How Slate magazine gets you wrong
Slate, the online news and culture journal, has a front-page story today that excoriates NPR listeners. Not NPR, mind you — but you. You listening, right now. Here’s what Farhad Manjoo has to say:
I’m an NPR groupie. I listen to public radio for several hours a day—more often than I watch TV, more often than I do actual work.
There’s only one thing I hate about my daily companion: my fellow listeners.
Not all of them—just the ones who write in to complain whenever anything related to pop music, celebrities, technology, or other subjects that appeal to people under 40 comes across their precious wireless.
Manjoo’s main beef is that so many listeners gripe when NPR (or our other public radio programs) fiddle about with pop culture.
Here’s why Manjoo is wrong. First, I think snobbery is under-rated in our society. Our listeners should be asking discerning questions about the people and musicians we ask them to listen to
Is Justin Bieber worth a story? Or even Michael Jackson? Maybe so, but it’s not a given.
I for one am happy to wrestle with the idea of whether this kind of “pop star” deserves even a small blip on our collective radar screen.
(I happen to come down on the side of Yes in the case of Jackson, No in the case of Bieber.)
I think our listeners also see (or hear) NPR as a bastion of non-youth culture. Yes, we want to introduce artists and ideas that evolved after 1980.
But it’s only natural for people to feel a little defensive when kiddy culture (especially mediocre kiddy culture) makes it over the transom into our more deliberate, discerning news and culture magazines.
We understand the danger that comes when cool cultural institutions (the A&E Network, anyone?) get swamped with “audience-building” gimcrackery.
I say this as someone who is producing a story for tomorrow morning’s newscast about a rap artist from Glens Falls. And I’m a big fan of our afternoon music line-up, which includes hip-hop and reggaeton as well as bluegrass and oldies.
But one of the reasons I love working in public radio is that our audience is made up of people who talk back to their radio, demanding quality and taste, not just popularity and the Latest Thing.
Read Manjoos article here and leave your comments below.
Tags: public radio
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Here’s the thing… I believe that there should be something for everyone. There are 50 million outlets that cover the celebrity culture. There are a tiny fraction of that who do good news coverage, NPR and NCPR among them. The pop culture addicts have tons of places that cater exclusively to them. Why can’t news junkies have that? When Entertainment Tonight does segments on health care, then I’ll stop objecting to NPR pieces on Justin Bieber.
The humor lies in the fact that Slate and NPR attract an overlapping audience, although NPR’s is broader. What Manjoo says about NPR commenters applies in large part to the commenters at Slate.
“Pop” and “culture” in the same sentence? Don’t think so.
Justin Bieber – No. Lady Ga Ga – Yes.
I guess it’s all in your point of view: I don’t mind arts and music pieces, but I could do without NPR’s sports coverage. I suppose Frank Deford provides a point of view you won’t find on ESPN, but you couldn’t prove it by me.
Learn to ignore irrelevant “rags” like Slate, Huff-Po, etc. and you’ll be off to a good start.
Frank Deford gets 5 mins a week and there is an hour Saturday at noon..that ‘s about it for sports coverage on NCPR…apart from giving the score of the Super Bowl on news. Don’t see how it could be much reduced…personally I dont much care for opera but I appreciate that fans enjoy 3 hours a week part of the year.
I expect NPR in general appeals to a certain demographic and nothing much changes it..sort of like putting Anne Hathaway on the Oscars and expecting younger viewers.
My two least liked and never listen to anymore programs are Click and Clack, and Priarie Home Companion.
Also in the music department, not interested in south of the border music.
With us on the northern border, it would make sense to have some north of the border music.
If NPR is going to cover what commercial radio/news covers we don’t need them. The point of a public station would be to cover things that don’t have a large enough market to make the mass culture list.
Classical music will not get played; poetry will not get read, etc., if we simply leave it up to the private commercial sources only. Yet we know that there is a public good to be had from increasing cultural awareness through these means. I think you could look at Justin Bieber but from a different angle one that has not been covered. But anyway he is not supposed to be liked by adults, he is supposed to be liked by 10 year old girls and that is okay he is harmless fun. But there is no reason for NPR to just cover him or play him.
There ya go Pete, the two programs I love the most are Car Talk and PHC! Difrn’t strokes!
“wireless” , you gotta be kidding me! Just that should send the article into the recycle bin.
What I love about public radio is that they introduce me to people, books and ideas that I haven’t encountered yet. They also present alternative and broader views of the topics covered in the mainstream commercial media. Hooray for the variety – I want it all!
If I want to hear about pop stars there are loads of radio & TV stations covering them not to mention scads of magazines on the newsstand. Why should Public Broadcasting want to be just another “me too”? If NPR & PBS decide to do that, then Public Broadcasting will cease to have a function.
I was laughed at recently for calling him Justin Beaver. Ignorance of fad stars is still ignorance, all things considered.
“mediocre kiddy culture”… Wow. Snobbery really is under-rated.
Yeah Knuck, but if you have to be ignorant about something, fad stars are a pretty good place to do that.
As far as that goes, does that mean all the kiddies of today should know the fad stars of MY youth? Mac Davis, Bobby Goldsboro, Donny Osmond, Olivia Newton-John, Gabe Kaplin, Kristy McNichol? Nope, WHO CARES!
Bret, I just gave you a comment like for Mac Davis!
oa, one of the real beauties of todays technology is that even old codgers like me can go to You Tube and see the stars of our youth in all their glory. I can watch KC and the Sunshine Band or The Bay City Rollers (S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y… NIGHT!!!) or Olivia N-J back when “Farah hair” and polyester were still “in”. I can even watch Anaconi on Lawrence Welk!
Makes the years melt away.
Justin Who? Lady Who? (Not ashamed to be ignorant of pop “culture”)
ahah scratchy no shame there, you need to get a couple of 10 and 14 year old’s in the house, that is my information source on these people.