NPR Cancels News & Notes
Dec. 11th, 2008 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
womzillaI wasn't a huge fan of News & Notes, though I would sometimes end up listening to it and enjoying it because of when it was broadcast in New York (10 PM weeknights, at which time I'm usually sitting in front of my computer). It was a mid-level daily NPR talk show with a "black issues" focus, which meant it was audibly black people talking about the types of things NPR shows usually talk about. I will be sorry to hear it no more, but not devastated.
However, I will say this for its regular host, Farai Chideya. After the first Obama/McCain debate, she made a superb point in NPR's post-debate analysis: The supposed subject of the debate was foreign policy, but the first half was dominated by questions about the economy, as the enormity of the recession was just starting to become unavoidably clear. At no point during the entire debate, she noted, did either candidate mention Mexico--even though relations with Mexico are of vital importance in any real analysis of either the American economy or American foreign policy. Big kudos to Chideya for pointing out that there is more to "foreign policy" than deciding the question, "Upon whom are we going to declare war?", which was almost the only question addressed in the first debate.
ETA: The last sentence didn't get posted intially. Also, it's worth noting that international trade played a small role in the later debates, including the loathesome McCain eye-rolling at the idea that it somehow "matters" that the Columbian government is assassinating labor leaders. I can't remember if immigration policy was mentioned in any of the debates and I'm too lazy to check now. (And I'm supposed to be working.)
However, I will say this for its regular host, Farai Chideya. After the first Obama/McCain debate, she made a superb point in NPR's post-debate analysis: The supposed subject of the debate was foreign policy, but the first half was dominated by questions about the economy, as the enormity of the recession was just starting to become unavoidably clear. At no point during the entire debate, she noted, did either candidate mention Mexico--even though relations with Mexico are of vital importance in any real analysis of either the American economy or American foreign policy. Big kudos to Chideya for pointing out that there is more to "foreign policy" than deciding the question, "Upon whom are we going to declare war?", which was almost the only question addressed in the first debate.
ETA: The last sentence didn't get posted intially. Also, it's worth noting that international trade played a small role in the later debates, including the loathesome McCain eye-rolling at the idea that it somehow "matters" that the Columbian government is assassinating labor leaders. I can't remember if immigration policy was mentioned in any of the debates and I'm too lazy to check now. (And I'm supposed to be working.)
