archive

December 7, 2012 Metaphors can be great for framing the urgency of a problem, but what do you do when the image isn't accurate? If you are the president or a Republican Congressional leader, you keep hammering with the metaphor anyway. It's all Ben Bernanke's fault.

Summary

December 7, 2012 Did NPR's Beijing correspondent, Louisa Lim, exploit and endanger an 84-year-old man with impaired hearing when she interviewed him and gave his name on air? The dangers of being interviewed in China are multiple. But Lim explains why the man is safe and offers insights into the difficulties of finding sources and getting the story in the rising superpower.

Summary

November 28, 2012 Want to post a comment about something we're not covering? Here's a space for readers to share their thoughts about media, policy and NPR's journalism.

Summary

November 20, 2012 Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers came from across the country to help with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in New York and New Jersey. But the agency was also criticized for being slow in the first days. How do you report on selflessness, something which helps hold our nation together?

Summary

November 6, 2012 Only the president of the United States is given the respect on air of being called "Mister" or by his office title in second references. I hereby announce on this election day that whoever wins, the honorific be dumped come the January inauguration. It's not just a matter of journalistic fairness. It's a matter of being American.

Summary

November 5, 2012 Steve Inskeep is a veteran reporter of wars and disasters with an appreciation for dark humor and the absurd. But how far can you go when you are the host of one of the largest general news shows in the country? Some listeners complained about his comments during coverage of Hurricane Sandy.

Summary

November 1, 2012 Audience surveys find that many of you dislike interviews with ordinary voters (especially if it's with someone you disagree with). I agree that the practice, born out of American populism, is overdone on NPR and in the mainstream media. This is sure to get me in trouble with the American journalism fraternity, but no one else in the world does what we do.

Summary

October 28, 2012 NPR found Romney and Ryan made more incorrect claims overall during the debates than Obama and Biden. But in the last debate, Obama made the most incorrect claims. Can bias be found in the numbers? No. What counts is whether the fact checkers were right. We check.

Summary

October 17, 2012 Want to post a comment about something we're not covering? Here's a space for readers to share their thoughts about media, policy and NPR's journalism.

Summary

October 15, 2012 On the eve of the second presidential debate, we revisit the first one and the vice presidential debate. Some listeners thought they heard more clips of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan than of President Obama and Joe Biden. We found a virtual dead heat. In politics, our bile affects what we hear.

Summary

October 5, 2012 Or Mister Governor or Mister President. Listeners hear bias in campaign coverage. I hear Andy Jackson and unwashed American culture.

Summary

October 3, 2012 Want to post a comment about something we're not covering? Here's a space for readers to share their thoughts about media, policy and NPR's journalism.

Summary

September 29, 2012 Criticisms of NPR's coverage of the attack in Benghazi have become mixed with criticisms of the Obama administration's explanations. But NPR acquitted itself, if not perfectly, then very well. Steve Inskeep finds two valuable lessons in it all.

Summary

September 27, 2012 Here is a test of NPR's political bias and your own convictions about what it might be. Headlines set the tone for NPR.org and are a litmus test for all the coverage. So let's look at the last three days of campaign headlines. You decide.

Summary