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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 whi

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...

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...