For Rabid NPR Fans -

The still-growing NPR “torture” controversy

There are several noteworthy developments since I wrote on Tuesday about the refusal of NPR’s Ombdusman, Alica Shepard, to be interviewed by me about NPR’s ban on using the word “torture” to describe the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics. Given the utter vapidity of her rationale (“there are two sides to the issue. And I’m not sure, why is it so important to call something torture?”)..

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Also, along with her On the Media appearance this weekend, Shepard went on another NPR-affiliated show — Patt Morrison’s KPCC Southern California Public Radio program — in a quality segment that included several good questions from Morrison (and even better ones from callers); a very well-compiled, illustrative and cringe-inducing montage of NPR’s repeatedly going out of its way to avoid calling Bush interrogation tactics “torture,” juxtaposed with an excerpt where NPR explicitly accused Iraqis in Sadr City of “using torture” against detainees; and, finally, the inclusion in the discussion of a Berkeley Professor of Linguistics explaining why it matters so much what the media does in this regard and how virtually all media around the world — other than what he called the “spineless U.S. media” — call these tactics “torture” (the KPCC program credits my criticisms of Shepard for catalyzing the controversy and the segment can be heard here).

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All of that was perfectly captured by penetratingly true satire back in August, 2004, from Jon Stewart and Daily Show “reporter” Rob Corddry [sent to me this week by a reader to illustrate what NPR is doing]:

Stewart: Here’s what puzzles me most, Rob. John Kerry’s record in Vietnam is pretty much right there in the official records of the U.S. military, and hasn’t been disputed for 35 years.

Corddry: That’s right, Jon, and that’s certainly the spin you’ll be hearing coming from the Kerry campaign over the next few days.

Stewart: That’s not a spin thing, that’s a fact. That’s established.

Corddry: Exactly, Jon, and that established, incontrovertible fact is one side of the story.

Stewart: But isn’t that the end of the story? I mean, you’ve seen the records, haven’t you? What’s your opinion?

Corddry: I’m sorry, “my opinion”? I don’t have opinions. I’m a reporter, Jon, and my job is to spend half the time repeating what one side says, and half the time repeating the other. Little thing called “objectivity” — �might want to look it up some day.

Stewart: Doesn’t objectivity mean objectively weighing the evidence, and calling out what’s credible and what isn’t?

Corddry: Whoa-ho! Sounds like someone wants the media to act as a filter! Listen, buddy:  Not my job to stand between the people talking to me and the people listening to me.