[NewMusic] Book Review - Alex Ross = Gannicide

[George Cremaschi]

> Yup. But this is a criticism of the presenters, not the audience. So this
> is what the NPR staff think themselves, or think that their listeners
> need. The "laity," as it were, are responsive to how things are framed.

Yes and no. I think your model of a media that decrees, and a
submissive audience that laps it up, is seriously flawed. They
give us what we tell them we want, and how they figure this out
is through the usual demographic process - media surveys,
ratings, focus groups, etc, and perhaps most importantly, which
shows take in the most money at pledge time. Do you think it's
an accident that KPFA nixed almost all of it's interesting music
programming a few years ago? Or was it a result of them noticing
that the Deadhead Hour brings in the most money, and that Berkeley
Deadheads in turn love nothing more than generic world music?

The same with the overall flavor of NPR. I contend that it's carefully
crafted to give it's listeners exactly what they want: a vision of the
world that will allow them to drive their hybrids, drink their Fair Trade
coffee, drop their kids off at Montessori, listen to Yo-Yo Ma, and plan that 
next skiing trip while feeling guardedly optimistic about the future: we know 
there are a lot of problems, but it'll all work out in the end. 


> Right Wing Fundies watch West Wing?

Sorry, I was thinking of 'Law and Order', and Fred Thompson...


-George
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