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'There -- I Said It Again' and Other On-Air Mistakes
March 10, 2004
By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin
Ombudsman
National Public Radio
The firing of a public radio host for uttering an unmentionable has been the subject of discussion around various public radio water coolers. Sandra Tsing Loh was dismissed by public radio station KCRW for a four-letter word used in the course of a comedic monologue. It was not live, but pre-recorded and the offending word remained.
While coarse language is pretty much a constant stream for commercial talk radio, such epithets are only occasionally sprinkled on public radio.
I have no comment on the station's response, or whether Loh or any others should have been suspended, reprimanded or promoted. That is a decision for KCRW management.
Her defenders have said that the word she used (unrepeatable in a family column, but it describes intimate sexual relations between consenting adults) is often heard at all levels of society. Furthermore, it was argued, on-air hosts utter those things all the time when they are recording their "takes" ("Oh ****. Let me say that again...). Others said it should have been bleeped or cut out by the program producer before being broadcast... saying in effect, Loh was not alone in committing the offense.
All of the above may be true. But listeners in their homes and cars sometimes hear things they aren't expecting. Some may be shocked while others are not.
The rules about on-air obscenity are clear in the FCC regulations and guidelines:
http://www.fcc.gov/parents/content.html
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/obscind.html
As I learned from one of my first editors: "If you want to swear," he said, "save it for the newsroom. Assume that every microphone is on." That editor (alas, no longer with us) was nicknamed "Sterno" due to an unfortunate substance abuse problem he had when younger. He was capable of a truly inspired stream of invective. But whenever he came within range of a microphone, he shut up.
Too late for Loh, perhaps, but a cautionary tale for the rest of us.
Begging NPR to Use the Phrase Correctly
Jay Tackett says some NPR word abusage is hardening his arteries:
It happens almost weekly that a local news yahoo uses the expression "begs the question" in the sense of "begs one to ask the question." For example: "Alan Iverson's performance on the court this season begs the question: Should he be traded?"
This is incorrect usage. "Begging the question" means that the question asked was not answered; the question needed an answer but was sent begging. It means that someone has talked around the question, dodged.
It sounds all erudite to say "beg the question" like you're all William F. Buckley or whatever, but if you know what it means -- and the meaning is kind of cool -- to hear someone misuse it is like chewing aluminum foil. Even [if] the first dozen pages of that over-refined novel Remains of the Day does it.
And the NPR announcers are doing it, too. Carl Kassel, Neal Conan, Scott Simon, Terry Gross, Tavis Smiley -- they are all doing it! "Beg the question" gets misused more often than right-used by an order of magnitude, maybe two orders (I have not heard it used correctly on TV or radio for 10 years). But "beg the question" is being misused... when the misuse means ignorance. It's become an acid test of ignorance.
Please make it stop. Aluminum is building in my tissues and I may be permanently damaged.
Scott Simon, on Weekend Edition Saturday, recently read a similar letter from a listener and agreed to swear off using the term. Any others at NPR ready to take the pledge?
Advance (or Retreat) Access?
David Arnold says he enjoyed Nina Totenberg's series on the Justice Blackmun papers. Each report, he noted, was introduced with the phrase that Nina is:
...the only broadcast journalist granted advance access to 1,576 boxes of his files and 38 hours of oral history tapes. See videos of Blackmun's reflections on the landmark 1973 abortion-rights ruling he wrote."
Shouldn't that be "grantED advancED access?
Diva? Guru? Maven? You Decide...
John Bernier asks:
So why is it that NPR anchors and correspondents, inappropriately at times, (use) some of the most common adjectives that are over simplified to describe people they are reporting on. Two of the leading and overused adjectives are Diva and Guru. Looking at the definition of the two words you will understand my meaning.
Guru: 1. Hinduism & Tibetan Buddhism. A personal spiritual teacher. 2a. A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters. b. A trusted counselor and adviser; a mentor.
Diva: 1. An operatic prima donna. 2. A very successful singer of non-operatic music: a jazz diva.
But I must give credit to Linda Wertheimer of NPR, who avoided these overused monikers for the more appropriate word MAVEN.
Maven: A person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert.
In her most recent column, Linda actually challenged our vocabulary with this well-crafted sentence:
"It's common wisdom right now that as voters have listened to these Democratic candidates, they've heard a lot of criticism of the president -- causing the president's approval ratings to drop a little bit. He is now below 50 percent in approval for the first time in his presidency, crossing a line closely monitored by the mavens of politics."
WOW. She didn't use the word DIVA or GURU. It is obvious that Linda uses her thesaurus and found the right word for any audience, not just NPR's sophisticated listeners.
"Got Elvis?" Part II
In the previous column, listener Nancy Johnson pointed out that NPR incorrectly attributed the phrase "does (Kerry) have enough Elvis?" (aka, electibility or popularity) to CBS' Dan Rather. Instead, wrote Johnson, it was coined by Molly Ivins.
"Wrong," said a couple of readers.
Jim Murphy is the executive producer of CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. He writes:
From far away in Baghdad, a quick note to correct a Ms. Johnson's note about Dan Rather's use of the phrase "enough Elvis" during last weekend's debate. I've heard Dan use the phrase many times over the years. It is apparently a rather well-worn Texas-ism, so please don't accuse him of lifting it from Molly Ivins without checking your Texas Bartlett's first.
But fellow Ombudsman Mike Lee of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram adds some specifics:
Actually, I think that comes from a late '80s-early-'90s song by Mojo Nixon, called "Elvis is Everywhere." Mojo says "there's a little bit of Elvis in all of us, except for one person. Michael J. Fox is the un-Elvis..." That line used to draw howls from the crowd at the Continental Club (in Austin).
Chris Osmond also wrote to confirm Nixon's authorship and helpfully included these lyrics penned by Nixon:
http://www.geocities.com/multielvi/mojo.html
Listeners can contact me at 202-513-3245 or by e-mail at
ombudsman@npr.org.
Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman
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