ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL,
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
Here’s another story the mainstream media is ignoring. And it happens, tangentially, to be about me. As many of you know, I’m a freelancer in public radio. Because of my involvement with the Occupy movement last year, I was fired from one gig (Soundprint) and blacklisted by NPR. NPR also tried to strong-arm another of my employers to get rid of me. They didn’t succeed. I managed to hang on to two radio jobs. Even though I wasn’t an NPR employee, received no money from NPR, and in any case didn’t even cover politics, NPR issued a press release about my political activities and made a federal case out of it, saying, “we, of course, take this issue very seriously.” They blew the story up all out of proportion, to the point that it was even be covered by foreign news outlets.
Well, now comes word that Adam Davidson, who is an NPR employee, the host of “Planet Money,” has apparently been taking payola from the corporations he covers. This blatant conflict of interest is being ignored by NPR and by the media. So far, it’s been reported in only two places that could be considered mainstream: the New York Observer and Huffington Post. Three other, decidedly non-mainstream outlets have written about it: Firedoglake, Alternet, and Democratic Underground. That’s it.
Where are the howls of outrage? Where are all the so-called journalists who lectured me about “ethics,” such as David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun? Where is NPR’s public statement about how they take this issue “very seriously”?
We all know. It’s okay if you toe the corporate line, not okay if you oppose it.
Hypocrisy on top of hypocrisy.
You didn’t say what the issue was that NPR had with you, so I have no idea what you are talking about in this article.
Ruth Ann Leonard, in the original, which was emailed to LUV News subscribers this past Sunday, I included links to all the references. Those hyperlinks were not reproduced here; I have no idea why. I have nothing to do with this blog and I know nothing about tech stuff. Maybe it’s a formatting issue.
In any case, I explained in the first paragraph exactly what “the issue was that NPR had with” me. If you’d like further information, Google will lead you to hundreds of accounts. Here’s one:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/radio-host-lisa-simeone-u_n_1022459.html
Sorry, Lisa. Sometimes the links don’t transfer when copied over. Someone would actually have to google your name to find out, as I did, all about your raw treatment from NPR.
Reply to Ruth Ann Leonard:
This is my 2nd attempt to reply; for some reason my comment didn’t appear the first time. Trying again.
This blog entry is a reprint of what I wrote in the LUV (Liberty Underground Virginia) Newsletter that goes out via email to subscribers all over the world. I wrote it and emailed it on Sunday, August 12, 2012. The administrator of this blog has reprinted it.
I included links to every statement. Why those links didn’t go through, aren’t reproduced here, I have no idea. Maybe it’s a formatting issue; I don’t know. I have nothing to do with this blog.
In any case, I already explained in the first paragraph “what the issue was that NPR had with” me. If you’d like further information, Google has an abundance: hundreds of news articles. Here’s one:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/radio-host-lisa-simeone-u_n_1022459.html
Mmm. WordPress puts them on hold till approved. Maybe now that you’ve been approved it won’t…
Who is the author of this,
Lisa Simeone.