Tuesday, November 5, 2019

NPR's MORNING EDITION turns 40

NPR's MORNING EDITION is turning 40.  Forty years.   However you rate NPR or PBS, it is worth noting that once upon a time they didn't exist.  In fact, they're relatively new.  We had public education television and radio when I was in school.  From WIKIPEDIA, this is what we had before:



National Educational Television (NET) was a United States  educational  broadcast  television network that operated from May 16, 1954, to October 4, 1970. It was owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the  Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It was succeeded by the  Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which has  memberships with many  television stations that were formerly part of NET.


The network was founded as the Educational Television and Radio Center (ETRC) in November 1952 by a grant from the Ford Foundation's Fund for Adult Education (FAE). It was originally a limited service for exchanging and distributing  educational television programs produced by local television stations to other stations; it did not produce any material by itself.[1]

In the spring of 1954, ETRC moved its operations to  Ann Arbor,  Michigan, and on May 16 of that year, it began operating as a "network". It put together a daily five-hour package of  television programs, distributing them primarily on  kinescope film to the affiliated stations by mail.[2] The programming was noted for treating subjects in depth, including hour-longinterviews with people of literary and historical importance. The programming was also noted for being dry and academic, with little consideration given to entertainment value, a marked contrast to  commercial television. Many of the shows were designed as adult education, and ETRC was nicknamed the "University of the Air"[3](or, less kindly, "The Bicycle Network", both for its low budget and for the way NET supposedly sent programs to its affiliates, by distributing its program films and videotapes via non-electronic means such as by mail, termed in the television industry as"bicycling").

The center's headquarters moved from Ann Arbor to  New York City in 1958, and the organization became known as the National Educational Television and Radio Center (NETRC).[1]The center became more aggressive at this time, aiming to ascend to the role of the U.S.'  fourth television network. Among its efforts, the network began importing programs from the  BBC into the United States, starting with An Age of Kings in 1961.[4]It increased its programming output to ten hours a week.[1] Most programs were produced by the affiliate stations because the NETRChad no production staff or facilities of its own. NETRC also contracted programs from independent producers and acquired foreign material from countries like Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Yugoslavia, the USSR, France, Italy and West Germany.[5]

Starting from 1962, the federal government took over the FAE's grants-in-aid program through the Education Television Facilities Act.[6]

External video

Eleanor Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy (President's Commission on the Status of Women) - NARA cropped.jpg
  Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt; What Status For Women?, 59:07, 1962.
Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the  Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, interviews President  John F. Kennedy, Secretary of Labor  Arthur Goldberg and others,  Open Vault from WGBH[7]

In November 1963 NETRC changed its name to National Educational Television, and spun off its radio assets. Under the centerpiece program NET Journal, NET began to air controversial, hard-hitting  documentaries that explored numerous social issues of the day such as  poverty and racism. While praised by critics, many affiliates, especially those in politically and culturally conservative markets, objected to the perceived liberal slant of the programming.[8]

In 1966, NET's viability came into question when President Lyndon Johnson arranged for the Carnegie Foundation to conduct a study on future of educational television. The Carnegie Commission released its report in 1967, recommending educational televisionto be transformed to "public television". The new organization would be controlled by the nonprofit  Corporation for Public Broadcasting, established by the  federal government and receiving funding from the government and other sources. The funds were to be distributed to individual stations and independent production centers like NET. The Ford Foundation, the educational broadcasters and President Johnsonsupported the recommendations of the Carnegie Commission in the Public Broadcasting Act, which was signed into law on November 7, 1967.[9]

The Network Project, a media research organization based at Columbia University, noted the paradoxical nature of the Ford's Foundation role: "A supposedly educational or public system of television was wholly the progeny of a private economic institution".The ethos of The Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation could be traced to Andrew Carnegie's essay "The Gospel of Wealth", in which he maintained that a third force was needed to mediate between the disruptive forces of popular democracy and industrialcapitalism, so that "the ties of brotherhood" could "bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship". Following the Protestant ethic, Carnegie proposed that non-profit agencies, ranging from libraries and educational institutions to museums andendowments, helped carrying out "the good works of the elect".[10]




PBS replaced that system.  October 5, 1970 is when PBS begins broadcasting.  With radio, it's a little different.


Again, from WIKIPEDIA:



The National Educational Radio Network (NERN) was a means of distributing radio programs in the  United States between 1961 and 1970. With funding from the  Ford Foundation, the network began broadcasting on six radio stations on April 3, 1961.[1]

A forerunner was formed in 1925 as the  Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations, then renamed the  National Association of Educational Broadcasters in 1934. In 1951 a grant from the  W. K. Kellogg Foundation enabled the network to become the "(NAEB) Tape Network", based at the  University of Illinois.[2]

NAEB Tape Network became part of the National Educational Radio Network in 1963. As a result of the  Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 NERN became part of  National Public Radio in 1970.


So that is what PBS replaced.  However, with radio, it is more than just the above.  The first public radio in the U.S., the model really that NPR was built upon was PACIFICA RADIO which is still around today.  From WIKIPEDIA:


Pacifica Foundation is an American non-profit organization which owns five independently operated,  non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for their  progressive/liberal[1][2] politicalorientation. Its national headquarters adjoins station  KPFA in  Berkeley, California.

Pacifica Foundation also operates the Pacifica Network, a program service supplying over 180 affiliated stations with various programs, primarily news and public affairs.[citationneeded] It was the first  public radio network in the United States and it is the world's oldest listener-funded radio network.[3][4]Programs such as Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News have been some of its most popular productions.[citationneeded]

The Pacifica Radio Archives, housed at station  KPFK in Los Angeles, is the oldest public radio archive in the United States[5] documenting more than five decades of grassroots political, cultural,and performing arts history. The archive includes recordings of interviews with  John Coltrane,  James Baldwin,  Lorraine Hansberry, and  Langston Hughes, among many others.

The Pacifica Radio Archives feature in their own 30-minute slot on  BBC Radio 5 Live's Up All Night program.


Pacifica was founded in 1946 by pacifists E. John Lewis and  Lewis Hill. During  World War II, Hill, as well as Lewis, filed for  conscientious objector status. After the war, Lewis, Hill and a small group of former conscientious objectors created the Pacifica Foundation in  Pacifica, California.  KPFA in Berkeley commenced broadcast activities in 1949.



So it all started with KPFA and KPFK joined in 1959 and WBAI in 1960.  This was listener-supported radio.  They do pledge drives like PBS.


I used to love PACIFICA.  They cared about the Iraq War.  But then they threw their lot in with the Democratic Party.  In fairness, fakes like Kris Welch were really about pimping the Democratic Party and I regret being kind about her in my early Ruth Reports. I will never forget listening to her broadcast a program with two guests where the guests argued for the Iraq War -- this was over a year after it started -- and she did not challenge them but went along with them.  That is Ms. Welch and, sadly, that is KPFA.

They recently ran off Bonnie Faulkner.  Her program GUNS AND BUTTER explored topics off the radar.  (The program continues so use link in previous sentence.)  That was the reason that PACIFICA was created.  Ms. Faulkner dealt with many topics and that included 9/11.  I thinkher work is important and I think it will be appreciated in years to come.  No one, however, will remember Kris Welch, Larry Bensky, or any of the other useless voices that parroted DNC talking points while pretending they were independent radio.


Sasha Lilley (AGAINST THE GRAIN) and Dennis Bernstein (FLASHPOINTS) are two of the few on air worth listening to.  KPFA was my favorite but it lost its way in its rush to elect Barack Obama.  I will never forget the shameful day the wretched Aimee Allison called for book burning (copies of THE NEW YORKER because she did not like the cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama).  What a sad, sad day for all of PACIFICA.   I had respected her.  She was supposed to be anti-war.  She was not anti-war.  She was anti-Bush.  Boththe first and the second.  And that is fine.  I am not a supporter of either.  But Ms. Allison pretended to be against the Iraq War.  After Mr. Obama became President Obama, she never demanded US troops out of Iraq.  And, by the way, they remain in Iraq today. But that is not a problem to Ms. Allison.




This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:

 
Tuesday, November 5, 2019.


In Iraq, the question remains: Where is Saba Al Mahdawi?


 1 hour ago
has been missing for 3 days. The 35 year old activist and medic was kidnapped by armed men on her way home from Tahrir Square, Baghdad. The car plate is known and so are the perpetrates. The has done nothing to rescue her.
 
 


In the US, another question remains -- why is Joe Biden still in the race?  Yes, trash like Alyssa Milano will forever try to prop him up.  Otherwise?  His support is dropping.  Young adult Americans have never been behind him.




  1.  Nov 1
Lily Levin of Buzzfeed had the audacity to ask Joe Biden about his SuperPAC support and climate change. His reply: “Take a look at my record, child. Look at my record.”
14 replies47 retweets94 likes
 
 
 Oct 31
Opinion: I Asked Joe Biden A Tough Question, So He Called Me A Child. He Wants To Be President? - 👏 I’m with Lily Levin! Such a bright, respectful but assertive young woman. You were right. He was wrong. With the youth is where our country needs to lead
 
 
 Oct 31
Replying to   and 
Lily Levin for President!
2 likes
 
 
 Oct 31
Yea. This interaction between Lily Levin, a young activist, and was super cringy. If Biden hopes to attract young people, this is definitely not the way to do it.
1 like
 
 
 Oct 31
Today in teens vs. boomers: Here's 18-year old Lily Levin writing about her encounter with Joe Biden, who interrupted her question with "Look at my record, child". She's not impressed!
24 replies56 retweets147 likes
 
 



Tom Gara is incorrect.  Joe Biden is not a baby boomer.  He predates the baby boom by a few years  Basic demographics argue the boom begins in 1946.

Joe's disrespecting young voters and, especially, young women voters, with his response to Lily Levin.  Cedric ("Joe wants your vote but he doesn't want to interact with you"), Wally ("THIS JUST IN! WORTHLESS JOE BIDEN INSULTS YOUNG VOTERS!") and Ann ("Neither Joe Biden nor Alyssa Milano give a damn about women") addressed this issue.


While some agree with Lily Levin:

 Nov 1
is a rising star!
stay holding our politicians accountable!! Biden’s support for former fossil fuel executives shows that he has continued to undermine low income communities of color—specifically Indigenous & Black communities—through environmental racism and injustice, both…
 
 


Some do not:

 Nov 1
: lily - I too am concerned but I am also a pragmatist. Biden’s not perfect but he has compassion earned by tragic life experiences; he has a good heart. Job #1: defeat Trump. In spite of your experience with him, he still has the best opportunity to win. Peace.
 
 


Lily can take comfort in the fact that Servere13 is a raging idiot.  In the Tweet above he wants you to know that Joe Biden is someone who "has compassion earned by tragic life experiences."  What a load of nonsense.  Joe does love to play drama queen and cry in public; however, there's no sign that he has compassion.  Compassion would not have supported an illegal war on Iraq -- a war that continues.  Compassion would not have looked the other way at Nouri al-Maliki's secret prisons and torture chambers and insisted Nouri get a second term after the Iraqi people voted him out.  Compassion would not have led to silence from Joe as Nouri went on to spend his second term targeting Sunnis -- this targeting is what led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq.  That happened under Joe's watch.  Drama Queen Mother Joe had a lot of misfortune and, goodness knows, he loves to whine about it, but there's no indication that this misfortune made him more sensitive to the needs of others.  And "he"?  I'm finding it hard to believe that a woman would write a defense for the Clinton marriage.  I think most women would either be silent on the topic or react the way Rosie O'Donnell did in her standup in the early '00s.  Hillary chose to be a doormat.  That's her choice.  But I don't see many women rushing forward to say, "It's true love!"  We tend to realize it's a man who knows he can cheat on his wife having his cake and his neighbor's cake and eating everything he can.  I guess, to some men, that might be an attractive marriage.  But women aren't really sitting around talking to each other asking, "Do you think the most romantic moment in the marriage was when Bill cheated on Hillary as governor or when he cheated on her as president?"


Along with an inability to relate to young adults, Joe's still got his Hunter Biden problem.


 9 hours ago
John Solomon obtained emails showing Hunter Biden's Ukrainian gas firm Burisma indeed used an intermediary to reach out to the Obama admin to shape gov's perception of the company as "corrupt," name-dropping Hunter secure a meeting
10 replies39 retweets76 likes
 
 
Show this thread



  1.  38 minutes ago
.: "We also now know the name of the whistleblower. The whistleblower needs to come forward as a material witness bc he worked for Joe Biden at the same time Hunter Biden was getting money from corrupt oligarchs. I say tonight to the media, do your job & print his name."
/>
0:11
102 replies24 retweets70 likes
 
 
 1 hour ago
Sen. : "Hunter Biden made $50,000 a month. That's the definition of corruption. We know he got it only because of his family connections."
/>
120 replies37 retweets84 likes
 
 


I didn't realize the leaker wasn't being named by the press.



  1.   Retweeted
     Nov 2
Eric Ciaramella: - Sent by to the - Worked for - Advised on “Ukraine policy” - Invited operative to NSC - Coordinated illegally with as fake whistleblower Understand?
1,048 replies10,441 retweets15,315 likes
 
 


That's the leaker.  If he wants to try to start impeachment, he needs to appear publicly.  He's not a rape victim.  He's someone who insists that someone, somewhere, saw something and passed it on to people who told people in a Faberge Organics Shampoo kind of way.




And, according to the leaker, eventually it reached him.

You can't make charges for impeachment from behind a screen.  He's a leaker, he's not the great and powerful Oz.


The protests continue in Iraq.  In "Analyst: Iraq protests have 'overcome sectarianism," (ALJAZEERA), Ghassan al-Attiya observes:
For weeks before the protests, there were ongoing discussions around the extent to which the public has become frustrated with the political elite. The protests, however, started in Baghdad as completely peaceful demonstrations. Groups that are far removed from any political parties were responsible for organising the demonstrations.
Yet, the security forces responded to the demonstrations with heavy-handed tactics. But as the protests continued demonstrators from southern and central areas of Iraq joined the movement. That is when the protests became more violent as a Shia-Shia battle began to emerge. Protesters burned down the headquarters and offices of Shia political parties and armed groups.

There are regional and international powers that have an interest in the continuation of the protests. They have resorted to the media to serve this interest. There is no proof the movement has received any financial or military support from an external power, however.


REUTERS notes today, "Internet access in the capital Baghdad and much of Iraq has been cut off, internet blockage observatory NetBlocks said late on Monday as the country experiences a wave of anti-government protests."

 1 minute ago
Iraq shuts down internet again as protests intensify
 
 


 17 minutes ago
Cyber security NGO NetBlocks says that the blackout is 'the most severe telecommunication restriction to have been imposed by Iraq's government since protests began' on October 1.
 
 



ALJAZEERA reports 8 protesters killed yesterday (five in Baghdad).  REUTERS notes that 13 have been shot dead in the past 24 hours.  And Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:


 Talks on amendments to the Iraqi constitution began on Tuesday as internet access was cut in Baghdad amid renewed clashes in the capital.
The first meeting of a parliamentary committee that was formed last month to oversee the drafting of constitutional adjustments took place in parliament, with officials hoping it will help meet the public's demands and calm weeks of widespread protests.
Iraq has experienced massive anti-government demonstrations in Baghdad and across the mostly Shiite south since the beginning of October.
Protesters are calling for an overhaul of the political system established after the 2003 US-led invasion.
"The committee is represented by Iraq's three main components and all minorities," an Iraqi official, who wished to remain anonymous, told The National.




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