I love you, NPR, but you're getting me down

As an NPR fan, this is just acutely disappointing to me. Ombudsman Alicia Shepard explains why NPR do not use the word 'torture' to describe waterboarding:

But no matter how many distinguished groups -- the International Red Cross, the U.N. High Commissioners -- say waterboarding is torture, there are responsible people who say it is not. Former President Bush, former Vice President Cheney, their staff and their supporters obviously believed that waterboarding terrorism suspects was necessary to protect the nation's security.

It's nice that some good criticism of NPR is coming from another NPR show, the excellent and entertaining "On The Media":

BOB GARFIELD: NPR certainly has no difficulty calling murder “murder.” It doesn't call it “enhanced argumentation technique.” The terrorists call themselves “freedom fighters” but NPR calls acts of terror “acts of terror.”

ALICIA SHEPARD: Right.

BOB GARFIELD: In other respects, NPR hasn't taken a position against, you know, nouns. Why this one, in particular?

ALICIA SHEPARD: I think because it is a hotly debated topic...

In fact, Shepard has gone on three NPR-affiliated shows to explain herself -- OTM, Talk of the Nation, and Patt Morrison's show on KPCC. Even though I think she was not treated with kid glove on those shows, it does raise the question: why has she not yet gotten around to facing her most scathing critic, Glenn Greenwald?

Scientology group takes local media for ride

Many don't expect much of the media here in Taiwan. Certainly not the locals. Still, I was pained to read this story and other like it in the local press. The link I'm giving is to an article in Chinese while my partial translation is below:

Campus screening for depression results in parental protest petition
The Republic of China Citizen's Commission for Human Rights (RoC CCHR) started a petition along with hundreds of parents Sunday. The commission charges that the John Tung Foundation has been using charitable works as a pretext for screening students for depression and helping drug companies promote their anti-depressants. The RoC CCHR questions whether the foundation is guilty of working to benefit drug companies and violating the benefits students by enticing the Ministry of Education to screen students for depression. The group has appealed to the president, Ma Ying-jeou not to let the students get labeled as depressived.

The article goes on in this vein. The John Tung Foundation, by the way, is a painfully earnest public health group that works on things like the impact of smoking on health and, yes, depression awareness.

There are other articles like this in other media outlets. Nowhere is it mentioned that the "Citizen's Commission for Human Rights" is a front for the Church of Scientology and that the group espouse the batty view straight from L. Ron Hubbard that all psychiatrists are criminals.

This group is wacky enough elsewhere. But in Taiwan, where many individuals with mental issues still suffer painful discrimination and issues like depression have only recently made it to the mainstream, the group could be undoing years of hard and important work.

I hope she's right

Libby Spencer, writing at AOTP. I hope she's right:

As the estrangement grew, it took on a tone of subtle mockery but in the last week or so, we’ve seen an open hostility take root. The title of this post is a quote from Lily Tomlin that I found at the Politico this morning. Ben Smith, formerly a dependable purveyor of the campaign’s talking points, links to Roger Simon who delivered some prime snark in a piece today ‘apologizing’ for practicing journalism. He asks for forgiveness saying, “It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.”

And Roger is not the only one. In the last week, we’ve witnessed Campbell Brown’s evisceration of Tucker Bounds that scared McCain out of an interview with Larry King. Joe Klein begged his colleagues to “stand strong in this case” and expose the false talking points on Palin. Even the AP, a new GOP stalwart under Ron Fournier, sent out two pieces this week, debunking the McCain campaign spin. And yesterday’s moment of unguarded candor between Mike Murphy, Peggy Noonan and Chuck Todd speaks for itself. The elite media are ready to get off the bus.

The Republicans made their intentions clear last night. They intend to resurrect the same old wedge politics and reignite the culture war. They have no platform to stand on and will try to frame the race around personality instead of issues. Up until now that has been a successful strategy only because the media was on board. But without the media’s amplification, their empty rhetoric won’t reach beyond the far right echo chamber to snare the voting blocks they need in order to have a prayer of winning.

One can only hope that the current breakup continues and ends in divorce rather than reconcilliation. The future of our country depends on it.

We're dealing with a completely ruthless and shameless foe. I've seen the speech, you know what, Palin looks great when she lies. It's absolutely critical that the media step up to the plate, and you know, actually do their jobs and expose her lies. The left blogisphere can do it's part to help focusing their attacks like a laser beam on certified falsehoods and scandals.

It's funny. I read both left-wing and right-wing blogs and the utter depth of of the belief on both sides that the MSM is completely in the pocket of the other sides is astonishing. Especially on the right-wing side. Of course, both things can't be true. The easy thing to do is to say that we're right and they're wrong and deluded. But that would be the easy and lazy thing to do. I think the truth is no matter how completely even-handed the press is, the left and the right will still hold those views.

Reporters respond to incentives just like everybody else. I believe that sometimes coverage is biased in the Republicans' favor because they are better at working the refs. However, when a reporter such as Campbell Brown ask tough questions and looks good doing it, I'm sure that will encourage other reporters to do the same. I'm hopeful.

Excuse me while I go and give some money to Obama.

NPR puckers up for John McCain

I don't usually get angry while listening to NPR, unless it's Monday morning and they have the vapid Cokie Roberts giving her "analysis" of the campaigns.

But today's story on John McCain by Scott Horsely was as sycophantic as anything I've seen on Fox. It even featured the mother of a dead soldier, who gave McCain a bracelet to wear in her son's honor.

Expect to see more of this from the media in the coming months, as they try to put their favorite warmonger in the White House.

Just what we needed: more of the same

Quote of the Day from Daniel Gross at Slate, on the new Fox Business Channel:

Ailes and company have described the rationale for a new business channel by noting that the field's dominating presence—CNBC—isn't sufficiently pro-business. Of course, CNBC already offers something like a Fox News version of economic and political coverage. Anchors parrot corporate America's preferred line on trade and taxes, sneer at Europeans, and routinely refer to Hillary Clinton as a socialist. It's nearly impossible to find centrists on-air, let alone left-wingers. Saying America needs Fox Business Channel because CNBC isn't sufficiently pro-capitalist is a little like saying Boston needs a new baseball team because the Red Sox aren't a sufficient object of local obsession.