NPR assigns Williams and Liasson to cover Election '04, and...

[AP]

...over at MWO there's an interesting exchange between NPR Ombudsman Dworkin and a professor from C.S.U. about it.

Anyone read this? Dworkin accuses the guy of taking instructions from a web site becuase he complained about it.

Here's the original story: http://www.mwo1.com/ar010604.htm
(scroll all the way to the bottom).

There's a followup on today's page. http://www.mediawhoresonline.com/

I should add that every month or so I check the omnibus's page, and I find it insipid. They never ever address any criticism of NPR which suggests that NPR spins for the right wing, when I think there are frequent examples of them doing exactly that (with Williams, Liasson, Roberts, Westerveldt, and ALL the Weekend Edition reporters being the most frequent perpetrators).

[Kolesar]

1. They "clown and preen" and "shuck and jive"

Professor Little did not start that letter exchange off very well. She should have cited specific examples of failures by Liasson and Williams. The ombudsman was given nothing except Professor Little's characterizations of Liasson and Williams. She also should have developed further the concept of why having both of the reporters being Fox network reporters is bad--she could cite how badly Fox reported the war, or how obvious is Fox network's right-wing bias.

To her credit, at least Little did something.

==o==

Here is the beginning of Little's first letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am appalled to learn that Juan Williams and Mara Liasson will be covering the Democratic presidential campaign next year. Both of these so-called "journalists" have long since sold out to the "fair and balanced" agenda of their corporate masters at FOX "News." They clown and preen with the best of the bought-and-paid-for Washington pundits for hire, and have clearly sold out to the highest bidder.

While I know that government funding of NPR funding has been slashed dramatically, and you're ever more dependent on corporate sponsors, I have until now looked to NPR as the last bastion of the independent media in this country (outside of the BBC World Service). I have enthusiastically supported my local NPR stations with my own money. But assigning Williams and Liasson, who shuck and jive for the FOX "News" channel, is a depressing development.

[AP]

3. I agree. Little sounds like an arrogrant ass...

...who, if I had to invent a narrative, thinks he deserves to be at Harvard rather than at Colorado State, and compensates for it by writing nasty letters to people using big words.

Little sounds like a jerk.

But Dworkin also sounds like a jerk.

And the exchange is fascinating.

If you'd like to articulate a less pompous argument about why Liasson and Williams are terrible choices for covering the election, feel free to contact the omnibus yourself.

[Kolesar]

2. This thoughtful thread is going to disappear in the 2004 fight-fest-forum

Maybe we can pick the whole thing up and move it to the Media forum.