Bullshit reporting

[glassgowkiss]

What a bullshit

I always thought NPR is setting standards for unbiased reporting, looks like even this organization is going down the tubes.

Recalls are the way of life in auto industry. Not too long ago there were exploding tanks on GM trucks, Bridgestone exploding tires, Ford Explorer roll-overs- just of the top of my head! So what is different in Toyota case that takes such headlines?

I had already 4 Toyota cars and by far they were the most reliable vehicles I have ever had and I intend to buy more Toyotas in the future. I think the whole matter is blow out of proportion 10 fold

[Doug]

Probably blown somewhat out of proportion, but its probably news because Toyota's reputation has made them the least likely to have a recal.

 

My wife's 98 Camry had the engine replaced @ 70k miles because of a design flaw in the PCV system. Toyota relented on this problem because of a potential class action suit. They did head/engine replacements only if the owner could prove that they had done all scheduled oil changes.

[Off_White]

So be prepared to buy some Toyota stock when it hits the low point...

[Peter_Puget]

AH just another example of biased (and in this case government aided) media supporting Government Motors...

[billcoe]

What a bullshit

I always thought NPR is setting standards for unbiased reporting, looks like even this organization is going down the tubes.

Recalls are the way of life in auto industry. Not too long ago there were exploding tanks on GM trucks, Bridgestone exploding tires, Ford Explorer roll-overs- just of the top of my head! So what is different in Toyota case that takes such headlines?

I had already 4 Toyota cars and by far they were the most reliable vehicles I have ever had and I intend to buy more Toyotas in the future. I think the whole matter is blow out of proportion 10 fold

 

 

NPR is a government mouthpiece spouting propaganda. It always has been. They say that the government owns GM now. Thus.....ta da!!!! This is what you get. Regardless of your feelings, given the huge number of affected vehicles, this is headline news.

[Peter_Puget]

Hey Off my Bank of America acquisitions have paid off nicely!

[Pete_H]

Most of the criticism I have heard is focused on Toyota's response to the problem, delayed and half-assed, not so much the problem itself.

 

 

[tvashtarkatena]

Interestingly, 'toyo ta' means flaming coffin in Japanese.

[G-spotter]

[AlpineK]

For years the big three, especially GM, were on top. They got complacent enough everybody hated them. That puts Toyota in the drivers seat, and like their predecessor they're starting down a slope. I'm sure they'll pull out for now, but being in the lead of auto manufacturing keeps them near the edge of a cliff.

 

I'm going to look for one of them Indian or Bangladeshi cars.

[tvashtarkatena]

Who wouldn't want to see a Prius racing, out of control, towards a bridge guardrail?

[Choada_Boy]

If you'd like to learn more about product recalls, watch Fight Club.

[ivan]

why do you want to make terry gross cry, you heartless fuck?!?

[j_b]

NPR finds right-wing crank to spit on Howard Zinn's grave

[j_b]

FAIR’s study recorded every on-air source quoted in June 2003 on four National Public Radio news shows: All Things Considered , Morning Edition , Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday . Each source was classified by occupation, gender, nationality and partisan affiliation. Altogether, the study counted 2,334 quoted sources, featured in 804 stories.

 

In addition to studying NPR ’s general news sources, FAIR looked at the think tanks NPR relies on most frequently, and at its list of regular commentators. To ensure a substantial sample of these subsets, we looked at four months (5–8/03) of think tank sources and commentators on the same four shows.

 

The elite majority

 

Elite sources dominated NPR ’s guest-list. These sources—including government officials, professional experts and corporate representatives—accounted for 64 percent of all sources.

 

Current and former government officials constituted the largest group of elite voices, accounting for 28 percent of overall sources, an increase of 2 percentage points over 1993. Current and former military sources (a subset of governmental sources) were 3 percent of total sources.

 

Professional experts—including those from academia, journalism, think tanks, legal, medical and other professions —were the second largest elite group, accounting for 26 percent of all sources. Corporate representatives accounted for 6 percent of total sources.

 

Journalists by themselves accounted for 7 percent of all NPR sources. For a public radio service intended to provide an independent alternative to corporate-owned and commercially driven mainstream media, NPR is surprisingly reliant on mainstream journalists. At least 83 percent of journalists appearing on NPR in June 2003 were employed by commercial U.S. media outlets, many at outlets famous for influencing news- room agendas throughout the country (16 from the New York Times alone, and another seven from the Washington Post ). Only five sources came from independent news outlets like the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the National Catholic Reporter .

 

The remainder of elite sources was distributed among religious leaders (2 percent) and political professionals, including campaign staff and consultants (1 percent).

 

The public on public radio

 

Though elite sources made up a majority of sources, the study actually found a substantial increase in the number of non-elite sources featured. Workers, students, the general public, and representatives of organized citizen and public interest groups accounted for 31 percent of all sources, compared to the 17 percent found in 1993.

 

The increase comes largely in the general public category. These are “people in the street” whose occupations are not identified and who tend to be quoted more briefly than other sources—often in one-sentence soundbites. More than a third (37 percent) of general public sources were not even identified by name—appearing in show transcripts as “unidentified woman No. 2” and the like. General public sources accounted for 21 percent of NPR sources.

 

Spokespeople for public interest groups—generally articulate sources espousing a particular point of view—accounted for 7 percent of total sources, the same proportion found in 1993. Though not a large proportion of NPR ’s sources, public interest voices were still about twice as common on NPR as on commercial network news, according to a FAIR study published in 2002 (Extra! , 5–6/02) that found that such sources made up only 3 percent of voices on network news shows.

 

Public interest voices on NPR reflected a wide range of opinion, from conservative groups like the National Right to Life Committee and Texas Eagle Forum to progressive groups like MoveOn.org and Code Pink. Types of organizations represented included political organizations, charitable foundations, public education groups and human rights and civil liberties advocates. Eighty-seven percent of public interest sources appeared in domestic policy stories.

 

Sources identified as workers on NPR programming in June accounted for 2.3 percent of overall sources and 1.8 percent of U.S. sources. But spokespersons for organized labor were almost invisible, numbering just six sources, or 0.3 percent of the total. Corporate representatives (6 percent) appeared 23 times more often than labor representatives.

 

How Public is Public Radio

[ivan]

what radio news source is less partisan than npr?

[billcoe]

what radio news source is less partisan than npr?

 

Partisan, as it relates to being democrat/republican and "fair" or "fair and unbalanced" are different things.

[richard_noggin]

I had a ford F-150 I put 320,000 miles on without a problem I never even changed the oil in the trany or rearend, so no matter what kind of rig it is, people tend to stick with what has done them right in the past untill they get burnt.

A recall is no big deal if the company does it's customers right!

[ivan]

FAIRs study recorded every on-air source quoted in June 2003 on four National Public Radio news shows: All Things Considered , Morning Edition , Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday . Each source was classified by occupation, gender, nationality and partisan affiliation. Altogether, the study counted 2,334 quoted sources, featured in 804 stories.

 

In addition to studying NPR s general news sources, FAIR looked at the think tanks NPR relies on most frequently, and at its list of regular commentators. To ensure a substantial sample of these subsets, we looked at four months (58/03) of think tank sources and commentators on the same four shows.

 

The elite majority

 

Elite sources dominated NPR s guest-list. These sourcesincluding government officials, professional experts and corporate representativesaccounted for 64 percent of all sources.

 

Current and former government officials constituted the largest group of elite voices, accounting for 28 percent of overall sources, an increase of 2 percentage points over 1993. Current and former military sources (a subset of governmental sources) were 3 percent of total sources.

 

Professional expertsincluding those from academia, journalism, think tanks, legal, medical and other professions were the second largest elite group, accounting for 26 percent of all sources. Corporate representatives accounted for 6 percent of total sources.

 

Journalists by themselves accounted for 7 percent of all NPR sources. For a public radio service intended to provide an independent alternative to corporate-owned and commercially driven mainstream media, NPR is surprisingly reliant on mainstream journalists. At least 83 percent of journalists appearing on NPR in June 2003 were employed by commercial U.S. media outlets, many at outlets famous for influencing news- room agendas throughout the country (16 from the New York Times alone, and another seven from the Washington Post ). Only five sources came from independent news outlets like the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the National Catholic Reporter .

 

The remainder of elite sources was distributed among religious leaders (2 percent) and political professionals, including campaign staff and consultants (1 percent).

 

The public on public radio

 

Though elite sources made up a majority of sources, the study actually found a substantial increase in the number of non-elite sources featured. Workers, students, the general public, and representatives of organized citizen and public interest groups accounted for 31 percent of all sources, compared to the 17 percent found in 1993.

 

The increase comes largely in the general public category. These are people in the street whose occupations are not identified and who tend to be quoted more briefly than other sourcesoften in one-sentence soundbites. More than a third (37 percent) of general public sources were not even identified by nameappearing in show transcripts as unidentified woman No. 2 and the like. General public sources accounted for 21 percent of NPR sources.

 

Spokespeople for public interest groupsgenerally articulate sources espousing a particular point of viewaccounted for 7 percent of total sources, the same proportion found in 1993. Though not a large proportion of NPR s sources, public interest voices were still about twice as common on NPR as on commercial network news, according to a FAIR study published in 2002 (Extra! , 56/02) that found that such sources made up only 3 percent of voices on network news shows.

 

Public interest voices on NPR reflected a wide range of opinion, from conservative groups like the National Right to Life Committee and Texas Eagle Forum to progressive groups like MoveOn.org and Code Pink. Types of organizations represented included political organizations, charitable foundations, public education groups and human rights and civil liberties advocates. Eighty-seven percent of public interest sources appeared in domestic policy stories.

 

Sources identified as workers on NPR programming in June accounted for 2.3 percent of overall sources and 1.8 percent of U.S. sources. But spokespersons for organized labor were almost invisible, numbering just six sources, or 0.3 percent of the total. Corporate representatives (6 percent) appeared 23 times more often than labor representatives.

 

How Public is Public Radio

this makes it sound like the ideal kind of news is local news and jerry springer - the choice between listening to raucous dipshits n' retards and remotely intelligent and informed "elites" is a pretty easy one to make

[Crux]

Most of the criticism I have heard is focused on Toyota's response to the problem, delayed and half-assed, not so much the problem itself.

 

Yes, there was delayed responsiveness, but now Toyota is putting the pedal to the metal and keeping it there.

[glassgowkiss]

 

NPR is a government mouthpiece spouting propaganda. It always has been. They say that the government owns GM now. Thus.....ta da!!!! This is what you get. Regardless of your feelings, given the huge number of affected vehicles, this is headline news.

I respectfully disagree. Majority of funding for NPR comes from listeners and some corporations, the government funding is only a few percent- thanks in big part to Reagan's policies.

As the matter of fact they were quite critical of the previous administration as well.

I agree- somewhat headline news, but really? more like 3rd page.

[Fairweather]

The world is not yet ready for throttle-by-wire. I'll stick to rod & cable, thanks. FJ60 Landcruiser-->Camry wagon-->T100 Pickup-->Tacoma Pickup-->FJ Cruiser. Almost 30 years of Toyotas. No complaints.

[glassgowkiss]

The world is not yet ready for throttle-by-wire. I'll stick to rod & cable, thanks. FJ60 Landcruiser-->Camry wagon-->T100 Pickup-->Tacoma Pickup-->FJ Cruiser. Almost 30 years of Toyotas. No complaints.

On this one I must agree. 2x Toyota Tercell and Van LE

[billcoe]

I respectfully disagree. Majority of funding for NPR comes from listeners and some corporations, the government funding is only a few percent- thanks in big part to Reagan's policies. ....

 

Where do you think their stories and sources come from? Keep sending the money in.

[Dirtyleaf]

I have been a proud owner of many toyota vehicles. That being said, if you haven't experienced the aforementioned throttle control issue, you're missing out. It's like your on a drag strip acting like Speed Racer all the time. A minute tap on the accelerator and the Rav4 shoots off the strip like a rocket ship. Whoa habanero, Whoa!