A Media Community Integrating Spirituality, Democracy, Ethics
Simply Yes or No
“There has been no clear consensus on what constitutes torture,” according to Brian Duffy, NPR's former managing editor, a principal in Public Radio’s refusal to use the term “torture” to describe Bush era practices.
"I understand the desire to 'call a spade a spade,' but it is not for journalists to start labeling specific practices torture," said Duffy. "That's what the debate is about -- what constitutes torture?"
National Public Radio’s Ombudsman Alicia Shepherd concurs,
“The role of a news organization is not to choose sides in this or any debate. People have different definitions of torture and different feelings about what constitutes torture. NPR's job is to give listeners all perspectives, and present the news as detailed as possible and put it in context.”
Ombudsman Shepherd continues, “No matter how many distinguished groups -- the International Red Cross, the U.N. High Commissioners -- say waterboarding is torture, there are responsible people who say it is not. Former President Bush, former Vice President Cheney, their staff and their supporters obviously believed that waterboarding terrorism suspects was necessary to protect the nation's security.
One can disagree strongly with those beliefs and their actions. But they are due some respect for their views, which are shared by a portion of the American public. So, it is not an open-and-shut case that everyone believes waterboarding to be torture.
I am not shilling for NPR. I don't agree with its use of bureaucratic euphemisms like 'enhanced interrogation techniques.' But I am shilling for strong, credible journalism that is as objective as humanly possible.” Hmm, is an Ombudsman just a paid blog commenter?
Bob Garfield, host of the NPR program, “On The Media,” conducted an exemplary interview with NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepherd.
He queried, “Waterboarding is unambiguously in violation of the International Convention on Torture, which has been ratified by 140-some countries.
It seems to me that the only people who think it’s a debate are the Bush Administration, who are the culprits. So how does that constituent a debate?
NPR certainly has no difficulty calling murder 'murder.' It doesn't call it 'enhanced argumentation technique.' The terrorists call themselves 'freedom fighters' but NPR calls acts of terror 'acts of terror.’”
Jesus upbraided his disciples for using weasel words to avoid telling the truth. His punch line was, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Karen J. Greenberg writes in her sobering op-ed “Kiss the Era of Human Rights Goodbye,”
“Bush's Global War on Terror has been a textbook case of human rights violations designed and implemented at the highest levels of government. First, there was the assault on the English language, a necessary initial step in the process of changing the national mindset of a country about to become a first-class human-rights abuser… (when) Susan Sontag compared administration abuses of language to the linguistic perversions that preceded genocidal acts against the Hutus in Rwanda, I recoiled.”
Ever since Gingrich’s “Contract on America” began to threaten NPR’s government funding the network has become morally docile as a legitimate political watchdog.
After 9-11 as NPR garnered a much larger "market share" their support has become much more corporate and their coverage much more feel good.
Public Radio does non threatening arts and culture pieces very well, and will do liberal self congratulatory stories about racism, sexism, or homophobia.
However, NPR’s political interviews are so polite and cozy as to be just shy of handing government officials an open mic to spew propaganda. Grade school kids have recently asked former Bushies like Condoleezza Rice tougher questions than any NPR reporter ever has. BBC training and an internship on "Democracy Now" should be mandatory for every NPR correspondent.
It gives me no pleasure to say this but what I have privately railed about for years is dreadfully clear now. NPR has ceded its moral integrity and sacred journalistic trust to hold the powerful accountable.
Health care is worthy of a vigorous debate. International, universally accepted definitions of torture are not.
There are times when the admonishment of Jesus cannot be trifled with. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
"I understand the desire to 'call a spade a spade,' but it is not for journalists to start labeling specific practices torture," said Duffy. "That's what the debate is about -- what constitutes torture?"
National Public Radio’s Ombudsman Alicia Shepherd concurs,
“The role of a news organization is not to choose sides in this or any debate. People have different definitions of torture and different feelings about what constitutes torture. NPR's job is to give listeners all perspectives, and present the news as detailed as possible and put it in context.”
Ombudsman Shepherd continues, “No matter how many distinguished groups -- the International Red Cross, the U.N. High Commissioners -- say waterboarding is torture, there are responsible people who say it is not. Former President Bush, former Vice President Cheney, their staff and their supporters obviously believed that waterboarding terrorism suspects was necessary to protect the nation's security.
One can disagree strongly with those beliefs and their actions. But they are due some respect for their views, which are shared by a portion of the American public. So, it is not an open-and-shut case that everyone believes waterboarding to be torture.
I am not shilling for NPR. I don't agree with its use of bureaucratic euphemisms like 'enhanced interrogation techniques.' But I am shilling for strong, credible journalism that is as objective as humanly possible.” Hmm, is an Ombudsman just a paid blog commenter?
Bob Garfield, host of the NPR program, “On The Media,” conducted an exemplary interview with NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepherd.
He queried, “Waterboarding is unambiguously in violation of the International Convention on Torture, which has been ratified by 140-some countries.
It seems to me that the only people who think it’s a debate are the Bush Administration, who are the culprits. So how does that constituent a debate?
NPR certainly has no difficulty calling murder 'murder.' It doesn't call it 'enhanced argumentation technique.' The terrorists call themselves 'freedom fighters' but NPR calls acts of terror 'acts of terror.’”
Jesus upbraided his disciples for using weasel words to avoid telling the truth. His punch line was, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Karen J. Greenberg writes in her sobering op-ed “Kiss the Era of Human Rights Goodbye,”
“Bush's Global War on Terror has been a textbook case of human rights violations designed and implemented at the highest levels of government. First, there was the assault on the English language, a necessary initial step in the process of changing the national mindset of a country about to become a first-class human-rights abuser… (when) Susan Sontag compared administration abuses of language to the linguistic perversions that preceded genocidal acts against the Hutus in Rwanda, I recoiled.”
Ever since Gingrich’s “Contract on America” began to threaten NPR’s government funding the network has become morally docile as a legitimate political watchdog.
After 9-11 as NPR garnered a much larger "market share" their support has become much more corporate and their coverage much more feel good.
Public Radio does non threatening arts and culture pieces very well, and will do liberal self congratulatory stories about racism, sexism, or homophobia.
However, NPR’s political interviews are so polite and cozy as to be just shy of handing government officials an open mic to spew propaganda. Grade school kids have recently asked former Bushies like Condoleezza Rice tougher questions than any NPR reporter ever has. BBC training and an internship on "Democracy Now" should be mandatory for every NPR correspondent.
It gives me no pleasure to say this but what I have privately railed about for years is dreadfully clear now. NPR has ceded its moral integrity and sacred journalistic trust to hold the powerful accountable.
Health care is worthy of a vigorous debate. International, universally accepted definitions of torture are not.
There are times when the admonishment of Jesus cannot be trifled with. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Tags: jesus, npr, npr ombudsman alicia shepherd, on the media, torture
2 Comments
-
Comment by Sylvia Davis Davis on July 7, 2009 at 11:09pm - I was listening/raging to an NPR apologist in the car on our way back from Colorado. She claimed since there are opposing views, that makes it a "debate" what torture is. Reminds me of NAMBA, North American Man Boy Association, which promulgates "love" between men and young boys. No sane/ethical person would agree that is a "debate," Who defines the terms wins the argument.
Add a Comment
You need to be a member of The Free Souls Connection to add comments!
About
The Free Souls Connection
The Free Souls Connection is an initiative of the Free Souls Project with the intention of cultivating a community of Progressive media producers and users in the areas of Spirituality, Democracy and Ethics.
We invite original written, audio, and video creations in the lineage of Spiritual Humanism, the wellspring of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, forming the basis for a healthy integration of Spirituality, Democracy, and Ethics.
Rev. Theodore Parker expresses this trinity of American values marvelously. “There is what I call the American idea…a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.”
Come Ministers, Radio Hosts, Musicians, Poets, Bloggers, Cartoonists, Commentators and all artists for the common good!
Let us support, nurture, encourage, and commune with one other and our sacred world.
We invite original written, audio, and video creations in the lineage of Spiritual Humanism, the wellspring of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, forming the basis for a healthy integration of Spirituality, Democracy, and Ethics.
Rev. Theodore Parker expresses this trinity of American values marvelously. “There is what I call the American idea…a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.”
Come Ministers, Radio Hosts, Musicians, Poets, Bloggers, Cartoonists, Commentators and all artists for the common good!
Let us support, nurture, encourage, and commune with one other and our sacred world.
© 2009 Created by Chuck Freeman on Ning. Create Your Own Social Network
but rarely have a conservative opinion