Hugh Effing Hewitt on NPR this morning. This is why they don't get my $$ anymore.

[Coventina]

Instead of getting new listeners all they are doing is alienating their previously loyal ones.

[mrs_p]

1. The car is in the shop this week

And I'm busing/training it into work, so haven't listened all week (usually have it on during my drive).

What is he saying? (I can look it up later too.)

I also stopped giving years ago. I almost, almost renewed by subscription this summer when we moved back to the PNW, but they had so many RW hacks on as the conventions drew near, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

[Coventina]

2. He was blathering about the calls for Nunes to recuse himself. Said it was purely political.

He said we all need to "step back" and let the investigation take its course.
(Because he knows the fix is in, I suspect).

[mrs_p]

3. Oh, of course.

I swear to gods I have never rolled my more in my life as I have the last 6-9 months.

[Coventina]

5. My final straw with NPR came when they had Fucker, er, Tucker Carlson on.

If I want to listen to Fox News, I have Fox News for that.......

[mrs_p]

8. Yes, yes

That was it this summer!! During their pledge drive nonetheless. Yeah, like I'm going to give any money to an organization that has that SOB on. Please.

Another

[NewJeffCT]

4. it really destroys their credibility and pisses off their core audience

CNN did it starting in the late 90s - they started trying to win back RWers who had defected to Fox News and became Fox Light. The RWers still never trusted them and stuck with Fox, but they pissed off liberals who soon went over to MSNBC in 2003/2004 when Keith Olbermann took off...

[Coventina]

6. I just fail to see the upside for them. I guess no lessons learned from CNN, huh?

[brooklynite]

7. So your objection is that they put on a speaker who disagrees with you?

[Coventina]

9. My objection is that they put on a right-wing radio entertainer (not news) and treat him like a

policy wonk.

That is NOT news, that is commentary (at best). It is unchecked right-wing propaganda, given a free pass by our publicly-funded NEWS organization. (Morning Edition being a NEWS program, not Car Talk).

[Egnever]

35. Blame MSNBC for that

They gave him legitimacy during the election.

[Coventina]

37. I understand your point, but NPR should hold itself to standards and not just blindly follow what

another "news" organization might choose to do.

[tammywammy]

10. That's how I read it as well.

[Coventina]

15. Please see my post #9. n/t

[Dem2]

12. I try to imagine if they put on equally left types at times

Since they do, this is another thread that I find embarrassing.

Always so quick to toss the baby with the bathwater.

Wasn't long ago that Rachel was personna non grata.

Political discourse - sometimes you hear things or have to listen to people you despise.

[Coventina]

13. Feel free to trash the thread if you find it so embarrassing.

Or, you can provide me a list of "lefties" that have appeared on Morning Edition.

My husband has it on every morning at our house, and I can't recall ANY.

TIA

[mythology]

17. Bill Richardson was on today to talk about Trump's wall

They also had on climate scientists discussing Trump's EPA plans.

I'm assuming neither of the above were repeating the Trump positions.

[Coventina]

19. Bill Richardson is a former governor and presidential candidate.

The scientists were speaking about their areas of expertise.

In both of these cases, they have a legitimate reason for being on a news program.

Hugh Hewitt is nothing but a right-wing media figure, unless he is being interviewed about the right-wing media, he has no business being on a news show.

[Saboburns]

25. Boy that was well put

Short. Concise. Succinct.

You explained your argument very well in 3 sentences. So well, in fact, that even a dolt like me understands.

Well done, I say.


Oh, by the way, you won me over. Now I understand your complaint that a simple media darling has no business on a hard news show.

Thanks for that.

[Coventina]

28. Wow! Thanks!

[LanternWaste]

32. Must be odd to limit oneself to one and only one possibility when so many exist.

Could be the objection is that they put on a speaker who adds less than nothing to any valid discourse.

Must be odd to limit oneself to one and only one possibility when so many others exist. Though it takes times and self-discipline, it can be overcome.

[KittyWampus]

11. NPR's goal is to make Republican Authoritarianism palatable to soccer moms.

[58Sunliner]

14. I hear crap like this all the time that goes unchallenged.

The only reason I like it now is for the programs and the music. I don't mind if they have different view points, but they allow disinformation to pass. I don't give them money either. But we should all let them know why they will not get our money.

[raccoon]

30. Very good point.

But we should all let them know why they will not get our money.

[Orrex]

16. Fuck them. They don't deserve your money, and they don't need it.

They get enough from Walmart, McDonalds and the Koch Brothers that they won't give a shit if you do or don't send them another $10 each month.

NPR operates from a baseline assumption that they can ignore everyone who doesn't net at least $75K annually. Sure, they'll report on people with lower incomes, but these are essentially treated as anthropological curiosities.

I've posted many times here to lament NPR's softball treatment of the GOP and its interests, but their general hands-off attitude toward Trump is intolerable.

In addition, a week or so ago I caught about 15 minutes of 1A, a program purporting to cover First Amendment issues and the like.

For the entire segment, the host repeatedly urged his guests to agree that the primary reason people buy cars is for fun, and that electric cars won't catch on until they're fun, too. Cost is something of a factor, he admits, but the main thing is fun.

Well he can go fuck himself, too. I own a car for such "fun" reasons as keeping my family from starving and taking them to the doctor. I have never known anyone who has owned a car "primarily" for fun, though I know that such people exist. NPR has apparently decided (and repeatedly demonstrated) that people of low income aren't important enough to care about in any real capacity.

1A is only one recent example, but examples abound. Every time they offer a money-saving tip, for instance, they start by suggesting that you take only three vacations this year, or that your housekeeper could visit only twice per week, or maybe you could sell some of your spare art, or perhaps move your portfolio into vehicles with lower administrative costs. Hell, you could even donate one of your several extra cars to NPR for the tax write-off!

So when NPR shows up, hat in hand, to beg for new pledges, I laugh at them and hope that someday one of the commentators will accidental realize that their audience isn't made up solely of listeners struggling to get by on $75K.

[Bucky]

18. It's disgusting the way they broadcast people with opinions different than mine!

I am literally barfing my eyes out after listening to someone who I disagree with! Is this even America any more?

[Coventina]

20. I am complaining about a right-wing radio personality being treated as a reliable source for "news."

If I'm looking to hear the right-wing's opinion on something, I'll listen to his show. I don't accept him as a source on a "legitimate" news program.

There's a big difference.

on edit: grammar

[Bucky]

21. I heard the spot. It was not news, it was opinion and Analysis

They do the same thing with EJ Dionne. I'm sure there are right-wingers who hate his liberal views. But the interviewer, I think it was Cokie Roberts, was presenting him with facts and he was coming back with his opinions. And she challenged him. And she identified him as a conservative radio host going into it. I don't think I as a listener need to be sheltered from ideas and views I disagree with.

[Coventina]

22. Well, clearly there is a Yuuuuge philosophical difference between the two of us.

To compare E. J. Dionne (who is hardly anywhere near being "left" the way Hewitt is "right&quot to Hewitt is like comparing fine dining to prison slop.

And, Hewitt was simply asked ONE follow up question, which was hardly a challenge, that simply asked him what was wrong with the Democrats' argument. She simply left the entire segment up to Hewitt to spread this ridiculous notion that this is all just politics and "nothing to see here."

If you think it's fine for NPR to give these whack-jobs (they are NOT journalists and thinkers with any true weight and reason behind their arguments) a platform and treated as if they are presenting REAL arguments for Conservative points of view (are there any actual honest Conservatives left? I seriously wonder) then go right ahead and send them all the money you want.

I will reserve my giving for truly worthy organizations.

[uponit7771]

23. +1, like folk can't see the overt false equivalency ... Hewitt is a reality-less hack

[Coventina]

24. Thank you!!!

[Bucky]

36. Give to Pacifica

That should be mandatory listening. That's who gets my news dollars

http://www.pacifica.org/

[jrthin]

26. IF NPR needed a glass of water

to stay alive, I'd deny them that water. They are awful!

[randr]

29. Trump may soon grant your wish

There is a very real reason he hates NPR

[jrthin]

31. He hates NPR because

he is stupid and he believes wrongly that NPR is liberal. I hate NPR because they offer the same crap of junk journalism but their delivery is in dulcet tone. And when they aren't delivering their journalism in hushed, quiet tone, they offer up guests with valley girl/boy accent.

[Pablorama]

27. NPR isn't chicken salad

This message was not brought to you by Citibank, Prudential, the Vanguard Group, or General Motors.

[Gabi Hayes]

33. what about jonah gold fricking berg??????????

cokie roberts was bad enough, but they have lots of wingnuts on, and the percentage must be pretty high, cause whenever I turn on so called news segments, which is not often anymore, there always seems to be a RW cretin on, spewing garbage, usually unopposed

not worth the listen anymore

[Warren DeMontague]

34. he still whining & bedwetting that Jeff Sessions won't start RICO prosecutions against pot stores?

POT STORES!!! POT STORES!!!!! MAKE THEM STOP!!!