Wednesday, July 14, 2004
The Morning Edition Blues
When NPR announced that Bob Edwards would be leaving Morning Edition, I was worried about what would happen to the quality of the show. But I'm sorry to say that my worst fears have been exceeded by the sloppy journalism that I've been hearing in the morning.
Recently Steve Inskeep interviewed a reporter from an Arab television station. I've been trying to find the segment in archives to listen to it again, but I can't seem to locate it. (Maybe it's been deleted?) Mr. Inskeep's negative feelings about the person he was interviewing were so evident that, in my view, the interview was completely compromised. Whatever Mr. Inskeep's personal feelings are about the Arab media, I thought that he came across as embarassingly unprofessional by making them so apparent in an interview.
A couple of weeks ago, during a story about either Iraq or Afghanistan (I can't now recall which), NPR included a sound bite of a local man saying, "Yes." I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. THAT WAS THE CLIP. Some journalism professor should use this example in a class on how NOT to use quotations in a story. Who knows whether what the speaker said is actually what NPR's reporter said that he said?
Last week Steve Inskeep introduced a story about Deborah Amos' month in Iraq. He said that when she arrived, Iraq was "formerly an occupied country" but that powers were handed over to the transitional government while she was there. No, when she arrived Iraq WAS an occupied country; only after the handover of powers did it became FORMERLY an occupied country.
On Monday's segment about funding for higher education, NPR's reporter mentioned that President Bush had promised additional funds for college tuition, and then there was a set up for a quote from President Bush. The clip that was included was of a woman introducing the President, and then all the President said was, "Thank you, thank you." THAT IS NOT A QUOTE THAT ADDS ANY CONTENT TO A STORY! What on earth was NPR's purpose in including it?
In a story yesterday morning about anti-AIDS drugs being manufactured by an Indian company called Ciplo, after a 30-second recording of the introductory film that is shown to visitors to the company (also which added NOTHING to the story), the next sound bite was of the person being interviewed giving his title. Come on, now, HIS TITLE? Can't someone there write a sentence that covers basic information like this so that the quotes can cover substantive issues?
For heaven's sake, where are Morning Edition's editors? Who's training and coaching the folks who put this stuff together day after day? If NPR keeps producing this kind of schlock, I'm going to have to turn off the radio because I'm getting so agitated while I listen that I'm afraid I'm going to wreck my car.
Recently Steve Inskeep interviewed a reporter from an Arab television station. I've been trying to find the segment in archives to listen to it again, but I can't seem to locate it. (Maybe it's been deleted?) Mr. Inskeep's negative feelings about the person he was interviewing were so evident that, in my view, the interview was completely compromised. Whatever Mr. Inskeep's personal feelings are about the Arab media, I thought that he came across as embarassingly unprofessional by making them so apparent in an interview.
A couple of weeks ago, during a story about either Iraq or Afghanistan (I can't now recall which), NPR included a sound bite of a local man saying, "Yes." I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. THAT WAS THE CLIP. Some journalism professor should use this example in a class on how NOT to use quotations in a story. Who knows whether what the speaker said is actually what NPR's reporter said that he said?
Last week Steve Inskeep introduced a story about Deborah Amos' month in Iraq. He said that when she arrived, Iraq was "formerly an occupied country" but that powers were handed over to the transitional government while she was there. No, when she arrived Iraq WAS an occupied country; only after the handover of powers did it became FORMERLY an occupied country.
On Monday's segment about funding for higher education, NPR's reporter mentioned that President Bush had promised additional funds for college tuition, and then there was a set up for a quote from President Bush. The clip that was included was of a woman introducing the President, and then all the President said was, "Thank you, thank you." THAT IS NOT A QUOTE THAT ADDS ANY CONTENT TO A STORY! What on earth was NPR's purpose in including it?
In a story yesterday morning about anti-AIDS drugs being manufactured by an Indian company called Ciplo, after a 30-second recording of the introductory film that is shown to visitors to the company (also which added NOTHING to the story), the next sound bite was of the person being interviewed giving his title. Come on, now, HIS TITLE? Can't someone there write a sentence that covers basic information like this so that the quotes can cover substantive issues?
For heaven's sake, where are Morning Edition's editors? Who's training and coaching the folks who put this stuff together day after day? If NPR keeps producing this kind of schlock, I'm going to have to turn off the radio because I'm getting so agitated while I listen that I'm afraid I'm going to wreck my car.
1 Comments:
Here's my suggestion: take this post, perhaps changing a word or two, and email it to the folks at Morning Edition. Really. I don't think any amount of complaining will bring Bob Edwards back, but it might get rid of Steve Inskeep. I wouldn't be surprised if the show lost editorial staff in lateral transfers when Edwards left. It's a sad, sad thing.
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