I can't imagine anyone getting the better of Glenn in a debate except by shouting, so maybe Shepard was referring to what she has done or would have to do in an interview.

It seems to be fashionable for media to have "ombudsmen", but I haven't seen any which come close to doing real criticism of the outlet.

If you are not spouting the Democrat Party Line or the Republican Party Line,...

-- something stinks

Serious question for you. In the sentence above you are disparaging both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. But at the same time you are doing that you are using the grossly childish insult that the Republican Party, and their numerous mouth pieces, have created for the Democratic Party.

My question is: are you doing that out of ignorance, in that you think that the name of the Democratic Party is the Democrat Party? Or, even though you are expressing equal distaste for the Republican Party in your comment, are you gleefully using the made up insult provided to you by the Republican Party, even though you know that they made it up, and even though you dislike them equally as much as you dislike the Democratic Party?

What are people going to do, think for themselves?

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

Thomas Paine, Reflections on Titles [May 1775]

Ah, such creepy Orwellian Newspeak, in the low, golf-announcer voice of fm radio. In Alicia's world, words can hurt, so why use them? I would say that her narcotized blandness makes her the ideal spokesmodel for NPR, just as Dana Perino's relentless perkiness made her the perfect spokesmodel for the administration Alicia continues to defend.

If that's what her defensively emphasized 30 years of journalism has produced, I'd rather hear from an intern.

Perhaps you missed GK's piece on Salon urging everyone to "look forward".

Which provoked an even stronger desire than usual to call NPR National Corporate Radio.

NPR has become progressively righty and corporate from the moment Reagan took office. It can never bend over far enough to its corporate and political bosses.

During the deepest abyss of the bushista years, the only dissenting voice on public radio was Garrison Keillor. But then, "Prairie Home Companion" is PRI, right? Whatever. I still salute Keillor for his honesty, his anger, and his courage -- and his clever exhibition of same. No one else showed any.

"So my question now is, "Why does the discredited and out of office Bush administration still have complete control of this issue throughout the American mass media 'news?' What accounts for this inappropriate fealty to a political operation that is no longer in office or in power?"

Anybody?"

Barack Hussein Obama.

Different face, same voice.

We have a new crime boss, same as the old crime boss, this time from Chicago instead of Texas.

Yep, there's gonna be a lot of changes.

But the business stays the same.

Why should a successful criminal enterprise change a thing?

They own us.

We let their MSM do our thinking for us.

What are people going to do, think for themselves?

They thought "Ombudsman" is someone who meditates on beer.

So my question now is, "Why does the discredited and out of office Bush administration still have complete control of this issue throughout the American mass media 'news?' What accounts for this inappropriate fealty to a political operation that is no longer in office or in power?"

Anybody?

-- Ché Pasa

I realise you only pose the question to prompt the neophytes to deeper thought, and that you know the answer already, but here it is anyway:

Only a very small number of different people are in office; the very same political operation is in power.

If torture is enhanced interrogation

and and interview with the calm and rational Gleen Greenwald is a shouting match,

then it follows that this

•An ombudsman (English plural: conventionally ombudsmen) is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some external constituency while representing the broad scope of constituent interests.

is a person who acts as a cowardly and untrustworthy mouthpiece while representing a narrow scope of organizational interests.

Despite the fact that the organization is called National Public Radio.

Btw, and OT, I have discovered that Charles Krauthammer has an uncanny resemblance to a giraffe.

What accounts for this inappropriate fealty to a political operation that is no longer in office or in power? Anybody?

Inertia.

ALICIA SHEPARD: ... Our language in general is totally evaluative and loaded with meaning, and so whatever someone uses, if someone else disagrees with it, then that language is wrong.

Yes, Alicia, language does have meaning; both positive and normative. It's often culturally derived. Language that lacks either, or both, is called gibberish and is a condition often experienced by people who don't know the language. The insistent use of euphemisms, where the word itself will do, is intended to do nothing more or less than create a shift in the cultural norms. I ain't buying, Alicia.

Oh, and, if I don't agree with your appellation Ombudsman, then am I free to call you a PR Flack?

If Shepard refuses to be interviewed on Salon Radio for fear of a shouting match, perhaps you could instead offer a written exchange via instant messenger.

National Propaganda Radio needs your support during pledge week.

Call them up and bend their ear. Don't give them any money ever again.

They serve the corporate and fascist interest and not the public interest.

Is Diane Rehm still on? If you are not spouting the Democrat Party Line or the Republican Party Line, she politely rudely cuts you off. Being a gatekeeper is JOB ONE. Don't allow unorthodox views or uncomfortable truths to be aired over the public airwaves. Keep it middle of the road, status quo, either column A or column B, and nothing else.

Black and White. No shades of grey and no color whatsoever.

The news readers voice was nice but they lost me when they reported that tens of thousands of demonstrators were protesting the war when it was actually a half a million when we invaded Iraq. They were only a couple of blocks away so it isn't like they didn't know. They just LIED. Like everyone else in the MSM.

They might as well be Fox.