FRESH AIR, FOR REAL
I've never really liked NPR's program Fresh Air (which is articulated with a normal voice - "Fresh" - then drop your tone half an octave and lower your volume - "Air", which is hosted by - with a normal voice - "Terry" - now drop your tone half an octave and lower your volume - "Gross"). I always feel like I'm eavesdropping on an obsequious confab between self-important students sipping coffee on couches at the multi-cultural student union.

So, I'm not surprised when the NPR ombudsman calls Fresh Air host Terry Gross "one of the best interviewers anywhere in American journalism". I am surprised that in the same column he notes that this "best interviewer" is also "unfair," "unethical" and "wrong". I wonder what the bad interviewers are like? (I know, they're on the Today Show).

These are words Jeffrey Dvorkin used to describe Terry Gross' interview with Bill O'Reilly, which was really nothing more than Terry Gross as stand-in for Al Franken (although she didn't imitate Al's off-his-meds technique). I'm just surprised that NPR took note of the criticism and publicly agreed with it. And I applaud them for it.

Now if Mr. Dvorkin would just turn his attention to cliché-ridden, senility-addled Daniel Schorr. Just a few minutes with him during your commute home will convince you that Nixon was at least right about one thing -- adding Schorr him to his "enemies list". In fact, Schorr is so proud of this, it appears on his NPR bio. Really.