"Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

[radiobum]

"Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Only heard about five minutes but the guest was talking about how J.E. Ray killed King-no critical questioning about it i.e. a drunk I.D'd Ray, bushes where people said they saw shots come from cut down early the next morning, King moved to an upstairs room thanks to an unknown caller, etc.

NPR continues to be the voice of the establishment disguised as liberal/progressive for listeners who don't know better.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Only heard about five minutes ...

The segment aired Monday. You posted Thursday. Three whole days for you to listen to the whole interview or read the transcript before commenting.
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132887822/following-the-trail-of-king-assassin-james-earl-ray

 

[radiobum]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

I'm sorry I was busy WORKING AT A RADIO STATION.

I just listened to the whole interview. The "Fresh Air" host is even worse than I though in not challenging A WORD of what the guest said or expressing other points of view and other theories.

NPR-what a joke !

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

I'm sorry I was busy WORKING AT A RADIO STATION.

I just listened to the whole interview. The "Fresh Air" host is even worse than I though in not challenging A WORD of what the guest said or expressing other points of view and other theories.

NPR-what a joke !

There are two schools of though (at least) on interviewing.

Mike Wallace "challenged" people. That is one style of interviewing; the interviewer playing Perry Mason. Keep interrupting. Keep contradicting. And basically try to show you are smarter than the guest. Some people at NPR do try to do that, for example Steve Inskeep. I seriously doubt trying to trip up a guest and not let him make his point ever really gets at that truth. I even doubt it makes for good radio.

Other interviewers, like Terry Gross (unless she loses it, like she did with Bill O'Reilly) and her regular substitutes are more likely to let guests talk, ask interested and probing questions, try to get them to say more than they intended, allow the quest to make his point and maybe even give the guest enough rope - and ultimately, let the listener decide the validity of what the person's viewpoint.

The people who prefer the Perry Mason school are probably also those who find vitriol exciting and passionate and civility dull. Who consider debate interrupting and name calling. Sorry, that's not Fresh Air's style. And they appear to consider that listeners do know enough to judge things for themselves and make up their own minds - and have the attention span to listen to an interview for more than four minutes.

You say you work at a radio station. Call his publisher's PR office and arrange to interview Hampton Sides yourself, if you think you can do better.

BTW: NPR only distributes Fresh Air. The show is produced by and at WHYY-FM, Philadelphia.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

I certainly agree with Matt Parker. Fresh Air's is designed to be a non-confrontational program for the mid-day crowd, similar to PBS's Charlie Rose, and in direct competition to Rush. The show airs against one hour of Rush in most cities.

Terry Gross might say less than 500 words in the average program, including "My guest is Grammy award winner Carlos Santana. We'll talk more after a break. This is Fresh Air," about 5 times. That means that the guest is typically the star of the program, and the audience comes and goes depending how engaging who the guest is.

 

[SML]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

"Other interviewers, like Terry Gross (unless she loses it, like she did with Bill O'Reilly)"

Bill O'Reilly walked out of that interview. So the question of "who lost it" is fairly clear, and it was not Terry.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

"Other interviewers, like Terry Gross (unless she loses it, like she did with Bill O'Reilly)"

Bill O'Reilly walked out of that interview. So the question of "who lost it" is fairly clear, and it was not Terry.

Not according to then-NPR Ombusdman Jeffrey Dvorkin:
http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/2003/031015.html

I agree with the listeners who complained about the tone of the interview: Her questions were pointed from the beginning. She went after O'Reilly using critical quotes from the Franken book and a New York Times book review. That put O'Reilly at his most prickly and defensive mode, and Gross was never able to get him back into the interview in an effective way. ...
By the time the interview was about halfway through, it felt as though Terry Gross was indeed "carrying Al Franken's water," as some listeners say. It was not about O'Reilly's ideas, or his attitudes or even about his book. It was about O'Reilly as political media phenomenon. That's a legitimate subject for discussion, but in this case, it was an interview that was, in the end, unfair to O'Reilly. ...
Finally, an aspect of the interview that I found particularly disturbing: It happened when Terry Gross was about to read a criticism of Bill O'Reilly's book from People magazine. Before Gross could read it to him for his reaction, O'Reilly ended the interview and walked out of the studio. She read the quote anyway.
That was wrong. O'Reilly was not there to respond. It's known in broadcasting as the "empty chair" interview, and it is considered an unethical technique and should not be used on NPR....

 

[SML]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Bill walked out of the interview. He lost it. Terry simply asked questions about what others (like Al Franken) had been saying. Bill could not take the heat, and walked out. People like Bill have a hard time with the mirror. He likes living in a glass house, but thinks others should treat him unlike he treats them. I ranked Bill's performance right up there (or was it down there) with Gene Simmons.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

The interview was supposed to be about his book - not about what Al Franken or anybody else said in criticism of his book. As the ombudsman pointed out, Gross was hostile from the start. Gross lost her objectivity and she couldn't contain her self-righteousness - a common trait among the PC crowd. And she played right into Franken's hands. She lowered herself to O'Reilly's level and tried to beat him at his own game. She lost.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

The interview was supposed to be about his book

Huh? Someone does an interview, they are fair game for whatever the interviewer wants to talk about. They want to sell books? Buy advertising. There is a risk to free publicity, and he faced the risk by going on her turf. There are people he won't talk to, and conversely people who won't appear on his show. And I've watched Bill "lose it" in the same way as Terry. He gets emotionally involved with a subject, and loses objectivity.

That being said, I agree that Gross was wrong to become hostile. She did the same thing with Gene Simmons. And Gene responded the same way. Perhaps that's why Terry doesn't work for NPR.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Huh? Someone does an interview, they are fair game for whatever the interviewer wants to talk about. They want to sell books? Buy advertising. There is a risk to free publicity, and he faced the risk by going on her turf. There are people he won't talk to, and conversely people who won't appear on his show. And I've watched Bill "lose it" in the same way as Terry. He gets emotionally involved with a subject, and loses objectivity.

That being said, I agree that Gross was wrong to become hostile. She did the same thing with Gene Simmons. And Gene responded the same way. Perhaps that's why Terry doesn't work for NPR.

Wrong. Guests often set limits on subjects to be covered in an interview. The host does not have to agree but if he or she does, they are bound to abide by them. Hosts sometimes try to push it and if they do, guests are free to terminate the interview. I once saw Charlie Rose try to push Jodie Foster, who came on to promote a movie, into talking about John Hinckley. She reminded Rose of the interview ground rules and said if he kept asking about that, she would leave. After that, he behaved himself. A guest has every right to terminate an interview and doing so does not necessarily mean the guest as "lost it."

NPR distributes Fresh Air. They are responsible and maybe they should send out a "best of" segment when Terry is unable to control herself. It does suggest a double standard when Terry does not even get a slap on the wrist and Juan Williams or Ellen Weiss get the ax. Nothing new in that: Dick Clark was allowed to skate in the payola scandal and other DJs lost their jobs and their careers for far less involvement with the music business.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Guests often set limits on subjects to be covered in an interview. The host does not have to agree but if he or she does, they are bound to abide by them.

You're speaking in generalities. Were there groundrules set in this specific interview? If there were, why didn't the NPR ombudsmen mention them? Other interviewers brought up issues not covered in the book, but they did so in more measured tones. That is the issue here. Not talking outside the content of the book.

Most organizations refuse to do interviews if any limits are placed on questioning. The Jodie Foster situation is very specific to that particular name, and for very good reason.

Yes, guests have the right to walk out of an interview. But they have no right to expect that an interview is simply an opportunity to flack their book for free.

As distributor, NPR simply distributes, in the way the phone company has no control over conversations using their lines. They don't audition the show before it goes out, and take no responsibility for its content. Terry doesn't work for NPR, and therefore is not subject to their rules.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

... and if NPR threatened to stop distributing Fresh Air, American Public Media would pick it up in about 27 minutes.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Ground rules: Read the ombudsman's article. He did mention them.

No, limits on questioning are common. Besides what Terry did was cheap shot. She didn't ask him about the book. She didn't even challenge things he said in the book (which is not her style). Instead she threw other people's attacks at him (also not her style). I know you seem to think public radio can do no wrong. They can. Their Achillies' heal is political correctness and the self-righteousness inherent in political correctness. In that, they are no different - no better than - their right wing counter-parts.

The phone company is a common carrier. A distributor, syndicator or network is not. Of course, ultimate responsibility rests with individual station licensees.

No, APM would not pick up the show. APM only distributes shows they produce. However, PRI might.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Ground rules: Read the ombudsman's article. He did mention them.

Sorry...can't find them. Could you point them out?

No, limits on questioning are common.

As I said, most interviewers won't do interviews if topics are limited to promoting the product. I stand by that comment.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

Ground rules: Read the ombudsman's article. He did mention them.

Sorry...can't find them. Could you point them out?

No, limits on questioning are common.

As I said, most interviewers won't do interviews if topics are limited to promoting the product. I stand by that comment.
[/quote]

I provided a link in my earlier post.

Really? Maybe you don't listen to Fresh Air at all. Fresh Air, in particular, and NPR, in general, typically do interviews with authors in which only the book is discussed. They also typically do interviews with directors, screen writers or actors in which only the film is discussed. Terry Gross asking an author to defend himself from critical reviews or comments made by third parties is a big departure from her standard practice. Normally she does not engage in hostile questioning at all but chose to make an exception for O'Reilly - and in so doing was a complete weasel in using other people's attacks and not challenging O'Reilly on her own.

Broadcast and journalist ethics are something of alien concepts at WHYY. The station is a money machine headed by an over-paid bureaucrat from the Philadelphia Water Department, with rank and file employees publicly expressing their displeasure with the current management, and which lets sponsors (corporate advertisers) buy and dictate local news stories (really infomercials presented as news).

 

[TheBigA]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

I provided a link in my earlier post.

I followed the link and read the entire article three times and saw nothing that appeared to be ground rules given to Terry in advance of the interview.

 

[MattParker]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

I provided a link in my earlier post.

I followed the link and read the entire article three times and saw nothing that appeared to be ground rules given to Terry in advance of the interview.

You missed the link. You missed where it is pointed out the interview was to be about the book.

Terry Gross seems something of a neurotic. Some people here talk about Keith Olbmermann being a pain. Terry refuses to be in the same room with a guest. Until recently, she insisted that interviews be recorded on reel to reel tape and edit with razor blades (she was forced off that because old tapes were deteriorating). She came to public radio from a brief career as a school teacher and she still comes off as self-righteous scold - the mean old maid teacher the kids hated. She set out to do a cheap ambush interview and the guest refused to sit still for it.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

You missed the link. You missed where it is pointed out the interview was to be about the book.

No, I followed the link and read the article. This is all I saw:

The ostensible reason was to talk about O'Reilly's latest book

But that doesn't mean groundrules. To me, it meant why Terry did the interview in the first place. In other words, the reason from Terry's point of view. Not the reason she was granted the interview. Had groundrules been placed on the interview, and she exceeded them, the ombudsman would have mentioned them. I don't believe groundrules were placed on this interview, because in all the years I've done broadcast interviews, I've never been told that I must stick to promoting a book. Authors do promo tours all the time, and the only restrictions I've ever seen are about personal matters, such as boyfriends, divorces, or pending legal action. She didn't touch any of those areas. But the fact is that even the issue that caused O'Reilly to walk out was basically about the book. They happened to be negative reviews of his book. So she was sticking to the point.

I agree with the ombudsman that O'Reilly intended to walk out of the interview, with the goal of demonstrating that NPR has an agenda and conservatives aren't given a fair chance. Had Terry done a goody goody interview and not brought up the negative reviews, he would have found some other thing to complain about. Because that's what he does. But Terry gave him the sword. And that was a mistake. But she didn't go outside any imagined parameters of the interview.

 

[uncamark]

Re: "Fresh Air" show on MLK Day

No, APM would not pick up the show. APM only distributes shows they produce. However, PRI might.

North Carolina Public Radio produces "The Story." WBEZ produces "Sound Opinions" (even though technically it's on the Public Radio Exchange these days, APM is still involved in that show). They distributed "As It Happens" until the CBC put most of their business with PRI. Yes, most of their shows are from MPR or KPCC, but there are some exceptions.