After a week-long absence, National Public Radio's ombudsman has responded to her critics on her blog.

Your Voices Have Been Heard ... and Ignored

I won't repeat Alicia Shepard's pathetic excuses here, because I care about your digestion. It really is sad. The worst part is, she teaches a graduate-level course in Media Ethics at Georgetown University. I hope any potential students do their research before enrolling in her class, as she is obviously not qualified to teach it.

She has also refused an interview with Glen Greenwald at Salon. Can't take the heat, I guess.

Addendum:
Shepard did consent to a short interview with NPR's own program, "On the Media", and, wow. She appears to try to defend her position, but does a very poor job of it.

Torturous Wording

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

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