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Media Matters
December 31, 2003
Get Serious, NPR
By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin
Ombudsman
National Public Radio
With 2003 almost a memory, a number of listeners have written to encourage NPR. They want NPR to resolve to be less concerned with "soft news" and to address the serious issues more seriously and more often.
"Such a Poor Job"
Perrin Lam of San Francisco is a regular correspondent to this office. He insists that the problems facing the country are being only occasionally addressed on NPR:
A democracy cannot exist without the informed consent of the governed. Instead of endlessly repeating aircraft carrier speeches that are the stuff of the ultra-right's PR dreams and are unnecessary because of their total saturation on all other media, why not report what ISN'T BEING COVERED THAT IS REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUR AUDIENCE'S DESIRES!!!
Shame on NPR for doing such a poor job.
Mr. Lam notes that NPR has neglected to report in any detail Defense Department advisor Richard Perle and his alleged business connections with Boeing, the role of Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, in the Venezuelan crisis and the business connections between former Secretary of State James Baker and the Saudi government.
"Talk With Us"
Davie Lubin of Sitka, Alaska wants NPR to keep covering environmental issues around his home state. But he resents when an outsider is asked to comment:
Tonight (Dec. 24) I listened to All Things Considered on my local station, KCAW -- Raven Radio. Your story about the Bush administration's exemption of the Roadless Act troubles me. But what is equally disappointing is the fact that your interviewed "expert" was a newspaper reporter from Seattle. So often it seems that your news is Beltway-centric. With this story, you couldn't have come to or called someone in SE Alaska??? We live here, we are passionate about our home, and guess what... there are many knowledgeable newspaper and radio reporters right here. Do this monumental topic justice, come to Sitka and other SE communities. Learn the real facts. Talk with us, not some newspaper reporter 900 miles away.
"More Insight and Humanity"
Susan Stamberg's series called "No Place Like Home" has received a lot of praise for her sensitive approach on the role of the home in our lives. But one story on a couple who rented their home only to find their tenants had committed a murder-suicide provoked a number of angry e-mails such as this one from Lawrence S. Spencer:
In listening to Susan Stamberg's story concerning Howard Norman and Jane Shore (a friend living in their home committed suicide) I was struck by the utter lack of empathy displayed for the human tragedy that had occurred. Listening to the self-absorbed Mr. Norman and Ms. Shore, you would have thought that an animal had soiled their carpets rather than a human being taking her life. Nor did Ms. Stamberg ever direct the interview back to the gravity of what had occurred. I expect more insight and humanity from NPR.
In listening to the story again and re-reading the text, I think that Susan was dealing with the murder-suicide that occurred in that house -- but through another angle. While she did not deal directly with those deaths, I think that her story gave those tragedies great dignity by seeing how the owners of the house dealt with it. But many listeners expected more compassion for the woman who killed her son then herself.
"Betrayal of NPR's Non-Commercial Roots"
Stephen Goldstein of Silver Spring, Md., objects to the creeping commercialism he hears whenever NPR does a story on some new product:
Maybe it's just my training in journalism, in a career that started in 1969, but I didn't like writing, reading or hearing news stories that essentially were free ads. With the help of an editor, I was able to turn business profiles into news stories rather than free ads, partly by asking about revenues for the
latest fiscal year.
The story, "Ugg Boots: A Fashion Trend Afoot," is only the latest example of NPR's betrayal of its "noncommercial" existence. These stories on NPR and local stations about specific brand products -- and the blatant promotion of music performers and their "latest CD, now available" really grate on my sense that commercials are paid space or paid air time. Even All Songs Considered is a commercial venture!
Considering (what) NPR charges member stations, I think the audience that pledges its membership to a station would be better served by staying faithful to the noncommercial mission of NPR and its member stations.
Mr. Goldstein is not alone on this. A number of people have written to say that when NPR does stories from the cultural world, they occasionally sound promotional.
Film reviews on NPR, in my opinion sound more balanced -- critical and approving at the same time, while music reviews sound somewhat gushing. With only a limited amount of time to talk about these things, producers may naturally prefer to pick something that would be of interest to a large number of listeners... as opposed to spending three minutes trashing a CD, a movie or even the Ugg boots.
"Stories Not Covered"
James Stevens, who listens to Minnesota Public Radio, wonders if NPR is being serious enough during these fraught times:
It is public radio's role to inform and to do so using language that is non-provocative. Actually I think public radio does that job pretty well. What I struggle with is the narrow scope of public radio. How many hours a day is public radio informing versus entertaining? For example on Saturdays we have Cartalk, Sound Money, Splendid Table, Savvy Traveler, Speaking of Faith, Prairie Home Companion and others I am forgetting. These are entertainment shows. Actually I like many of these shows, but in most cases they are not providing me with the info I need to be a functioning citizen in a representative democracy.
And there are many stories not covered. When I was subscribing to The New York Times I was surprised to read international and national stories that I didn't hear of anywhere else. I would expect commercial media to skip these but not Public Radio.
Also during the war with Iraq, the view of the war from public radio is generally seen through only certain lenses in my opinion. Lots of stories about casualties and human-interest stories, but not so much about the lies of the "weapons of mass destruction."
Also there was quite a big story about two weeks ago concerning the Pentagon uncovering overcharging by Halliburton in their Iraq contracts. However, as soon as the "capture Saddam" story hit, the Halliburton story disappeared. That kind of story should never have evaporated. It is still an important story, more relevant in some ways than the capturing of Saddam.
Some of the programs mentioned by Mr. Stevens are not produced by NPR but are part of public radio fare on many public radio stations. These are enormously popular programs. They work well for many stations and for their listeners. There is a reason why the weekend sounds so different from the rest of the program schedule. Listeners told the public radio system some years ago that they wanted to stay connected to the news on the weekend, but not in a weekday fashion.
In short, they told public radio that they wanted a break on the weekend.
But Mr. Stevens' question is still the one to ask: How do we know when public radio has gone too far in favor of entertainment and "soft news?"
"Anthropology You Can Dance To"
Some (inside the public radio system as well as outside) have suggested that public radio's earnest sense of programming would never really allow it to fall off the edge into pure entertainment. A recent show on pop music (now no longer on the air) was described as "anthropology you can dance to" as an inducement to the stations to air it.
Stations want programs that connect with public radio listeners, but that are more reflective of how people live their lives with art, music and wit.
In these serious times, I agree that NPR needs to make sure that it is reporting the important political stories of the day. NPR is often accused by listeners, like Mr. Lam, of being pro-Bush simply because it does not use the radio as a bully pulpit from which to hammer the administration.
But Mr. Lam has a point especially when NPR never reported the recent quote from former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean. Kean is heading an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. His report is due out in May 2004. In an interview with CBS, Kean said that the attacks could and should have been prevented, and that the officials responsible for the failure should be fired.
Not a word on NPR.
NPR must make sure that the events around Sept. 11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being properly looked at, investigated and our leaders held to account. That's what good journalism does.
And NPR needs to do this in a way that is non-partisan, civic and civil.
These letters are important and timely reminders of our obligations to our listeners, and not a bad New Year's resolution for NPR as well.
Listeners can contact me at 202-513-3245 or by e-mail at ombudsman@npr.org.
Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman
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