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That was fun to listen to but NPR programming always seems to have a grating turn in the middle of "gosh isn't it crazy how people in society don't trust anyone

That was fun to listen to but NPR programming always seems to have a grating turn in the middle of "gosh isn't it crazy how people in society don't trust anyone any more??? Not professionals or the government or even police!" and it's like, yep, institutions have continued to epically fail people at large, please stop playing clueless NPR.

AndrewBissell 6y ago
If any story shows the utter untrustworthiness of (the vast majority of) the media and government authorities, it's Wirecard. This will probably be further reinforced by a relative lack of serious consequences for everyone involved.
crocodiletears 6y ago
At one time, I listened to NPR for hours every week. After 2016, something in them seemed to snap, and after listening to one of their anchors going after the 538 guy as if he and his industry were fully responsible for Trump's election, and demanding some sort of apology I resolved to give them a dew months to come back to their senses. I still listen to them regularly, they regularly put out good journalism. But when I came back to them they just sounded absurdly out of touch with the rest of the world. I'm still not entirely sure whether it's because my worlview expanded, or because theirs narrowed.
- marricks 6y ago
  If all one has is CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and NPR then NPR feels like a (somehow calming) ocean of truth. I think starting circa 2013 there were a few huge stories which made people realize that the "hard-hitting" journalism they were reading wasn't all that hard-hitting. Snowden revelations, all that money in the cayman islands, then the whole lot of nothing being done about either. Below is a comment I made a year ago on HN about my favorite NPR story: ------ Growing up I though of NPR as a bastion of the left but the older I get the more cynical I become. Your take reminds me of the most infuriating story I heard on NPR about Amazon Seasonal workers. They spotlighted a retiree couple would supplements their income with it in the winter and drives south to gamble in the summer and it just sounded like a profile of a charmed life, somehow I imagine that isn’t the case for most people who work there... They have monthly fundraising drives where they ask listeners to pay up for fearless journalism but a lot of it sounds like it was written by and for entrenched industries. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/12/21/business/holiday-seas.. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/12/21/business/holiday-seas....
  - kube-system 6y ago
    Meh, I don't think it's necessarily 'hard-hitting' to point out that seasonal work doesn't provide a year-round paycheck. There's a whole lot of work in this world that inherently falls way outside of full-year full-time 9-to-5 Mon-to-Fri norms -- and there's not anything inherently wrong with that. I recognize that not everyone has to live in a cookie cutter mold of my preferred lifestyle. I personally think that an exposé of workers who are underemployed better belongs in a story about social policy, education, culture, or small business than it does in a story about Amazon. Amazon is hardly the inventor of seasonal work, and they pay considerably above market for an unskilled job.
    - marricks 6y ago
      My point of about hard hitting stories was that NPR either doesn't have them or or when they do they remove the teeth by virtue of the perspective they choose. Take this Wirecard NPR story, Matt owns the Shadowfall company which itself holds 500 million in assets[1]. His situation feels awful, and you should empathize with the man, but god after listening to NPR for several years you wonder why so many protagonists are millionaires. Bringing up the Amazon-NPR story was just tying together where I think NPR especially fails: I don't think NPR lies, or even covers the wrong topics, they just cover them with an establishment centered perspective. Take Amazon seasonal workers: why not cover how Amazon extracts huge wealth out of communities and in place gives jobs that pay little with littler benefits? Take Wirecard story: perhaps short selling is an awful way to hold companies accountable and what we actually need is a SEC company with teeth. Another favorite of mine which I think pulls it all together was during the passing of the Trump Tax Cuts. All Things Considered's lead story was that the cuts were good and just at the wrong time. I heard this during rush hour, so NPR prime time![2] During a time of great change in fiscal policy the radio station Trump supporters most loathe is out there politely questioning the timing of his decisions. [1] https://www.companysearchesmadesimple.com/company/uk/oc415602/shadowfall-capital-research-llp/#financials https://www.companysearchesmadesimple.com/company/uk/oc41560... [2] https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568392909/is-this-the-right-time-for-a-big-tax-cut https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568392909/is-this-the-right-t...
- karmakaze 6y ago
  Why is anyone downvoting this--can one not express a personal experience? It you disagree, comment.
- CathedralBorrow 6y ago
  I definitely don't want to dismiss your experience but I have a hard time understanding: "after listening to one of their anchors going after the 538 guy as if he and his industry were fully responsible for Trump's election, and demanding some sort of apology". I'm sure Nate Silver wasn't actually blamed for election results and I'm sure no one actually demanded an apology. Can you smooth the hyporbole a bit and explain what they actually said that made you feel that way?

AndrewBissell 6y ago

If any story shows the utter untrustworthiness of (the vast majority of) the media and government authorities, it's Wirecard. This will probably be further reinforced by a relative lack of serious consequences for everyone involved.

crocodiletears 6y ago

At one time, I listened to NPR for hours every week. After 2016, something in them seemed to snap, and after listening to one of their anchors going after the 538 guy as if he and his industry were fully responsible for Trump's election, and demanding some sort of apology I resolved to give them a dew months to come back to their senses. I still listen to them regularly, they regularly put out good journalism. But when I came back to them they just sounded absurdly out of touch with the rest of the world. I'm still not entirely sure whether it's because my worlview expanded, or because theirs narrowed.

marricks 6y ago
If all one has is CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and NPR then NPR feels like a (somehow calming) ocean of truth. I think starting circa 2013 there were a few huge stories which made people realize that the "hard-hitting" journalism they were reading wasn't all that hard-hitting. Snowden revelations, all that money in the cayman islands, then the whole lot of nothing being done about either. Below is a comment I made a year ago on HN about my favorite NPR story: ------ Growing up I though of NPR as a bastion of the left but the older I get the more cynical I become. Your take reminds me of the most infuriating story I heard on NPR about Amazon Seasonal workers. They spotlighted a retiree couple would supplements their income with it in the winter and drives south to gamble in the summer and it just sounded like a profile of a charmed life, somehow I imagine that isn’t the case for most people who work there... They have monthly fundraising drives where they ask listeners to pay up for fearless journalism but a lot of it sounds like it was written by and for entrenched industries. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/12/21/business/holiday-seas.. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/12/21/business/holiday-seas....
- kube-system 6y ago
  Meh, I don't think it's necessarily 'hard-hitting' to point out that seasonal work doesn't provide a year-round paycheck. There's a whole lot of work in this world that inherently falls way outside of full-year full-time 9-to-5 Mon-to-Fri norms -- and there's not anything inherently wrong with that. I recognize that not everyone has to live in a cookie cutter mold of my preferred lifestyle. I personally think that an exposé of workers who are underemployed better belongs in a story about social policy, education, culture, or small business than it does in a story about Amazon. Amazon is hardly the inventor of seasonal work, and they pay considerably above market for an unskilled job.
  - marricks 6y ago
    My point of about hard hitting stories was that NPR either doesn't have them or or when they do they remove the teeth by virtue of the perspective they choose. Take this Wirecard NPR story, Matt owns the Shadowfall company which itself holds 500 million in assets[1]. His situation feels awful, and you should empathize with the man, but god after listening to NPR for several years you wonder why so many protagonists are millionaires. Bringing up the Amazon-NPR story was just tying together where I think NPR especially fails: I don't think NPR lies, or even covers the wrong topics, they just cover them with an establishment centered perspective. Take Amazon seasonal workers: why not cover how Amazon extracts huge wealth out of communities and in place gives jobs that pay little with littler benefits? Take Wirecard story: perhaps short selling is an awful way to hold companies accountable and what we actually need is a SEC company with teeth. Another favorite of mine which I think pulls it all together was during the passing of the Trump Tax Cuts. All Things Considered's lead story was that the cuts were good and just at the wrong time. I heard this during rush hour, so NPR prime time![2] During a time of great change in fiscal policy the radio station Trump supporters most loathe is out there politely questioning the timing of his decisions. [1] https://www.companysearchesmadesimple.com/company/uk/oc415602/shadowfall-capital-research-llp/#financials https://www.companysearchesmadesimple.com/company/uk/oc41560... [2] https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568392909/is-this-the-right-time-for-a-big-tax-cut https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568392909/is-this-the-right-t...
karmakaze 6y ago
Why is anyone downvoting this--can one not express a personal experience? It you disagree, comment.
CathedralBorrow 6y ago
I definitely don't want to dismiss your experience but I have a hard time understanding: "after listening to one of their anchors going after the 538 guy as if he and his industry were fully responsible for Trump's election, and demanding some sort of apology". I'm sure Nate Silver wasn't actually blamed for election results and I'm sure no one actually demanded an apology. Can you smooth the hyporbole a bit and explain what they actually said that made you feel that way?