NPR - "On Point"

[lilymidnite]

I was appalled to hear part of the show "On Point" on NPR this afternoon. It is produced by WBUR in Boston. I'm going to include the text of a letter I sent to my local NPR station after hearing today's show.

On Point is one of the newer shows you have started to run. On several occasions while listening to this program I have had to check the number on my dial. Was this *really* NPR I was listening to, or did my radio somehow tune into the hate-speech that eminates from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity?

Today was possibly the worst I heard to date. Today's broadcast invited callers in to express their opinions about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A male caller was furious that the "blame" for the cutting the budget for flood control was only pointed at W. "Why not Clinton? We had 8 years of him, and he didn't do anything," frothed the caller. (He didn't cut the budget as W has done to fund the little caper in Iraq.) The commentator (Tom Ashbrook, sp?) basically cheered the caller on. "I hear you!!!" No question to the caller about the previous 2 administrations (King Reagan and Bush Sr.) -- all 12 years of it.

My membership is up this fall. I love K***. I'm *seriously* thinking of not renewing unless On Point is cancelled.

Thanks.

[Mass]

1. I hate Ashbrook - He is a real *ass.

I guess he is part of the effort NPR is making of not being biased (:sarcasm:)

[niallmac]

2. NPR is giving me the creeps lately. People sound like Stepford Wives.

[bribri16]

3. You've got to call in and respond with some facts. If we only get

outraged and never respond it does little good. We all need to be ready for 'rapid response' when we hear this shit on the air.

[lilymidnite]

4. I have emailed the On Point show

I was unable to call when I heard the caller I refered to. Later on it was other NPR stuff.

I'm better in writing, anyway. My letter to On Point included facts about the unravelling of the social safety net that took place under King Reagan.

If I called, I'd have sounded a flustered and idiotic as the freeper had earlier.

E.

[Strelnikov_]

5. Stopped Supporting NPR A Year Ago

The locally produced call in shows for the affiliate in central Iowa, WOI, have the same tenor.

Any pro reich-wing comment, no matter how idiotic, is accepted on face value. But let a caller question the permanent bases in Iraq, or the changing rationale for the war, the hosts are all over them, questioning their credibility.

Last week, the local NPR propagandist, Stephen Schmidt, in response to a caller asking why we don't have an energy plan to transition from oil, he had the gall to respond "well, we all know the Democrats aren't doing anything. And we just had an energy bill passed that, some say, will address the need for more exploration, . . ."

I gave up on them when during the election, they would pillory any caller bringing up points from F9/11, would call Moore a propagandist, and would then let reich-wing callers bloviate on with the swift boat smears, without question. They even let one caller state that Cleland blew his limbs off, and killed a couple of other guys, because he was playing with a grenade. All without question.