Many years ago, I used to listen to NPR news a lot. I found they offered in-depth coverage that was less insulting to my intelligence than the mainstream commercial media.

Over the last ten years, and especially after the Iraq invasion, things have changed there, and not for the better.

This column by Alicia Shepard, the NPR Ombudsman, is a great example of how far NPR News has fallen. The ombudsman is supposed to represent listener interests, but this column, about why NPR News does not use the word "torture" to describe torture techniques authorized by the Bush administration, reads like a public relations piece. It could have been written by Karl Rove, and for all I know it was written by Karl Rove. It exemplifies everything that is wrong with mainstream American news coverage today.

Read it, but only if you have a strong stomach. And then read Glenn Greenwald's excellent criticism of it on Salon.

According to her bio, Shepard has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland. I think she should ask for her money back.

Labels: journalism, language, media, newspeak, npr, npr sucks, propaganda, stenographers