Cave-in re. Gross/O'Reilly by NPR ombudsman

[DeepModem Mom]

Found this letter from NPR's ombudsman posted on another board:

http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/2003/031015.html

"I agree with the listeners who complained about the tone of the interview: questions were pointed from the beginning....

By coming across as a pro-Franken partisan, rather than a neutral and curious journalist, Gross did almost nothing that might have allowed the interview to develop.

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 an interview that was, in the end, unfair to O'Reilly."

[realFedUp]

1. oh really

Danny Miller is the executive producer of Fresh Air. I asked him if he thought the critics have a point:

Terry was tough on O'Reilly, not unfair. And I think O'Reilly drove the interview directly towards the conclusion he was hoping for. He was looking to butt heads. He's obviously still really steamed that the case against Franken was thrown out of court -- and came to our interview with the expressed goal of demonstrating his belief that NPR has a liberal bias, and that Fresh Air (like Franken) was out to defame him. On his own show he said: "I'll go on this program just to show you what they do, to expose what they do. Cause I knew what was going to happen... " It's pretty difficult to for an interviewer to maintain a high level of rapport with someone who wants to prove that you're out to get them.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. You're right, realFedUp -- Danny Miller defended Terry

[Classical_Liberal]

3. The freepers email bombed them obviously

I hope Danny Miller sticks to his gun. We at DU really need to go on a counter offensive to support Mr. Miller. O'Reilly was spoiling for a fight, because he wants the world to be like misinformed fox viewers.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. You're right, C-L -- remember this study? Top to bottom...

Primary News Source for Respondents with one or more misperceptions about the Recent Iraq War:
Misperceptions: al-Qaeda links, WMD found, World Public Opinion favorable.

Source: PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll "Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War," p. 15, PDF pagination.


News Source Percentage with
at least 1 misperception at least 2 misperceptions 3 misperceptions
Fox News 80 % 69 % 45 %
CBS News 71 % 51 % 15 %
ABC News 61 % 41 % 16 %
NBC News 55 % 34 % 12 %
CNN 55 % 38 % 13 %
Print Media 47 % 26 % 9 %
PBS/NPR News 23 % 13 % 4 %

[Serrefine]

7. Just listened to NPR's interviews of O'Reilly and Franken....and.......

I hate to say it, but......Terri Gross DID ask tough questions of O'Reilly, while she treated Franken as an old friend. Most of her question quoted critics of O'Reilly's book as she asked him to respond to various allegations, while she was very conversational with Franken, laughing along with his criticism of O'Reilly and the Right while asking him no tough or pointed questions. The tone of these two interviews, as well as the content could not have been more different.
People should listen to both interviews in their entirety and decide for themselves.

[KC21304]

9. I don't agree. It is hard to have an interview with someone

clearly unbalanced (pun intended) who is intent on proving the interviewee is trying to persecute him. He tried to use the same tactics he uses on his show but that didn't work so he had to leave. Poor baby.

[Serrefine]

10. Have you listened to both interviews?

There is just no comparison at all between Gross's questions, her tone.......between the interviews. And I tuned in expected to find O'Reilly's charge baseless. Gross, in fact, admitted she was harder on O'Reilly.

[Girlfriday]

11. Oh, do you mean.....

...like how O'really questions liberals on his show? The only problem with the a**hole is that he can't take what he dishes out.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Girlfriday]

15. I heard both interviews

and I concede your point, my question is SO WHAT! Franken is a comedian for one thing, an easier interview than some blow hard who takes himself way too seriously and thinks he has the market cornered on the TRUTH. Who cares? I'm tired of liberals taking it on the chin and being expected to smile. x(

[Serrefine]

17. Just responding to a post

where it was said Gross wasn't unfair to O'Reilly. No point other than that.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Maybe Terry decided to try Tim Russert's M.O, in reverse.....

Russert treats Republicans as old friends, and not only asks tough questions of, but sometimes savages, Democrats. No one criticizes him -- he's exalted as moderator of "Meet the Press," and makes millions.

Where has bending over backward to accommodate and enable the far right, while expecting moderates and liberals to sit quietly and be civil, gotten us in this country? All three branches of our government, increasingly at all levels, are controlled by an extreme wing of one party -- whose "water is carried" more often than not by mainstream American media.

[Serrefine]

14. I don't deny that Russert does this

He most certainly is hard on liberals.

[Serrefine]

8. Gross was much harder on OReilly than Franken

I listened to both interviews in their entirety, and much to my surprise, I totally agree with O Reilly that Gross was much harder on him, asking him more confrontational questions.....and very easy on Al Franken, whom she talked to in an easy conversational tone, laughing along with him, and never challenging him.

[bbernardini]

4. Pathetic...

This guy needs his ass handed to him...in a series of well-thought-out letters from nice folks like us. :)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Hear! Hear!

n/t

[TennesseeWalker]

16. Disappointing.

She was tough, but the Great O'Reilly couldn't answer her questions without getting snippy. I really don't want NPR to be totally "Fair and Balanced". O'Reilly isn't, and neither are any of the other Right Wing Media outlets. NPR should belong to the left and the PEOPLE.

It's high time we stood up to the playground bullies. I'm through with them.

[Orangeone]

18. Did we watch the same interview?

I guess the questions seemed tough to O'Reilly because he has some kind of persecution complex. To me it didn't seem like she was particularly hard on him, or disrespectful. He just made an ass of himself-- Terry Gross didn't do anything to him.

[DeepModem Mom]

19. Just noticed on NPR site that ombudsman required to report...

to NPR Board of Directors four times a year:


As part of its mandate, the NPR ombudsman's office prepares a report four times a year. These reports are presented to the NPR board of directors at the public sessions. The reports quantify the issues of concern to the listeners over the previous three months. The ombudsman also tracks trends in the program coverage, along with the listeners' responses to NPR's news coverage, its programs and any other issues that are of concern to the listeners.


http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/reports/index.html

[Cat Atomic]

20. O'Reilly fans complaining about a politically biased interview?

Pardon me, but- ROFLMFAO. That's the best joke I've heard all day.

There *was* a difference in the way she interviewed Franken vs. the way the interviewed O'Reilly. No doubt about it.

But they're two different men. Franken is a comedian, while O'Reilly is a lying fucktard. That's my fair and balanced opinion.

[AP]

21. I suspect this played out exactly to plan.

It gives everyone an oppotunity to play to type.