NPR Ombudsman Refuses To Speak To Glenn Greenwald About Torture

Bloggasm:

Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald has rarely been one to avoid responding directly to his right wing critics. He's been on Hugh Hewitt' radio show on multiple occasions and has even appeared on Michael Savage's show. As an opinionated pundit, he believes that people like him should be willing to face off with others in public forums that are not always friendly to their views, and he finds those that avoid doing so "cowardly and irresponsible."

Read the whole story: Bloggasm

Comments

[Michael Valentine]

NPR in San Diego may as well be Fox News.

[Marlyn]

Agreed.

[SangZe]

I don't understand the reactions. NPR has always been a mouth for conservatism. The only thing wrong is the name. It's not "public" radio at all, just a propaganda tool.

[Marlyn]

"NPR has always been a mouth for conservati­sm." ???

It is now, but it wasn't always that way. They used to be unbiased.

[FatherKindly]

NPR also used to be informative. Now it is merely squishy and predictable.

[flossophy]

This is reality:

NPR (I love them) has been the Pravda of our country... the conservatives have been trying to infiltrate the distorted ivory tower of national pubic raydioooh.­.. it's been a long struggle, but it's worth the effort.

NPR must concede to the conservati­ves... they would be irresponsible if they didn't. they know this.

Conservatives love NPR... even though they have been distorted by the left for 40 years. they will welcome objective analysis.. . humanity depends on it.

conservatives are not NPR's enemies...­fanatical theocratic nukular tipped regimes are the enemy of humanity.. and NPR cannot deny this. regardless of their ideological bent.

people of NPR, conservatives love you... please be responsible with your broadcasts. you know what is at stake.

conservatives will fund marxist studies more than the pseudo marxists ever will

join us, instead of the totalitari­ans.. PLEASE!

it is in your self interest to promote the m||0n fr|3dmans of the sphere.

politeburo at gmail dot com.

gfys

[marco01]

So I guess it's a forgone conclusion that you buy Bushco's Orwell!an rebranding of t0rture?

[ThinkCreeps]

I hope you're doing all this with heavy sarcasm, and that we do in fact agree on W's legacy

`fanatical theocratic nukular tipped regimes are the enemy of humanity'.

[marco01]

Oh no he's dead serious, he just a serious smart@ss. You don't know flossy, do you?

[Whoopster]

NPR = National Pentagon Radio

[flossophy]

You are an idi0t.

I don't blame you.

You have been distorted by da left.

blah.

[marco01]

You're just distorted

[marco01]

Torture, ......Buel­ler?

[higgins1990]

Liberals hate honest debates (unless, of course, such events are rigged like Obama press conferences).

[vinny]

Obama is NOT a liberal

[flossophy]

Obama is a statist attempting to expand the scope of government and defend the (D) electoral turf of the 20th century.

his incentives run the wrong way.

he knows this, but he thinks he can salvage this fading ideology.

I don't blame him... his indoctrination is deep.. but he's willing to concede certain aspects to the broader wishes of free humanity. Conservatives should appeal to him in this context.

don't villify him. he's smarter than you think... but he still doesn't understand market economics. we can educate him on this in a non-confrontational way.

exciting times, no?

[marco01]

Try me.

Obama rigged press conferences. LOL Honestly, get real. This while you and every other one quarter aware A-merican knew for a fact that it was W who had an actual plant in his WH press corps - Log Cabin Republ!can Jeff Gannon

I'm sure you were all outraged about that one though, right Mr. Honest?

[HawaiianPunch]

Rigged press conferences, ehhhhhh? Ask "Jeff Gannon" about your pithy little insight into that, why doncha?

[jcwtts1]

Yeah honest debate. Liberal: there are 12 months in a year. Conservative: There are many months but not 12.

That isn't a debate, that isn't an opinion, you take facts and disagree with them and then act stunned when people do consider that a debate.

The President was born in Hawaii, no he wasn't. They showed his birth certificate, that doesn't matter he wasn't.

That isn't a debate, that is idiocy.

[AbstractImp]

We are trying to prepare for republican state run radio.

How can we talk to opinionated, open-minded pundits

who expose our bias

and attack the war crimes of our leading republicans. . . ?

NPR - The New Press TV !

[flossophy]

rethuglicans are not your enemy... rethuglicans love the distorted left... the enemies of humanity are what we should be discussing.

rethuglicans want the people of |ran to be free to elect their leaders... NPR leftists will not make that happen.

the neoc0n boogiemen will.

pull you distorted head out of the leftist construct and advocate for liberty... even if that means dropping b0mbs on nukular facilities. this is a pr0gressive move. Conservatives love love love the pr0testers in |ran... why not help them??????­??????????­??????????­??????????

Obama will not help them because he is distorted by the Ayers of the wurld.

gfys.

[CaddylackSprings]

Obama will not help them because he is distorted by the Ayers of the world

Id iotic WOO WQQ

[sticksnstones]

There will never be a lack of expansionist, empire-building Ultra-right Flossies advocating for yet another war and slavering for the use of nukes against yet another nation .... as long as they don't personally have to participate. Pathetic.

PS ... gfys w/a warhead

[Jaxy]

It must be cool to be so broken and delusional. Must make your life really interesting.

[maisnon55]

I didn't catch on to Public Broadcasting until the Bush era.......­.....McNei­l- Lehrer sat, reporting Hitler type actions on the Bush part as normal, everyday news. They showed opposite sides of the story by bringing in ultra right and moderate right or cowardly "lefts" who said nothing. They refuse to play Amy Goodman in my area though masses have asked them to. Gwynn Ifill made her little insulting side comments towards the Dems during this period and also presented the actions of the Bush administration as being normal. So it goes with NPR.

Not being able to label Bush torture as "torture" is just downright disgusting. It's time to stop funding them.

[RTIII]

Apparently you missed Lehrer's rant about how they were under the axe of funding cuts and, as gently and indirectly as he could put it, "we are not immune from the forces" that control the MSM...

REMEMBER, the lack of sufficient funding from the feds means that they have to run commercials now and therefore fall under the same fundamental forces as regular commercial television.

It was a sad day...
.

[darthmaul]

I listened to Talk of the Nations Neil Cohen interview the NPR ombudsmen. It was a softball interview and a real dissapointment. The gist of the Shepard's argument is that, she thinks that Waterboarding is torture, but, the "management of NPR feels that it shouldn't be called torture. She's just "following orders." and delivering the party line of NPR. Most of the show went on to rationalize why it was OK not to call it torture. To be fair I heard her interviewed by NPR's "On the Media." Bob Garfield asked some good tough questions.

BOB GARFIELD: The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights says that waterboarding is torture. The International Committee of the Red Cross have called what the U.S. did “torture.” Waterboarding is unambiguously in violation of the International Convention on Torture, which has been ratified by 140-some countries.

It seems to me that the only people who think it’s a debate are the Bush Administration, who are the culprits. So how does that constituent a debate?

ALICIA SHEPARD: Well, there are two sides to the issue. ...

[PocketWatch]

I heard that interview a couple of days ago, and her "argument" was very incoherent, symptomatic of someone making a case they do not believe in. There is a party line here that is more than troubling.

By her standards, if I can find one person in the world that think the Earth is flat, there are two sides to the issue. Utter nonsense!

[ThinkCreeps]

I agree in principle, but I felt that despite Garfield's reasonably questions, he allowed Shepard's weak positions and poor preparation off the hook. Shepard's performance was well below her considerable abilities.

It was the standard one-on-one interview style on NPR though, and reflects the general excessive politeness of US interviewing, where it seems the only interviewers that are vocal and assertive are know-nothing, partisan blowhards. Garfield was as clear and direct as I have heard, and still fell short of the mark: after your quoted line he failed to hold the interviewee to the fire. The NPR ombudsman is doubtless in a difficult position to appear even-handed.

In Europe, politicians who refuse to appear on flagship shows, to answer key questions sensibly or to give credible answers are generally subject to ridicule and hurt politically. In the US access to politicians seems to be entirely at the discretion of politician. If the `two sides' response had been given on the BBC's `Today', the next question would have been `Come on, do you expect anyone to believe that', and if a better answer hadn't followed, the next line from the interviewer would have been laughter and a quick `Thank you, ombudsman'.

[blimie]

NPR is not fair and balanced, all their anchors seem extremely white and their on the scene reporting seems fake.

[JDM73]

You're in the right, Glenn. Keep fighting until all the apologists, liars, and frauds are smoked out.

[kassandrasduplex]

Greenwald is the fellow who revealed recently that Obama is exceeding Bush's spying powers. He has stated succinctly that Obama is "worse than Bush."

[kevenseven]

Greenwald never said flatly that Obama is worse than Bush across the board.

But thanks for the cheap lie.

[LCLA]

I find Ms. Shepherd's justifications for avoiding the use of the term "torture" to be disingenuous when juxtaposed to her comments about referring to the murdered Dr. Tilley as a "late term abortion doctor."

[nivek]

Missing George Carlin here, watch your language NPR.

[PaiaGirl]

Sorry. NPR is wrong and allowing itself to be a propaganda tool by not calling torture torture.

[sosi]

When there is dirty laundry, it is easy to be afraid of sunshine. NPR often times is neither national nor public; it belongs to its "donors", or usual special interests owning the media with dirty $$ dosed out.

PBS recently out right censored the "Single Payer" discussion from its highly anticipated "Sick in America" Frontline documentary because their patrons are not pleased. There is little serious or fair coverage of the Israel Palestine issue for ages, except the occasional bravery of Bill Moyers.

This country is dictated by a mafia, controlling the media, politics, finance, healthcare - all our lives.

[Yermammy]

NPR
National Petroleum Radio
National Propaganda Radio
Not Public Radio

[kassandrasduplex]

Bless you bless you! I was going to make a bumper sticker with that on it..."NPR National Propaganda Radio"
They are totally co-opted by the monied interests.

[kassandrasduplex]

BINGO! As with the Times and a numbe r of other ostensibly "left wing" media, they have convinced people they are something they are not.

[PhilipTaylor]

I agree with your BOTTOM LINE 100%!