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Media Matters
Dec. 5, 2002
'The Sopranos' and NPR Authors: Too Much of a Good Thing?
By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin
Ombudsman
National Public Radio
One of the most popular television programs in recent years has been The Sopranos on HBO. It has received critical acclaim and according to Variety, has been a significant element in the financial success of HBO.
NPR has always reported on popular culture, whether in print, the visual arts, film or television. So NPR has also reported on The Sopranos, usually at the beginning of each season.
NPR has had complaints in the past that its coverage of The Sopranos verged on the adulatory as opposed to the merely uncritical. But this season provoked more than the usual number of angry e-mails.
One story in particular on NPR seemed to spur the protests:
On Weekend Edition on November 16, host John Ydstie interviewed a Chicago restauranteur whose establishment has a Sopranos theme:
You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
Last week, Tony Soprano and his crew got whacked at Frankie J's restaurant in Chicago, not by other wise guys or by the Feds, but by the producers of their own HBO show, "The Sopranos." Frankie Janisch, owner of Frankie J's on Broadway, had designated Sundays "Sopranos" Night on at his restaurant on the north side of town. But word got out. Somebody snitched to the honchos at HBO, and this month, Frankie J's received a cease-and-desist order from the cable network. Mr. Janisch joins us from NPR's Chicago bureau.
I guess, first of all, Mr. Janisch, I should ask you: How ya doin'?
Mr. FRANKIE JANISCH (Owner, Frankie J's on Broadway): I'm doin' good. How are you doin'?
YDSTIE: I'm doin' good. So what were you offering for "Sopranos" fans at Frankie J's on Sunday night...?
That provoked a heated response from Steven Antonuccio:
As an Italian American who has repeatedly complained about the one-sided coverage of "The Sopranos" on NPR, I was appalled by the story "Weekend Edition" did on Saturday on the restaurant in Chicago that sponsors "Sopranos Night." In over 2 dozens stories related to "The Sopranos” that NPR has done in the past 3 years, none of them has even brought up the question or even asked for the opinion of the major Italian-American organizations that have universally condemned the show for its racism, violence, and misogyny. To understand my point of view all you have to do is go on the NPR website and type "Sopranos" in your own archives. You can listen to all the stories like I have done, and you will discover the same one-sided insulting coverage that has gone on for three years. Instead of listening to my complaints as a long time member of an NPR affiliate public radio station, you do another lame promotional piece on "The Sopranos" by talking in this insulting fictional Italian-American slang "How ya doing." Do you do stories on African Americans by imitating black slang?
How Often Is Enough?
Mr. Antonuccio’s estimate is conservative. Over the past three years, by my count, NPR has done stories on The Sopranos 32 times. Many have been heard on NPR’s interview program Fresh Air with Terry Gross, where interviews with actors and television critics have been aired 13 times.
After a number of letters and e-mails from Mr. Antonuccio and others, NPR’s Vice President of News, Bruce Drake issued the following statement:
We've received thoughtful inquiries from listeners expressing concern over extent and balance of NPR's coverage of "The Sopranos." NPR has a unique relationship with its 20 million listeners, and we take their input seriously. NPR produces and distributes thousands of hours of radio programming annually, and we believe that 30 segments related to "The Sopranos" over four years is a modest and appropriate amount of coverage. We have no current plans for additional coverage of the show but will take all concerns into account the next time NPR produces a segment on this topic.
While a limited number of stories on The Sopranos on more than one NPR program is reasonable, in my opinion, NPR appears to have overstepped the bounds of what could be considered "modest and appropriate." Mr. Antonuccio has a good point and NPR has rendered a disservice to all listeners by not exploring the series’ impact beyond increasing cable subscriptions for HBO.
The NPR Book Tour: A Conflict of Interest?
A number of NPR hosts and personalities have written books that have been published this fall. As part of their promotion of their books, some of those authors have been interviewed on NPR programs. A few have been on more than one NPR show to talk about their book. Is NPR engaging in a conflict of interest by allowing its own employees who have written books to be interviewed?
While it's commendable that so many NPR contributors are published authors and musicians, it concerns me that NPR would mask self-serving commercials as journalism. If NPR has a policy about this kind of situation, I would be very interested to hear how such decisions are made. Thank you.
Paula Gaber
More NPR journalists are writing books, so this is an issue that is likely to become more, not less prevalent. For those authors at NPR, this one touches a nerve to be sure.
Some questions: Is this an acceptable form of promotion? Some programs naturally want to be able to interview one of "their own." But how should an NPR host interview a co-worker? Collegially? Deferentially? Or journalistically? Should the host point out any flaws? And does hearing the same author on more than one NPR programs still serve the listener?
Even so, I think there is a solution:
Programs should make decisions about all authors (NPR or otherwise) in the normal way: that is, would the subject be of interest and of value to the listener, apart from the fact that the author also works at NPR? If the answer is yes, then the author should be asked to appear, but on one NPR program only, to avoid the appearance of "logrolling."
Newspapers do it somewhat differently to avoid a conflict of interest: They usually hire freelance (i.e. non-staff) reviewers to assess books written by staff journalists.
Commercial broadcasters encourage their authors to be interviewed on a variety of programs, under the principle that "there is no such thing as too much publicity." Presumably NPR should be held to other standards.
NPR does not air -- with some exceptions -- critical reviews as such, but it does interview authors -- thousands of them per year. Programs choose which authors to interview because they believe the topic will be of interest to the listeners. In my experience, listeners are, for the most part, keen to hear what NPR hosts and journalists have to say whenever they write books. But it does sound odd to some listeners to hear an NPR author being interviewed on more than one program.
Listeners may contact me at 202-513-3246 or at ombudsman@npr.org.
Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman
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