Media Meltdown: NPR bests Charlie Sheen

[DavidRoss]

Actor Charlie Sheen's very public mental meltdown has been so shamelessly exploited by the media that even cave-dwellers in Afghanistan are sick of hearing about it.  Far more intriguing, and far more significant for the U.S., is National Public Radio's equally self-destructive public meltdown.  This ongoing story has everything: political intrigue, an undercover sting, top-level corporate hypocrisy, executive misdeeds, the arrogance of power, millions of dollars at stake, public controversy, and sanctimonious bigots brought low by their own hubris.

For those who haven't been following the story over the past few months, a pithy summary appears online at the Baltimore Sun, appropriately in their entertainment section! http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2011/03/vivian_schiller_out_as_as_ceo.html

[Mirror Image]

Who gives a damn what happens at NPR or Charlie Sheen for that matter? My suggestion would be to turn the television off and start reading a book or listen to some music. I seldom watch the news for the simple fact that there's nothing remotely worthy nowadays to be reported. All you hear is negative after negative commentary with no real purpose other than to excite low-brow people with no understanding of how to actually deal with people other than to sit in front of a television and bark at it like it has took their Taco Bell coupon away. This said, NPR is nothing more than another CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC.

[PaulSC]

MI, How do you equip yourself to make informed decisions when you vote?

[Todd]

I seldom watch the news for the simple fact that there's nothing remotely worthy nowadays to be reported.

Then you must be ignorant of events in the Middle East and Northern Africa.  And Wisconsin.  And New York.  And Washington, DC.  Etc, etc.

[Mirror Image]

MI, How do you equip yourself to make informed decisions when you vote?

I don't vote. Next question.

[Mirror Image]

Then you must be ignorant of events in the Middle East and Northern Africa.  And Wisconsin.  And New York.  And Washington, DC.  Etc, etc.

To assume ignorance is ignorant within itself.

[springrite]

I have not watched the news or watched TV other than for sports for ages.

Of course, I CAN'T vote.

There you go.

[Todd]

To assume ignorance is ignorant within itself.

I assume nothing; I merely read what you wrote. 

[Mirror Image]

I have not watched the news or watched TV other than for sports for ages.

Of course, I CAN'T vote.

There you go.

Americans just seem to be so consumed by television that they think they need it. I only watch the television for a few shows. That's about it.

[Scarpia]

I have the car radio tuned to NPR and end up listening to shows that are typically on when I am driving, such as the Diane Rehm show, The Splendid Table, All things considered, This American Life, Car Talk.  On the Diane Rehm show they have authors discussing books they have recently published, people discussing public affairs, etc, and conservatives and liberals debating vigorously is the norm.  I don't know of any commercial radio programming that is as interesting and respecting the intelligence of the listener.  (My main exposure to commercial radio is at the gym, where they play it in the excercise room and locker room.)
 

[Scarpia]

Americans just seem to be so consumed by television that they think they need it. I only watch the television for a few shows. That's about it.

NPR is radio.

[The new erato]

There's a whiff of "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" about parts of this discussion.

[Mirror Image]

I assume nothing; I merely read what you wrote.

You didn't write "I must be ignorant"? If I'm not mistaken, this is making an implication that I'm ignorant because I don't watch the news and I somehow don't have a clue as to what's going on in the world like I'm living in a cave.

[DavidRoss]

I don't vote. Next question.

How admirable of you!  I wish everyone with your keen intellect and deep understanding of the issues would do likewise!

[Mirror Image]

NPR is radio.

I know, but they are still a media outlet that covers a wide range of stories. Radio, newspapers, and television are media outlets are they not?

[Scarpia]

There's a whiff of "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" about parts of this discussion.

That means "I am lost to the world" right?  I got that from Google Translate, which I have on good authority is "useless."   

[Todd]

You didn't write "I must be ignorant"?

No, no, silly young boy.  I was responding to what you wrote.  Let me repost it yet again: "I seldom watch the news for the simple fact that there's nothing remotely worthy nowadays to be reported."  Your statement displays ignorance.  There are in fact things that are worthy of being reported.  Only an ignorant person would claim otherwise.

[The new erato]

That means "I am lost to the world" right?  I got that from Google Translate, which I have on good authority is "useless."   

Yep. In reference to not voting or watching the news. Otherwise, MI makes some excellent points.

[Mirror Image]

How admirable of you!  I wish everyone with your keen intellect and deep understanding of the issues would do likewise!

I love the sarcasm here. Courtesy of our resident know-it-all, ultra-hip vagabond.

[DavidRoss]

Americans just seem to be so consumed by television that they think they need it. I only watch the television for a few shows. That's about it.

Unlike we idiots who just watch things like the PBS Newshour, Meet the Press, C-Span so that we can get political information direct from the culprits' mouths instead of the edited and slanted commentary available from most sources--especially the water cooler at work or our hand-picked circle of friends who share exactly the same narrow, ignorant prejudices we all feel so comfortable wrapping ourselves in and sneering at others who don't share them!