Poverty Is Not an Accident

Poverty Is Not an Accident
Nelson Mandela

Friday, April 30, 2004

wal*mart underwriting on NPR

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com

We're talking about whether we can trust the media, in my newsgroup. I offered the following:

well, I may just be paranoid, but I could swear there are more stories about wally world, since they started underwriting NPR.

One was a story on their website, where customers can download music...to attract them to buy crap online. that story sounded, to me, like an infomercial.

another was on the superstore in Inglewood that the city voted down, so that wasn't a bit positive.

another was on outsourced manufactured products, particularly from China, sold at wally world. that story was neutral.

But there certainly haven't been any stories on how management councils underpaid workers without benefits on how to sign up for welfare!

No stories on how wally world stores kill local businesses, either.

Nor on the fact that wally has WAY too much power over the music, book and periodicals publication industries. They won't allow certain things and don't believe in freedom of speech, so they're influencing these media in scary ways.

They're the largest purchaser of many of these media, and the media are publishing with wally world in mind.

Scary stuff....

So, if NPR wants to PROVE they're not corporate whores, I'd suggest they do some HARD journalism on wal*mart, and not just rely on press releases FROM them, or on AP wire stories!

At the National Federation of Community Broadcasters' convention here in Albq. last week, Saturday's breakfast was provided by NPR. An NPR rep got up to speak to us. As she left the podium, I shouted, "NO WAL*MART UNDERWRITING!" and people laughed and applauded.

I'm pretty serious about stuff like this. And I do despise what wally world stands for, which is profit over people, every time!

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