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Media Matters
Dec. 26, 2002
How NPR Can Do Better in 2003
By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin
Ombudsman
National Public Radio
Over the past year, listeners have been generous with their outpouring of critiques, suggestions and gripes. Most of them (thankfully) have been thoughtful and heartfelt.
As I have forwarded them to senior management and to the program staff, I sense that the concerns of the listeners are being taken with the seriousness with which they are sent.
Although I have received quite a few e-mails denouncing NPR for being insufficiently conservative and patriotic, I have also received almost as many from anxious listeners concerned that NPR's tone has softened and that it has become unwilling to rock the boat -- in this case, the ship of state heading off to war.
In 2003, many listeners remind NPR that its role in American journalism is unique and they remain committed to NPR -- precisely because they want NPR to provide them with the information and perspectives that are not available everywhere else.
Some specific complaints over the past 12 months:
One listener (who asked that I not use her name) was concerned over NPR's coverage and the use of descriptions of the sexual crimes in the Catholic Church:
'Alleged' Perpetrators or 'Alleged' Victims?
"It is proper to speak about the 'alleged perpetrators' of a crime, but not 'alleged victims.' Taking short cuts or poetic license to assure that reporters are not accusing criminals before they are found guilty is admirable, but to use the term 'alleged' for the victim implies that they and not the criminals are on trial somehow. We do not speak of the alleged murder victim or the alleged victim of robbery. It seems only to be the alleged victim, when it is child molestation or rape. And in the case of the clergy of the Catholic churches, they have already acknowledged that they have molested children, so you do not have to say the alleged victim for them, although you may say alleged perpetrator unless otherwise proven in court. Please be more sensitive to this distinction."
Grammar and Usage
Often it is the little aspects of broadcasting and grammatical usages that draw corrections from our listeners:
"Sorry, but I have to call this to your attention as it seems like an epidemic on NPR: The verb is 'lend' not 'loan.' Thanks."
Sandra Palmer
Frustrated ex-proofreader
And from listener Shelly Levine:
"Only a few models remain from which we can hear language used well, and I write to you with that in mind. Just recently -- and whether it is NPR or my local affiliate I cannot tell -- I have heard a couple of clunkers several times. The first is the use of 'Being that...' Not just 'being' as in 'being a musician...' Your reporters mean 'since' or 'because' so please tell them...
The other is the instance of not being aware of the subject of a sentence and its control of a verb. 'A combination of forces have brought' the reporters are saying, not realizing that the subject, combination, is singular. I am afraid many of these instances occur. Since (not being that) you are the only users of language I know who seem interested in content rather than effect, please sort the rules out. It isn't a question of rules being there for us to stick to; it is a question of sense."
Traffic Sounds
"On Thursday, Dec. 19, I was stuck in traffic on my way home about 5:30pm EST, when 'All Things Considered' aired the story about the shortage of donated food at food banks and food pantries. The back-up warning beeper signal from, I assume a fork lift, frightened me very much because I could not see any vehicles approaching my car... I think NPR should make a better effort to transmit news without sending warning signals. It is akin to yelling fire in a theater or crying wolf when there is none."
Robert Addleman
An increasing number of listeners hear NPR in their vehicles to and from work, so traffic sounds do tend to unnerve many. I'm not sure that avoiding traffic actuality completely is a solution, but producers should be aware that not everyone hears their finished product in a living room or a kitchen, or even a radio studio.
You Say 'Cater;' I say 'Qatar'
Neal Jackson is NPR's vice president for legal affairs and general counsel. But as a former newspaperman he felt compelled to note:
"I have heard it pronounced on our air at least three different ways, ranging from something like 'guitar,' to something like the (family) name ...Keator, to 'Cotter.' In fairness to our reporters and editors, the commercial broadcasters are just as bad.
I believe the correct pronunciation is 'Kotter,' as in 'Welcome Back...' This I get from a friend who spent some time there last year trying to set up a joint educational program with the University of North Carolina. He said that even in the Middle East the name is sometime mispronounced, but that in the country itself the 'Kotter' version is viewed as the only correct one."
Whatever the correct one may be, let's make it uniform, as it looks like Qatar is going to be one of (the) bases for attack on Iraq.
Kee Malesky is an NPR reference librarian. Some weeks ago, she put out a note specifically reminding NPR reporters and hosts that the country is pronounced KAH'-ter or even Kah-TAR' but not KUT'-er and certainly never GUT'-er. So Welcome Back KAH'-ter, it is.
And finally, the Middle East was never far from many listeners' complaints, especially when it comes to the word "terrorist:"
'Militant' or 'Terrorist' (Again)?
"Your announcer, was reporting the news when he was actually spinning the news by identifying 'Islamic Jihad' terrorists as militants. Last I checked the United States government has identified this organization as a terrorist organization. Please define (what) NPR's definition of militant and terrorist is. Maybe I will better understand what the objectives of your newscasts are."
Benito Esquenazi
In a recent edition of The New York Review of Books, Newsweek's Moscow correspondent Christian Caryl notes: "I have no reservations about describing the (Moscow) hostage-takers as 'terrorists' (unlike CNN, which came up with the positively Orwellian 'armed dissidents' -- as if Barayev [one of the Chechnian hostage takers] were an Andrei Sakharov who had just happened to pick up a Kalishnikov on the street). If we define terrorism as acts of violence specifically targeting civilians for the purpose of advancing a political agenda, then those who took over the theater were clearly terrorists..." N.Y. Review, Dec. 19, 2002.
NPR referred to the Chechnian hostage-takers as "guerillas" which is better, but also problematic for many listeners who believe that "guerilla" implies a certain heroic quality.
But Caryl's definition is a good one, in my opinion, one that NPR might usefully apply in the interests of both accuracy and consistency. It's clear that reporting on these events will likely not diminish in the coming year.
My thanks to all who wrote -- in anger, in sorrow and in exasperation -- as well as those who wrote to thank NPR for what it does. My best wishes to all for a better -- and a more accurate and consistent 2003.
Listeners may contact me at 202-513-3246 or at ombudsman@npr.org.
Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman
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