Schiller preaches the NPR gospel

Jon Friedman’s interview with new NPR CEO Vivian Schiller goes heavy on the religious imagery in its opening grafs, using words and phrases like “evangelize,” “convert,” “divine inspiration” and “heavenly intervention.” And Schiller does come across as something of a “born again.” Which makes the following passage that much more satisfying:

Still, NPR’s reputation for being self-serious can be glaring and maybe even a little grating to some. In the hilarious best-seller, “Stuff White People Like,” author Christian Lander pokes fun brilliantly at public radio’s image.

Lander wrote: “Public radio provides white people with news and entertainment that has the proper perspective (their own).”

The rib-tickling paragraph inspired me to visit StuffWhitePeopleLike.com and seek out more wisdom from the post on Public Radio:

Nonprofit journalism is not a compromise, says NPR CEO

NPR CEO and President Vivian Schiller takes Slate Editor-at-large Jack Shafer to task for his criticism of the nonprofit model proposed for The New York Times. Below, I’ve included excerpts from Shafer’s article, followed by Schiller’s responses.

Shafer:

But if the point is to stake the Times for perpetuity, the biggest problem will be keeping the foundation hustlers from taking over. In my experience, foundations that fund journalism directly—as opposed to journalistic education—are more interested in promoting what they consider “social justice” than promoting journalism. For them, a newspaper is just a means to an end.

Schiller’s response: