NPR: Gay Robot, Bill Richardson, Paula Abdul's Nose

Gay Robot, Bill Richardson, Paula Abdul's Nose

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"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.

Well we survived editorial meeting number two! In fact, our only regret is that we're not yet at the point where we can cover ALL of these stories. But we did lay out at least five more segments to be recorded and posted by the end of next week, covering topics like the 2008 presidential race, the battle over veganism, European soccer's Super Bowl and Gay Robot. (Actually, we're fighting with All Things Considered over dibs on Gay Robot. Stay tuned.)

Meeting Rundown. In attendance: Alison Stewart, Luke Burbank, Matt Martinez, Dan Pashman (producer)

IMMIGRATION -- We were on the verge of dismissing this story as one that currently amounts to little more than political posturing, when an interesting discussion broke out. How long will immigration be a front burner issue without some kind of bill being passed? Why is it taking so long? (After all, remember those big May 1st marches last May 1st?) Is it just because there are powerful interests on all sides? Or are some Congressional politicians more interested in the debate than the resolution? And how important is this issue to the American people? Recent polls show it now ranks right after the Iraq War (still #1), but is that just because the political debate has pushed it towards the top, or is it really such a kitchen table issue? (Which came first, the chicken or the immigration debate?) And how many people are tangibly affected by immigration, versus the number of people concerned by it? Damn, we need to flesh this discussion out, but we don't have a radio show yet. If only there were some sort of place, a gathering area if you will, that could be accessed by people all over the world, where you could write in comments and discuss these issues. Man, that would be great. Oh well.

MYSPACE -- The popular website has agreed to turn over the names of registered sex offenders with MySpace accounts to authorities. Luke thought the story was interesting, and Matt pointed out that this dance seems increasingly common between internet companies and the authorities: Feds demand information, company balks, Feds push back, company caves. He added that Craigslist has a self destruct button to wipe out their hard drives if the feds ever try to get them. Alison pointed out that Rupert Murdoch's recent acquisition of MySpace might have had something to do with their relatively quick acquiescence.

GAS PRICES -- It seems like high gas prices are having an effect like never before. Luke said that as a loyal Los Angeleno, he loves driving, but he's actually looking forward to moving to New York and getting rid of his car because of the price of gas. This would be a great chance for us to go a step further: What are some of the less obvious ways that rising gas prices drive up the cost of living? Exactly what are people giving up, what choices are they making that they did not have to make before, as a result? And what are the real reasons for the increase? We'd love to have someone like James Surowiecki from The New Yorker, Rob Walker from the NYT Magazine's "Consumed" section, or NPR's own Scott Horsley to discuss.

BILL RICHARDSON -- He announced yesterday that he's officially running for president. First off, we were all surprised that this announcement hadn't been made already. Hasn't he been at all the debates? Doesn't he have commercials (that we ourselves have featured)? And why has someone with such a solid resume been so completely dismissed so early? Luke has an interesting theory on that one, and it's the winner for today's breakout story. Check back here around 5 pm eastern for more.

HIGHBROW / LOWBROW -- The idea for this segment came out of a series of conversations. We were discussing some celeb news, including Paula Abdul's mishap, as well as the big American Idol finale tonight. We then shifted gears and talked about the "Most E-mailed Articles" sections on a variety of news websites, which we all agreed we look at regularly. From there came the idea for a segment we'll call "Highbrow/Lowbrow," where we tell you which articles were most e-mailed on sites like NYTimes.com, UsWeekly.com, WashingtonPost.com, TMZ.com, LATimes.com, People.com, etc, you get the idea. Highbrow/Lowbrow: All the gossip, none of the guilt! (Or: You're not trashy if you get your celeb news from a blog that also covers fighting in Lebanon.)

MIAMI SEX OFFENDERS -- Luke and Alison were both fascinated by a story on Miami sex offenders done by NPR's own Day to Day. In the future, when we find great work by our NPR colleagues, and we feel like there's a discussion there for us, we won't hesitate to play a clip of their story and talk about it. (And in case you're curious, we prefer the term "homage" to "theft.")

GAY ROBOT, VEGANISM, A PITCHING PARIAH, AND MORE -- We're all in love with Gay Robot, the show pilot that the networks rejected before it made a huge splash on the net. Now the show's likely to be the big prize at the end of a network bidding war. Then there's the NY Times op-ed piece on veganism, which seems to be a topic that elicits strong emotions on all sides. We'll dig deeper into both of these stories next week. And we're going to try to interview former Major League baseball pitcher Mike Marshall, who won the Cy Young Award in 1974, and who still holds the record for most pitching appearances in a season. Marshall now has a Ph.D. and says he's invented a new way to pitch baseballs that will end arm injuries, which often take pitchers out of commission for months, years, or careers. But nobody in baseball will listen to him or give his pitchers a chance. Plus, tomorrow is the UEFA Champions League Final!!! If "Huh?" is the only response you can muster, you're not alone. (It's European soccer's Super Bowl.) We'll feature it tomorrow on the next installment of "Make Me Care."

DAY TWO -- One other note: We don't want to be one of those news outlets that immediately moves a story from the front page to the fire, without a follow-up. So for instance, in our theoretical radio show, we would not forget today that we spent time covering Lebanon yesterday.

So that's what's on our radar, even though most of it won't be on our air (since we don't have any air yet). Let us know what gets you going, and let us know what we missed.

Dan Pashman

10:45 AM ET | 05-22-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

DC's NPR affiliate WAMU reported yesterday that some former Smithsonian official resigned from his post since there was some pressure to down play climate change. People didn't want to offend the Republicans in Congress and Bush Administration who control their funding. Or something like that...

Political intrigue at a museum. I would love to know more about this story and how politics affects truth.

Sent by Steve Petersen | 12:59 PM ET | 05-22-2007

Hot damn. Many good bits here.

- The price of a social network goes up with gas prices in a car-driven metropolis. I have friends I regularly see on the west side of my metroplex (I live on the east side). Even with my fuel-efficient l'il Prizm, it costs $4 for a visit.

- Higher gas prices don't just make living in the 'burbs expensive. When big grocery stores and Big Boxes live in the 'burbs, urban core dwellers have to pay more for their basic neccessities (and for the eventual BPP Vol 1 triple-DVD at the local Walmart.)

- Funny, I was just thinking how you could make someone care about the CL final in a minute.

- It is remarkable what people think is 'safe' just because they've only blogged it or put it up on a 'reader's only' page. There is always, ALWAYS a digital trail unless someone like the good folks at Craigslist think actively about it.

Sent by Drew | 1:24 PM ET | 05-22-2007

Hey Drew,
Thanks for your comments. One problem--You didn't tell us how you would make someone care about the Champions League Final. Anyone want to take a crack at it?

Sent by Dan Pashman | 1:54 PM ET | 05-22-2007

The march to this Champions League final began in 2005, when perennial underdogs-to-the-stars Liverpool came back from 3-nil against Italian giants AC Milan at halftime to win the UEFA Champion's League Cup on extra-time kicks, the one cup that only the top local teams of Europe can hope to play for. And for those of you wags who hate football for its low scoring, that's six goals in a game. There are super bowls that have less than that.

This year, it's the rematch. On one side, AC Milan. It's a team that was embroiled in a game-fixing scandal in Italy last year, docked points, and still has gone on to be fourth overall this year in Italy. AC Milan, whose president is none other than Silvio Berlusconi. The team has a number of players from the World Cup Italian team that every NPR member worth their salt cheered over (Silvia Poggioli's team! Yeah!), but whose hero is Kaka, the man who put Wayne Rooney and those bunch of Manchester United knobs in their place in the semi-final.

On the other side, a heavily rehabilitated Liverpool FC. Three years under Spanish manager Rafe Benitez has turned a pretty good team into a killer team with threats from above (with Peter Crouch's basketball-like frame heading and scissor-kicking the ball in), below (Dirk Kuyt's deft pokes into goal), and from afar (they've got a guy who can regularly score from fifty-five yards away), and a defensive end that doesn't so much keep balls away from the goalie as suffocate the offense.

Yes, football can be boring, but not in a final this big, with players this good, and a rematch history that screams that tempers will flare.

The teams have played their way through a huge tournament on top of the regular season (imagine a hockey team playing a knockout tournament while playing the regular season) for the right to be standing here. It shows when teams who have fallen away have to be 'satisfied' with winning their countries' premiere league championships instead of the CL cup.

And if nothing else, how can you not cheer for a team whose anthem, "You'll never walk alone!", is belted out by the fans after every goal.

And the police in Athens have paintball guns to tag rowdy protesters for later pickup. Folks, you can't GET better entertainment.

Sent by Drew | 2:51 PM ET | 05-22-2007

I'm a Spurs fan, but Liverpool's "You'll Never Walk Alone" gives me chills whenever I hear it. And a damn good summary of the Final, Drew, but you didn't even mention Steven Gerrard, whose one of my favorite players. The guy makes Ray Allen look like Ron Artest. It isn't often in professional sports that a player stays with his club because he's loyal to it.

Also, if you care about CL, it gives you a fine reason to drink in the middle of the day.

To make someone actually care about the Final though, I would consider focusing on the firms, the hooligan gangs attached to clubs. Hooligans in general have had a couple of incidents in international play this past year, with Manchester Untited at Roma and Spurs at Seville clashing with police and fans.

For me, the thing that makes football stand out from any other sport is the songs. "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a perfect example of an incredibly affective piece. Each club's catalog is like an oral history of each team. I know I learned my Spurs history (UEFA cup win, the infamous Double) from songs. The chants are a clear reflection of the passion football fans have and I think it's easily the most compelling footnote of the game's development.

Along the lines of Italian football, the racism issue is a really big issue. In English football, it's pretty prevalent too. Spurs fans, for instance, are called 'yids,' in reference to their location near the Jewish heavy population of London. Italian clubs have had a horrible time reining in their racist fans. Another interesting topic.

Sent by Shawn Shahani | 4:41 PM ET | 05-22-2007

- Immigration. These points make me think about the Health Care debate around the time Clinton got elected the first time. An issue that affects lots of citizens, politicians and media shouting "unsustainable crisis!", powerfully entrenched interests that favor status quo, a few proposals floated, and finally, in the case of health care, no change. Is immigration similar?

-Government seizure of digital information. There's also an international here: Yahoo handed over information to the Chinese government that led jailings of political dissidents. Yes, political orgainizing and sex crimes are fundamentally different, but what do the Chinese government case and the U.S. government case have in common? What goes into the company's decision-making in each case?

Sent by EB | 5:24 PM ET | 05-22-2007

I think that a "Freakonomics" segment would suit the show well.

For instance, today on All Things Considered we heard about how Sunnyside, Washington is targeting gangs with stringent laws; I wonder how wacky economists like Steven D. Leavitt would assess the potential performance of these laws. He analyzes questions like this with economics at his Freakonomics blog. I think that he could provide insight into news stories in a way that would appeal to young demographic that BPP aims for.

Sent by Steve Petersen | 8:03 PM ET | 05-22-2007

Hey -- thanks everyone for the great suggestions (we'll bat them around at the meeting tomorrow) -- and thanks to those who tried to make us care about the UEFA cup -- we're going to try it on another "Make Me Care" segment on the podcast tomorrow.

Sent by Matt Martinez | 8:16 PM ET | 05-22-2007

Shawn, my wife is actually quite a Spurs fan. When we got started (we entered into football following a bit late), we basically started to watch the players that struck us the most from the little we had seen. Stevie G and Crouch grabbed me, while the Hotspurs fascinated Sherry.

There is a bit of a discussion going on regarding whether or not we are going to plan our next England trip around a Rottenham/Red Shite game. Our boy's kit at the moment is Spurs-centric, sorry to say (the "You'll never crawl alone..." onesies are disturbingly precious, though.)

And of course, there'll be one new song to sing tomorrow...

"We won it SIX times, SIX times..."

Sent by Drew | 10:52 PM ET | 05-22-2007

I think that international sports coverage would make BPP interesting in the NPR universe. Not only does NPR lack significant sports coverage, but covering international sports news will help enhance listeners' understanding of the world. Why is soccer so popular elsewhere but not in the US? Cricket -- what's that?

There are so many interesting story ideas along this vein. For instance, how have Muslim women who wear body covering garb embraced swimming now that the popular body suits are available and actually preferred by competitive swimmers? How has the ability to compete in the sport affect the rest of their lives?

Sent by Steve Petersen | 9:01 AM ET | 05-23-2007

Many thanks to Drew for his comments on the Champions League final - he made a lot of what we witnessed last night make sense. My husband and I are currently on the island of Paros in Greece and were invited to go along to watch the match. The crowd in front of the TV mounted on the outside wall of the bar across from the marina consisted of Germans, Italians, English, Greeks, Australians, Dutch, and us - the two ignorant Americans. Although we didn't understand all of what was going on the running commentary from the crowd was fascinating. We have decided it is essential for us to learn more about football!

Sent by Robin | 5:07 AM ET | 05-24-2007

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