WUNC

NC Voter Guide link

The NC Voter Guide is online. If you enter your address you can see a ballot and different candidate positions. You can also listen to the candidate's voice. (I must admit, I did not make the most exciting recording ever heard.) http://c3.thevoterguide.org/v/nccve13/build.do. Enjoy.

WUNC's General Manager to leave the station

Don't go to your local NPR station for this scoop: the N & O reports that Joan Siefert Rose, the general manager of WUNC, will leave the station in August to become the director of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, a business-oriented nonprofit in RTP. Siefert Rose came to WUNC in 2001 riding the crest of their transformation from something like a quaint, bookish music-lover to a journalist interested in business, health, and science.

Invisible election

Yesterday's Chapel Hill News is the last edition of that paper before tomorrow's election. Surveying the entire news section of the paper shows that the only mention of this is in the endorsement letters, the political advertisements, and two opinion columns on the presidential race. Apparently the journalists at the News just didn't think there was anything new to say about the local election. However, they did find time to interview folks in the street about the nonexistent hula-hoop "issue."

Meekest media in the state?

They've done it again. See this OP post from 2004 for the entire story of how WUNC refused to read an underwriting message because it contained the controversial term "reproductive rights." Now they have changed the word "rally" to "event" to appease the scary FCC bogey man that lurks in their closet.

News media news

WUNC is now publishing podcasts * of their local/state news coverage, and of the locally-produced program The State of Things. I applaud them for this step, as well as for their live audio stream and open archives. There's also an unofficial blog by Terry Maguire discussing WUNC, which could use some dialogue. It seems to be a well-kept secret (until now).

Visit WUNC's podcasts page to suscribe. They are offering something called the WUNC PubCatcher, which I guess you can use if you don't have a program that can catch podcasts. You can also use iTunes to catch podcasts and video blogs(!).

Some questions about WUNC

Can anyone explain to me why I should be glad about this:

Chapel Hill-based WUNC, the area's largest National Public Radio outlet, has struck a deal with an NPR business and finance program to launch a southeastern bureau in Chapel Hill. The bureau's reporter, slated to start around May, will concentrate on North Carolina news -- especially the Triangle's big businesses.
- Chapel Hill Herald, 1/18/04

Much to my surprise I actually like this business show, Marketplace. It's a little more interesting than NPR's headline news, and it doesn't always fall into the ideological rut you might expect. I can see why WUNC, especially it's leadership, would like to have their profile enhanced by this new situation. But how does it serve the people of North Carolina?

Censorship at WUNC

IPAS is a locally-based international women's health and reproductive rights organization. The following message came today:

IPAS has been sponsoring WUNC and we have a short announcement that is read on-air. Recently, WUNC decided that the phrase 'reproductive rights' which we use in our announcement was in violation of FCC regulations because it advocates for a particular position that is not universally endorsed. They admit that this is a conservative interpretation of the regulations, but nonetheless they will not let Ipas use this phrase in its on-air announcement.

I have been arguing with them to make the case that reproductive rights is not a euphemism for abortion and that, indeed, the whole point of rights is that they are universally held, e.g. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I doubt that my arguments will be successful.

I know that many of you are supporters of WUNC and I think some questions from listeners on this policy might help open their eyes to this issue.

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