On CPR

National Public Radio remains something of an enigma to a majority of the news hounds out there. I only like to listen to short durations of a fraction of the national programs, and stay most committed to the locally produced syndicated shows like Le Show with Harry Shearer, TTBOOK with Jim Fleming, et al, Whad'ya Know with Michael Feldman, and Prairie Home Companion. Shearer actually does the best takedown of the flagship NPR shows with his Continental Public Radio (CPR) parodies.

NPR actually sucks at science news, political news, and whatever because they play it safe while strangely garnering a reputation as a liberal media outlet. Their own media criticism show, On The Media, though interesting is also watered down, even though one OTM story explained all the radio editing gimmicks available. A CounterPunch story called NPR Leads the Charge to War articulates the problem well:

"Liberal NPR?"

How could anyone call themselves a journalist and use three right wing loonies as their sourcing for a report on a topic as hyper-sensitive as Iran?

So with that, this Morning Show transcript came across the PeakOil message board. It actually presents the Hubbert side and as I was reading it, I reminded myself that the clarity improves not to have to hear all the too-annoying background noises and pretentious fades typical of the broadcast. ... But then the transcriber stuck this bit in to the transcript as the reporter interviewed an oil business anal-optimist: "(Noisy office environment in the background)".

Please, someone put NPR out of its misery.