 
|
 |
|
NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin thinks that KCRW's firing and reinstatement of Sandra Tsing Loh -- and her decision to reject the offer -- raises larger issues for the network. He airs it out in his column up today on the National Public Radio website. He also says NPR erred in not reporting the story as it was happening.
Why has NPR not reported this story? So far, nothing has aired on any of the news magazine programs. Only Marketplace (a public radio program not produced by NPR) has aired a report on the controversy (granted, only presenting Loh's side of the story). NPR, in my opinion, owes it to its listeners to take a look at this story, even though it may be uncomfortable to some in the public radio community.Public radio in general -- and NPR in particular -- has seemed less than eager to report on itself whenever we become the legitimate subject of news reports in other places. We appear too squeamish, as if self-examination and scrutiny are akin to self-promotion.
Get over it, NPR. Let's allow the listeners in on this important discussion.
Good find Joel. Here's the link.
Posted by: Kevin Roderick at March 17, 2004 05:31 PMLoh ripped Dvorkin in an interview on Salon.com. I think she used the word "gasbag" and that was the polite phrase.
Posted by: Bob Timmermann at March 17, 2004 06:51 PMI think her exact phrase -- I don't have my piece in front of me about the fallout from all this; it's out tomorrow -- was pompous gasbag. She sent him a letter saying something like his original column put him in the running for pompous gasbag award. Which it did. Although I think if there were really such an award, he'd have a lot of competition...
This new piece he wrote is still a little gassy I think.
Posted by: Cathy Seipp at March 17, 2004 07:31 PMBecause the stakes are so low etc etc
Posted by: Sean M. Burke at March 18, 2004 01:33 AM
of LA Observed
If NPR and the public radio community grievously erred - as many of us believe - in failing to defend, or even report on, KCRW's firing of Sandra Tsing Loh, NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin is an odd choice indeed for the designated scold. Until today, his contribution to the debate was perhaps the most gutless and unprincipled of all. Only a week earlier, in his March 10, 2004 posting, he dismissed the whole matter as beneath his consideration: "I have no comment on the station's response, or whether Loh or any others should have been suspended, reprimanded or promoted. That is a decision for KCRW management," he haughtily informed readers. While conceding that the word in question "is often heard at all levels of society" (thanks, but even my 9-year-old could have told me that), he proclaims (wrongly, it turns out) that "The rules about on-air obscenity are clear in the FCC regulations and guidelines." Closing with an irrelevant little homily about the perils of open microphones, he breezily concludes, "Too late for Loh, perhaps, but a cautionary tale for the rest of us." This is not a guy I'd want covering my backside when the bullets are flying.
Posted by: Joel Bellman at March 17, 2004 04:54 PM