Very good piece by Glenn Greenwald on NPR's refusal to use the word "torture" to describe the interrogation techniques adopted by the Bush administration, and on the refusal of an NPR ombudsman to answer Greenwald's questions. (I'd be afeered of Greenwald too, across a table–steeltrap mind). A friend's comment:
Interesting as a revelation of how successfully the Bush-Cheney intimidation of NPR was carried through. Its peak was the chairmanship of the CPB by Kenneth Y. Tomlinson between September 2003 and September 2005: a Voice of America far-right controller, whose job was to discipline and enforce "balance" to the point where the censorship would be internalized and self-induced. Tomlinson did what he was brought in to do. What we are seeing now are post-mortem effects.
All Things Considered, around 1990, seemed a small miracle, completely out of keeping with the rest of American political culture, a reliable and sometimes a courageous source. Now, it is just part of the scenery. The difference between All Things Considered and Fox Radio is the difference between the drawing room and the garage but the two are audibly members of the same family. The NPR wife and the Fox husband.
