As a KPFA and WBAI news and public affairs producer, and a participant in the attempt to create a democratic Pacifica, I think this is a well balanced report, including sources who disagree and a good historical view. Particularly noteworthy was the reporting on Pacificas heyday, the Vietnam War, and the rise of NPR thereafter, in the 1970s, which occasioned declining listenership. Ive been told that NPR was created to counter Pacificas message and I dont know whether thats true, but whatever was intended, it most certainly does. NPRs reporting is far more right wing than the Voice of Americas, which is now similar to that of Reuters or the AP, and often produced by the same reporters. If you dont believe me, compare the NPR and Voice of America websites and/or their coverage on any particular foreign affairs story. For the most part, NPRs foreign reporters slavishly follow US officials around, record them, and/or write down everything they say. After UN Ambassador Samantha Powers recent trip to the Central African Republic, an NPR host asked her whether she gets discouraged by the challenge of stopping war crimes and mass atrocities around the world. Without mentioning, for instance, the unforeseen rate of birth defects in Basra and Fallujah, thanks to U.S. munitions poisoning. Irony is a casualty of empire, and NPR is empires outlet. Thats one reason the Pacifica Network is still important.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 04:43:47 +0000
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