If some “alt right” host had accused Bernie Sanders of holding dual citizenship with Israel and asking how he could still be President, he would have been fired or much more. Diane Rehm blamed her question on a message she saw on her twitter feed. There appeared to be no consequences to her from that incident.
She is 80 years old and has decided it is time for her NPR retirement party.
The CEO of NPR characterizes her program as “non-ideological and civil conversation”. There was a story the other day about people in the media realizing they don’t know a single person personally who voted for Trump.
Paging Pauline Kael!
Are you making a nomination? From my “thorough” research she seems to be a New York film critic. Am I on the right track?
Her famous quote may be a little different than widely believed:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/culture-civilization/the-actual-pauline-kael-quote%E2%80%94not-as-bad-and-worse/
The show is being replaced by an angry black guy from San Francisco
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/16/502290355/as-diane-rehm-retires-wamu-launching-new-midday-show-called-1a
Good luck on the next fund drive begathon!
It is probably worth explaining that most NPR programs are not produced by NPR. The Diane Rehm show is produced by WAMU, the radio station for American University, the defacto in-house University for the US State Department. NPR just handles the syndication and distribution.
Many of the programs on Public Radio are also not distributed by NPR, but by American Public Media in Minnesota, PRI (now owned by WGBH in Boston) or directly by the station that produces the program.
Stations currently carrying Rehm are not obligated to carry the replacement show
On a mostly unrelated tangent, General Motors used to run its own on-house University in Flint Michigan. While it probably allowed GM to get free government money to train its future managers, it was a really bad idea. It reinforced the GM “groupthink” of GM managers all living in the same places, socializing with the same people and viewing college as just a vocational school – learning about European history, learning a foreign language or studying art are just a waste of time. Then you wonder why Europeans don’t want to by a Cadillac with rear wheel drive, cast iron engines with piston rods, bias ply tires and getting 12 mpg
good thing she left now instead of waiting for NPR to be defunded like it rightfully deserves for being a left propaganda tool spreading disinformation and lies with stories to feel sorry for illegals and Muslims that don’t deserve to be here.
The reason the funding is the way it is was because of exactly that threat. Democrats play chess. Most of the govt money goes through the CPB, which gives grants to individual stations. The stations combine that money with donations and corporate ad money and then decide which programs to buy. If they buy her show, the money goes to NPR, and then NPR pays WAMU to produce the program. NPR puts the program on their satellite and brokers national corporate sponsorships
Unless you cut the money to CPB, the roots quickly grow back. But that also would defund PBS. Despite the bias, Republicans like John McCain like the free national face time. With only one or two votes to spare in the Senate, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that happening.