Disqus - Friends of peterwarnock

Re: Natural Gas Industry Ads: A Perceived Conflict of Interest

ben balz — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:26:43 -0000

Alicia, sorry. Your apology does not "cut it". But while "fracking" and the fricking fracked "sponsorship" that muddles so much of NPR's "public" coverage (and pays your salary, of course) is absolutely problematic - there are bigger issues here. That there is a blatant pro-Pentagon propaganda skew at NPR is widely known. That persons in positions of power at NPR come from backgrounds in propaganda (VOA, for example) is also widely known. When, oh when, can your Dear Listeners expect these issues to be honestly addressed by the NPR ombudsperson?? We want, we want: you to tell, to explain in explicit detail just who generates the Pentagon Propaganda story ideas. Who green-lights them and who makes sure they air?

Re: War By Remote Control: Drones Make It Easy

ben balz — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:58:59 -0000

Blatant DRONE Propaganda - give us a break!

Drones make it easy to kill brown people who live in the sand! Eleven minute exciting feature story right here.

How can these "journalists" at NPR look themselves in the mirror? Do they consider themselves propagandists?

When will somebody at NPR answer that question?

Where are these "story ideas" generated and who on the NPR editorial staff greenlights this embarrassing stuff??

Whose agenda is at work here, and why do we have to hear it, upfront on the broadcast no less??

Re: White House Defends Drone Program

ben balz — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:01:01 -0000

It's another "smash the radio moment"!Dina Temple-Raston went brain dead and served up some of the most blatant propaganda this side of Jessica Lynch.It's just like (or is it worse than?) Bush/Cheney and John Yoo. Obama/Brennan can find "intellectual" justification for anything drone-related. And the editorial policy of NPR seems to be to ignore the un-"American-ness" of it all. Whatever happened to democracy and due process, or at least the mention of such things in a drone "story"? And how long will it be until NPR is facilliatating the intellectual justification of drones spying on/killing US citizens, here?

By God, that's deeply embarrassing stuff that fails to cross the line from propaganda to journalism.

Listen and weep, yikes!

Re: The Movie Connie Britton Has 'Seen A Million Times'

ben balz — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:07:59 -0000

This segment is a PR puff-piece for the TV industry. Who cares what Connie Britton thinks, and who has even heard of her? The take-home message is: now NPR's idiot listeners know ABC has a show called "Nashville". How can the NPR "journalists" ran this stuff with straight faces? Total waste of time. ABC/Britton must have a good PR firm though, a puff-piece featuring her also appeared on the NYT website this morning. Hold your nose!

Re: SEC Alleges Inside Trading Ahead Of Heinz Merger

ben balz — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:01:56 -0000

If the SEC can figure out where this trading came from, why can't they figure out who placed all those trades against American and United Airlines right before 9/11????

Re: A Wounded Soldier Stands Tall At Reunion With His Platoon

ben balz — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:38:33 -0000

Quill-The-Shill leading off the broadcast with a Pentagon PR piece. God bless Jeffries, and as usual NPR gives no context to his immense suffering. And for what, again? Nobody forgets NPR went right along with the drumbeating to war in "Afganistaniraq" as Bush himself pronounced it. Who at the Pentagon develops these story ideas, why is NPR continually complicit, and where, oh where, is the outrage??

Re: Seeking A 'Field Of Dreams' For A Rising Drone Industry

ben balz — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:24:22 -0000

Garden-variey, typical NPR garbage propaganda here. Another smash-the-radio moment, and yet one more reason to never give money to NPR, regardless of how many dollar-for-dollar match opportunities they give us. It's the insidious propaganda, stupid!

Re: Former Air Force Pilot Has Cautionary Tales About Drones

ben balz — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:36:44 -0000

People, look. This is how NPR and the Pentagon work their propaganda. 1) Report negative aspects of US policy. This gives the illusion of objective, unbiased "journalism". 2) Then, hit listeners with the official spin and talking points. In this case, that the US is killing fewer people, including collaterals and/or non-combatants, or at least having more "conversations" about it. Listen closely. You'll see this insidious pattern repeated on NPR, they've been at it since before nine-one-one. Pro-military and corporate propaganda, inspiring not driveway moments, but smash-the-radio moments.

Re: Women In Combat: Some Lessons From Israel's Military

ben balz — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:13:35 -0000

Perfect propaganda with two of NPR's favorite topics: military glorification and Israel-centrism. Who generates these puff-piece story ideas, who on the NPR editorlal staff greenlights this garbage, and how can NPR "journalists" serve it up and still maintain any sense of integrity? Left out of the story: why Israel needs to build such a big fence and any context of why the US still needs a giant "expeditionary" force. Propaganda puke!!

Re: U.S. Tourists Become Israeli Commandos For A Day

ben balz — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 10:25:05 -0000

Forget "driveway moments", this is a smash-the-radio moment. Propaganda puke alert! The worst kind: an old-school two-fer, with pro-Israeli talking points and military glorification in one. Great stuff. Who comes up with these story ideas, who on the NPR editorial staff greenlights them, and how can NPR "journalists" serve this stuff up with straight faces??

Re: U.S. Tourists Become Israeli Commandos For A Day

ben balz — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 18:33:33 -0000

Obviously the "race struggles" over there are pointless indeed. A pertinent question remains: why are American listeners subject to near-daily Israel propaganda-masquerading-as-news, and who's paying for this stuff? Where's it coming from, and why do we have to hear it?

Re: Navy Studies Cicadas For Their Amplifying Sound Technique

ben balz — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:11:15 -0000

Typical Pentagon propaganda puff-piece: the Military, the Military, the Military, the Military... Where do these "story ideas" come from and who on the NPR editorial staff wants to make sure this propaganda runs, consistently??

Re: Bush-Era NSA Chief Defends PRISM, Phone Metadata Collection

ben balz — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 23:33:45 -0000

The slippery slope leads to all dissent being labeled "terrorism". It's an intimidation state, and the founding fathers are turning over in their graves. Why still can't our security geniuses "connect the dots" and tell us what happened on 911? Who knew it was coming, what they knew, and when they knew it?

Re: An American Considers Her Business Prospects In Kabul

ben balz — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 19:14:44 -0000

Uh-oh. The propaganda detector went off again on this one. The last part sounded super-suspiciously like a talking point: the US did not, repeat, did not, throw all that money down a rathole now that they're pulling out. Not mentioned in the story is that Sarah Takesh's husband is a well-known player, an "Afghan media mogul" and that her military uniform "company" is no longer necessary because those well-organized ANSF people are (sorta) taking care of business themselves. How can billions spent to make sure Afghans are "connected" make sense when like 20% of the country has regular electricity? Is this story a propaganda PR-puff piece? Maybe Rachel Martin knows, and it begs the question: where do these propaganda "story ideas" come from, and who on the NPR editorial staff makes sure listeners get to hear it?

Re: 'Guardian' Releases More Documents On NSA Surveillance

ben balz — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 22:00:21 -0000

Dina TR has a specific voice. That voice sounds deliberate, urgent. When that voice comes on, one gets the impression that something weighty and sensitive is being discussed. But when I hear that voice the last thing I think is: clear and unbiased journalism. The first thing I think is: here comes content that is colored by spin and bias, if it is not a highly crafted package of spin, talking points and propaganda. It sounds like DTR sits with her Pentagon spinmasters and says, "OK, how do we want this story to play out?" Her work reeks of military agenda and manipulation. Listeners see right through it and they're sick of it. When will NPR come clean about how this propaganda is developed, who on the NPR staff greenlights it, and how "journalists" like DTR deliver that stuff with straight faces?

Re: From Front-Line Soldier To Trainer, An Afghan Odyssey

ben balz — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:49:49 -0000

Tom Bowman can always be counted on to serve up a boilerplate Pentagon Propaganda Puff-Piece. America's Plutocracy should be extremely grateful for working-class people like Sgt. Cunningham who are willing to make sacrifices and work hard. His effort is not in question. "The boys did what they were supposed to do," Cunningham says. "They died getting off the helicopter. They died within seconds." But effort and death for what cause, exactly?

Re: Defense Contractors See Their Futures In Developing World

ben balz — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 10:12:22 -0000

Is Larry Abramson a "journalist"? What exactly was this story? Where do these "story ideas" come from, and who on the NPR editorial staff greenlights this stuff? This sounded like pure propaganda, corporate talking points, bought and paid for by a consortium of the military industrial complex. Why is NPR complicit in this propaganda? Why are we listeners chronically subjected to this offensive garbage? Americans do not support the war and killing industries, whether those industries are getting rich off the American taxpayer feed trough, or exploiting "emerging markets" for war and killing and death. Should we care about talking points that are designed to reassure "investors" about the stock prices of the worst offenders, like this one: "Amidst all this uncertainty, defense firms with a strong civilian component may be in the best position. Demand for airliners remains high, with a backlog of orders that should keep business going during the defense slowdown."? When will there be accountability at NPR for these agendas? This is serious, Orwellian stuff here...

Re: Steam And Groundwater Raise Concern At Japanese Nuclear Plant

ben balz — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:13:19 -0000

Sounds like Geoff Brumfiel is doing a little public-assurance propaganda. "Difficult to say" how dangerous radiation spreading out into the vast Pacific is? Are you nuts? The bottom line here is the Japanese are screwed now and the whole world is screwed later. Leave it NPR to soft-pedal a critical and alarming issue like this. There should be a Fukushima news update every day because this issue is profound and not going away...

Re: Food Stamps At The Heart Of Farm Bill Political Drama

ben balz — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 07:06:27 -0000

Republicans like to use food stamps as a "political football". They see it as a weapon against both Democrats and their poor constituents, both black and white. But think of the hell to be paid if all those poor people got together and challenged the dominant paradigm. Think Occupy Wall Street was bad? How about a full-blown national movement? Food stamps and other forms of assistance act as a social control, to keep the poor from getting too uppity. To keep the agitation level down against who-has-the-money and who-has-the-power. No food stamps? Let's riot on Park Avenue! That's why these cut-food-stamp stories never go anywhere. Food stamps are a bulwark against social unrest, nothing more. Cut the stamps, and "conservatives" will have real problems on their hands...

Re: Pentagon Report: Taliban Still Strong In Afghanistan

ben balz — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 19:12:27 -0000

No journalism here. Tom Bowman, as usual, serving up pure Pentagon Propaganda Talking Points. When you hear one of these stinkers coming, you might as well turn off the radio. Onthemedia recently took a very weak look at "domestic propaganda" using examples from world war one(!). No joke. Folks, this is domestic propaganda happening in real time. We were just subjected to it yet again this afternoon. Tom Bowman should hang his head in disgrace while listeners don't know whether to laugh or cry at this drivel. Talking points, talking points! It sounds like Bowman is sitting at a table with his Pentagon handlers as he "writes" his "stories"... Hey wait!!

Re: Special Ops Envisions 'Iron Man'-Like Suit To Protect Troops

ben balz — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 01:20:08 -0000

Unfortunately, a priority for Tom Bowman and the military shills at NPR is to give us propaganda and more propaganda. Pentagon talking points is the name of the game here. It's getting worse. More misinformation, more killing, more military, all the time, ad infinitum...

Re: Faux Meth Is Big Business In 'Breaking Bad' Town

ben balz — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 10:43:28 -0000

This story is absolute garbage. How much hype and "coverage" of stupid TV shows can we take? The Terry Gross show is almost completely an ad-mouthpiece for the inane TV industry. NPR's "news" shows routinely waste time hyping this stuff, too. Anything that takes people's attention away from who-has-the-money-and-who-has-the-power in this country is what is pushed down our throats. TV shows, stupid sports, celebs, diversions of all kinds. Yet the government continues to wage wars and waste tax dollars while eroding our supposed "freedoms". Keep watching Breaking Bad, you idiots...

Re: Colorado Vault Is Fort Knox For The World's Seeds

ben balz — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 07:52:50 -0000

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a....

Luke Runyon from "Harvest Public Media"? This sounds like corporate propaganda, folks. Check it out. My BS detector went off immediately...

Re: NSA Accused Of Repeatedly Violating Privacy Rules

ben balz — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 00:39:43 -0000

You got it. NPR propaganda talking points. This is a puff-piece, it's laughable. We have now entered an era where doublespeak and spin have become integral to the public discourse. The idiotic era of the Bush Admistration was just a warm-up. And the NPR editorial staff is fully committed to giving us the very best in odious, insulting "messaging"...

Re: Cracking The Code: Just How Does Encrypted Email Work?

ben balz — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 19:10:25 -0000

Don Gonyea serves up the talking points: just accept the government and corporations spying on you and gathering all your personal data and communications. Oh and, encryption is "really hard".

Brooke Gladstone must have read the same memo. Her geek had to get inebriated to get his encryption going.

http://www.onthemedia.org/2...

What happened to coverage of NSA law-breaking and Obama apologism? Where's the accountability?