4 ms·

The audience of NPR is fairly small, there's a lot of other channels that cater to white males.

by distant_hat 6y ago

ikt 6y ago
The same is for the ABC in Australia and BBC in the UK. His comment resonated strongly with me.
- claudiawerner 6y ago
  I frequently listen to BBC radio, and it doesn't resonate with me. To be sure there are many non-male and non-white and non-hetero voices, but they are by no means the majority. If you take out the male requirement, the number becomes even smaller. Two days ago BBC radio 4 was broadcasting a discussion on literature. It had three men and two women, withe a male organizer. After that was the news told by a white woman. Then there was a segment on songwriting for musicals for the stage, given by a (presumably straight) older white man. There is (sometimes) a "women's hour", but the fact that such a thing should show at least that male voices are at least slightly the norm. I couldn't tell the race of the callers (and never mind their sexuality when a partner was not mentioned), but there were male voices there too. Could it be that we just notice non-(white, male, hetero) voices more when they come on, and assume that white, male, and hetero is the "default"?
  - edbob 6y ago
    jimmygrapes was referring to the topics discussed, not the identity of the speakers.
    - claudiawerner 6y ago
      And I have doubts there too. Wouldn't it make sense, though? The news is not obliged to only cover issues relating to the majority, but society as a whole, and there are more people who are not (white && straight && male) than are. Granted, that's mostly because of the 'male' part. In what category does a discussion on literature or philosophy fit? (white && straight && male) or !(white && straight && male)? How about new Apple devices? Tech jobs? Which subgroups of the population are hardest hit by the pandemic? I have a suspicion that the majority of the content covered on mainstream radio is actually gender, orientation, and race agnostic.
  - ikt 6y ago
    I appreciate you replying in a non-hostile way. I was thinking more the stories, I guess it's optics, my news is now feels like it's filled with "man bad, woman/minority strong" https://imgur.com/eTSi7g5 https://imgur.com/eTSi7g5 https://imgur.com/avshrtK https://imgur.com/avshrtK Compared to what was previously on the homepage: https://imgur.com/tXKpnMZ https://imgur.com/tXKpnMZ It feels like my homepage used to be news, now it it's more heavily biased towards minorities and women. I'm honestly burnt out on reading about women and minorities being victims and men being bad, I want to go back to reading stories about things. I guess it bothers me and maybe I'm picking up on background radiation as to why 'that guy' got into power despite me feeling like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gRAQUmskI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gRAQUmskI
    - jokethrowaway 6y ago
      Pick up some libertarian and conservatives outlets? I'm neither a conservative or a liberal but I read both and some libertarian stuff on top (unfortunately there is not enough around). Liberal news are hilarious in their portrayal of reality, it feels like I'm reading someone's opinion all the time. Over years that opinion can change drastically and nobody bats an eye (eg: the russians easily hacked the election, that's why the bad guy won - it's almost impossible for someone to hack the election, that's why the bad guy lost). They also promote all the trendy family destroying / sexual liberation stuff which was my kool aid as a teenager and that I find depressing and socially damaging nowadays. On top of this they push for governments to hoard more money to redistribute to the people they like, which is just appaling. In the last years they started being incredibly anti free speech and limiting personal freedom (taxes on alchohol, sugar, etc) which I find jarring and totally opposed to all the personal freedom they talk about (eg. on drugs). Conservatives news are much more data and fact based and they have a passion for debating. I'm grossed out by how much religious they are (which is not proven by facts by definition) and by how much they like to have the government tell people what is legal and what is not (outside of someone damaging someone else). I don't see why anyone should tell Libertarian news is again, very fact based, very coherent, nobody talks about religion, they support drugs and personal freedom, it's the perfect mix of economic freedom and personal freedom. Too bad nobody votes for them.
throwawydedbee 6y ago
It's not about "catering to"; it's about not omitting. And for someone who has listened to, donated to, and loved NPR as a source of neutral (if a bit left-leaning) news and commentary for decades, it's a very disheartening development. All of our reasonably neutral information sources are going away, and we're left to sift through what's left for ourselves.

The audience of NPR is fairly small, there's a lot of other channels that cater to white males.

ikt 6y ago

The same is for the ABC in Australia and BBC in the UK. His comment resonated strongly with me.

claudiawerner 6y ago
I frequently listen to BBC radio, and it doesn't resonate with me. To be sure there are many non-male and non-white and non-hetero voices, but they are by no means the majority. If you take out the male requirement, the number becomes even smaller. Two days ago BBC radio 4 was broadcasting a discussion on literature. It had three men and two women, withe a male organizer. After that was the news told by a white woman. Then there was a segment on songwriting for musicals for the stage, given by a (presumably straight) older white man. There is (sometimes) a "women's hour", but the fact that such a thing should show at least that male voices are at least slightly the norm. I couldn't tell the race of the callers (and never mind their sexuality when a partner was not mentioned), but there were male voices there too. Could it be that we just notice non-(white, male, hetero) voices more when they come on, and assume that white, male, and hetero is the "default"?
- edbob 6y ago
  jimmygrapes was referring to the topics discussed, not the identity of the speakers.
  - claudiawerner 6y ago
    And I have doubts there too. Wouldn't it make sense, though? The news is not obliged to only cover issues relating to the majority, but society as a whole, and there are more people who are not (white && straight && male) than are. Granted, that's mostly because of the 'male' part. In what category does a discussion on literature or philosophy fit? (white && straight && male) or !(white && straight && male)? How about new Apple devices? Tech jobs? Which subgroups of the population are hardest hit by the pandemic? I have a suspicion that the majority of the content covered on mainstream radio is actually gender, orientation, and race agnostic.
- ikt 6y ago
  I appreciate you replying in a non-hostile way. I was thinking more the stories, I guess it's optics, my news is now feels like it's filled with "man bad, woman/minority strong" https://imgur.com/eTSi7g5 https://imgur.com/eTSi7g5 https://imgur.com/avshrtK https://imgur.com/avshrtK Compared to what was previously on the homepage: https://imgur.com/tXKpnMZ https://imgur.com/tXKpnMZ It feels like my homepage used to be news, now it it's more heavily biased towards minorities and women. I'm honestly burnt out on reading about women and minorities being victims and men being bad, I want to go back to reading stories about things. I guess it bothers me and maybe I'm picking up on background radiation as to why 'that guy' got into power despite me feeling like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gRAQUmskI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gRAQUmskI
  - jokethrowaway 6y ago
    Pick up some libertarian and conservatives outlets? I'm neither a conservative or a liberal but I read both and some libertarian stuff on top (unfortunately there is not enough around). Liberal news are hilarious in their portrayal of reality, it feels like I'm reading someone's opinion all the time. Over years that opinion can change drastically and nobody bats an eye (eg: the russians easily hacked the election, that's why the bad guy won - it's almost impossible for someone to hack the election, that's why the bad guy lost). They also promote all the trendy family destroying / sexual liberation stuff which was my kool aid as a teenager and that I find depressing and socially damaging nowadays. On top of this they push for governments to hoard more money to redistribute to the people they like, which is just appaling. In the last years they started being incredibly anti free speech and limiting personal freedom (taxes on alchohol, sugar, etc) which I find jarring and totally opposed to all the personal freedom they talk about (eg. on drugs). Conservatives news are much more data and fact based and they have a passion for debating. I'm grossed out by how much religious they are (which is not proven by facts by definition) and by how much they like to have the government tell people what is legal and what is not (outside of someone damaging someone else). I don't see why anyone should tell Libertarian news is again, very fact based, very coherent, nobody talks about religion, they support drugs and personal freedom, it's the perfect mix of economic freedom and personal freedom. Too bad nobody votes for them.

throwawydedbee 6y ago

It's not about "catering to"; it's about not omitting. And for someone who has listened to, donated to, and loved NPR as a source of neutral (if a bit left-leaning) news and commentary for decades, it's a very disheartening development. All of our reasonably neutral information sources are going away, and we're left to sift through what's left for ourselves.