their list of "stalker crazies...delete these immediately".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I heard that piece, too.

Gah.

~mm