KERRFUFFLE at the WYPR Governance Committee Meeting

The WYPR Board’s governance committee met at WYPR on Tuesday, April 28, and reported back to a committee of seven–as four public observers sat in attendance–the results of a WYPR Board of Directors feedback survey, and their effort to move forward to expand the WYPR Board.

Overall, WYPR Board Members expressed happiness with board performance and roles, according WYPR Board Member Dr. Emile Bendit, who delivered the results of an anonymous survey of board members. Only 10 out of approximately 19-to-21 responders agreed that the board represented the community. Only 13 board members out of approximately 19-to-21 responders felt they were well-informed about WYPR programming matters and decisions. Only 7 responders thought WYPR board performance itself was properly monitored, while 10 responders listed “neutral” on this issue. The committee singled out these three areas for improvement. I report these figures from the meeting’s conversation, and can only approximate the total responders (the context) because those numbers were not precisely articulated.

WYPR’s governance committee appears to be moving toward expanding the board’s diversity (in terms of profession, age, and ethnicity). They voted to nominate Gary Levine, an ex-officio board member according to the committee, to the board, as well as to move forward in vetting another nominee who shall remain anonymous. If both are elected–as it appears will be the case from the meeting–WYPR will have added four new board members in the last half year (with three out of four being new): a church leader, a Towson University professor, a doctor, and a chain-store owner. The WYPR Board runs up to a limit of “25″ total members, said station manager Tony Brandon, who was at the governance committee meeting. WYPR’s Board may not be able to add any more for now, the committee seemed to fret.

Brandon sits on the WYPR Board, according to the WYPR Web site, is station manager and “CEO” of WYPR, and currently serves as “President [of] American General Media.” Furthermore, Brandon as “[t]he station manager” is in charge of being the “CAB Coordinator” and overseeing WYPR’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) and its feedback to the station and board–according to the CAB rules submitted to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Office of Inspector General (Report #903, Exhibit 3: By Laws 1.3). In fact, Brandon helped to interview the new members for the recently expanded CAB, which will have its first meeting on May 27, 5:30 PM at the station. Lastly, Brandon on April 28, 2009 sat in on the only WYPR board committee specifically in charge of overseeing his job: that of WYPR CEO. This is a clear conflict of interest. Quite a lot of cookies for that cookie monster.

WYPR’s governance committee also finalized language outlining WYPR committee roles, and approved language requiring the WYPR Board to evaluate itself on an “at least” annual basis. The board members present also appear to be refining and expanding the board’s active engagement with the station, with content, and with fundraising–including formalizing the role of a “content” WYPR Board committee. This is a good development, a good start, in terms of increasing the board’s activity, self-scrutiny, and engagement with the station.

All this action is the result of the tsunami of outrage triggered by the Feb. 1, 2008 secretive firing of radio host and WYPR founder Marc Steiner–and the massive kerrfuffle of pressure that protesters have brought to bear on making WYPR less secretive at its top. Specifically on April 15, 2008, the WYPR Community Advisory Board formally recommended that WYPR Board undergo an outside governance audit, diversify the board, and improve its governance structure. WYPR did hire an outside consultant, who delivered an audit report to WYPR’s board. The board is tweaking its structure in response.

As the meeting ended, ubiquitous Take Back YPR activist Max Obuszewski stood up and demanded to see the “report”! The board committee reacted nonplussed, startled; many of them leaned back in their chairs. Mr. Obuszewski demanded the “report” again. A gaggle of responses kerrfuffled the room.

This blog editor somehow clarified the stunned committee that Mr. Obuszweksi was requesting a copy of the original governance audit.  This audit was completed by the summer of 2008, for a summary of the report–dated July 30, 2008– was presented to the WYPR CAB. WYPR Board Chairperson Deborah Callard, after presenting it to the CAB meeting, in fact did say she would get back to the Take Back YPR group and saveWYPR.com about whether we could read the full report.

This is a public board, and that is a public document, Obuszewski claimed and demanded.

Then Tony Brandon rose and said it was not a public report. The audit was paid for with private funds, he said. At some point, the governance committee chairperson said that the request for report was noted. Another board member, becoming frustrated, told Mr. Obuszewski his request was noted and asked him to leave.

Of course none of the three other members of the public (including the blog editor) were leaving at that point. Who could? Obuszewski demanded the board members there and then respond “yes, no, or maybe” about whether he would get a copy of the report. Brandon asked the board to come to his office in order to escape this public harangue. At this point Obuszewski said he was leaving and we all left.

The good news is that WYPR Board member John Machen stopped by after the meeting as some of us were talking outside WYPR and said he would email the report to the saveWYPR.com blog. WYPR Board Chairperson Deborah Callard and other members of the committee echoed this. This blog is looking forward to reading the report.

Next week saveWYPR.com will provide Part III of its analysis of the CPB Inspector General’s audit of WYPR, focusing on the documents provided by WYPR in the report itself and what they say about the state of WYPR. Til then–

Financial Cloud at WYPR

WYPR may be experiencing financial problems, according to sources working with the station. Furthermore at the March 11, 2009 WYPR Board meeting, WYPR closed the discussion of its finances to the public. WYPR station manager Tony Brandon failed to provide a reason for this closure, says Max Obuszewski, who was asked and then forced to leave. An arbitrary closing of a WYPR Board meeting may be a violation of open meeting laws.

During the previous WYPR Board meeting in Jan. 2009, Andy Bienstock detailed troubles facing public radio stations across the country. He discussed numerous layoffs hitting stations in Minneapolis and New York, and of course at the D.C-based National Public Radio. WYPR has claimed success for its 2008 fund drives, but considering all the unverifiable information coming from station management, who knows?

An on-air WYPR personality–who shall remain nameless–recently claimed that the station is having trouble meeting payroll, according to a bird outside my window.  Of course, this is just a rumor.  But combined with the closing of their financial report at the March 2009 Board meeting, maybe this rumor has some legs.

If layoffs do come to WYPR, they probably will be with low level staff first. WYPR is required to list their top five paid employees in their publically available Tax Form 990–which likely means that on-air personalities like Sheila Kast and Dan Rodericks are being paid under unlisted contracts, because very few on-air people are listed in WYPR’s forms. In fiscal 2006, WYPR station manager Tony Brandon pulled down $135,000. The highest paid employee was underwriting sales representative Carla Truax at $115,000. WYPR has a very commercial bent these days, and this is reflected in where WYPR salaries go.

WYPR’s online auction, and a forthcoming 24-hour fundraising drive, may be a reaction to raising money in a recession. Interestingly, the top item at WYPR’s online auction as of April 28 is a “$3,000 Underwriting Schedule” that someone is willing to pay about $400 for. If you want to think about what public radio is today, just look at how WYPR refers to its own services as “(advertising).”

WYPR 88.1 FM Underwriting Schedule

Estimated Value $3,000.00

Item Number 140

Item Description: Work with Leslie Bowyer, Underwriting Account Executive to design a $3,000 underwriting (advertising) schedule on WYPR. Promote your business or services and get results!

WYPR False Federal Records Part of a Pattern of Deception

WYPR submitted false certification to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) since 2002, according to the recent report of the CPB Inspector Generals Office, in order to receive an estimated $300,000 in annual federal grant money. The report was covered here in the last blog post, as well as afterwards by the Baltimore City Paper, The Sun, and Takoma Park-based The Current. The CPB Inspector Generals Report also found that WYPR did not account for how they spent federal taxpayer money, as legally required, nor did WYPR keep complete financial records open to public inspection, per federal requirements. The onus of all this, as Baltimore CityPaper reporter Eric Ericson first pointed out, falls on the mantle of secretive WYPR station manager Tony Brandon.

Though it may seem grandiose to compare WYPR to the insurance giant A.I.G.–or the Wall Street ratings agencies who gave triple-A golden ratings to what are now considered junk bonds for subprime mortgage loans–there are parallels. The current Wall Street financial crisis, which is causing a U.S. and global recession, has not triggered any large-scale federal criminal investigations of fraud at major banks or ratings agencies to date; it remains to be seen if the CPB will discipline WYPR for years of delinquent, and possibly fraudulent, conduct.

You can read the saveWYPR summary of the report here, or click directly to the CPB “Special Review of Your Public Radio Corporation” (Report #903 from 20 March 2009) right here. One of the most shocking aspects of the report–one not covered by last week’s blog post or the media–is that the report itself contains false information and documentation submitted to the CPB Inspector Generals Office by WYPR.

WYPR’s response to the CPB audit–including WYPR documents as well as comments summarized by federal auditors–shows WYPR asserting that it always possessed a Community Advisory Board (CAB), a stipulation for WYPR to receive that valuable federal grant money. In fact, WYPR’s submitted “Chronology of WYPR CAB” includes this statement:

“April 2002 to present”: A Friends Group consisting of a least 50 stations supporters meets monthly and reports quarterly to the Board of Directors has always been active in discussion of station ideas and supporting the station….” (Report, Exhibit 1).

This blog has never met or heard of this group, which meets “monthly.” And this blog has covered WYPR since Feb. 2008 through April 2009 and counting, publishing on a nearly week-by-week basis.

No member of this Friends group attended a WYPR Board Meeting or CAB meeting covered by the saveWYPR.com blog editor. However, there is a glimmer of their existence! SaveWYPR group activist Max Obuszewski reports that a former WYPR Board member, Gary Levine, who claims to be a representative of this “Friends Group,” did talk at the March 2009 WYPR Board meeting. How can a monthly “Friends Group,” meet “monthly,” according to WYPR’s Exhibit 1, with “at least 50 station supporters,” and from “April 2002 to present,” and exist with such silky stealth?

Furthermore, WYPR’s submitted documents in the CPB Report claim WYPR CAB meetings for “October 4, 2004,” “January 2006,” and “September 2006.” However ex-CAB member Brandon Walsh told this blog on Feb. 20, 2008 that the first-ever CAB meeting occurred in May 2007. The CPB Report concurs. The auditors note on page 4 that “there was no record of CAB meetings prior to May 2007″ (Report #903, page 4).

The report also notes on the same page that “agendas and several e-mails were available for four of these meetings” in 2007 and 2008, and the comments there show these 4 CAB meetings were “intended to formalize the role of the CAB.” Of course an organization that began in May 2007 still would be formalizing its role later that year. One founded since 2002 likely would not. Furthermore, WYPR’s submitted evidence for having a CAB–in the CPB Report as Exhibits 2 through 4–only include recent 2009 documents: documents dated Feb. 13; Feb. 16; Jan. 5; and Jan. 21, 2009. It looks like WYPR engaged in a 2009 rush job to create documents to satisfy their CAB requirement for this report.

Yet WYPR station manager Tony Brandon, in a letter to the CPB Deputy Inspector General William J. Richardson III dated Feb. 19, 2009 and included in the report brazenly asserts: “Again, we acknowledge the inadequacies of the record-keeping, but in substance we did have a functioning CAB.”

That Brandon on behalf of WYPR continues to assert that WYPR had a “functioning CAB” is a stupendously bold use of history, a use that reminds me of comedian Stephen Colbert’s 2006 roasting of George W. Bush at the White House Correspondants’ Dinner. Brandon and WYPR’s use of the word “functioning”–an assertion that means their nearly invisible “Friends Group” from “April 2002 to present” and then the WYPR CAB met the Federal Communications Act requirements for 1) regular and open public meetings, 2) regular attendance by CAB members, and 3) regular input at the station in the form of advice–is ludicrous. False. WYPR’s current leadership is broken.  It has got to go.

Let’s say this: All evidence points to the fact that WYPR never had a functioning Community Advisory Board (CAB). However, Marc Steiner’s Feb. 1, 2008 firing galvanized the WYPR membership and listening community to demand input and investigation into the station. This prompted the Feb. 20, 2008 CAB meeting at the Baltimore Museum of the Arts. This meeting drew over 300 members of WYPR and the public. The CAB–on the April 1, 2008–met and voted to rehire Marc Steiner, audit WYPR’s governance structure, and recommend diversification of the WYPR Board.  The CAB presented this finding to the WYPR Board on April 15, 2008. Since then, the WYPR CAB has had several meetings.  WYPR has brought on three new board members.  They have undertaken a private governance audit, but not released the full report.

WYPR station manager Tony Brandon also told the Jan. 2009 WYPR Board meeting that this audit was just a “routine” audit. Brandon joked to them that the CPB said to him how WYPR was audited because WYPR is so close to Washington D.C.

The board accepted this statement. Only when the report was published did saveWYPR.com and others discover that the audit was “in response to complaints of alleged violations by Your Public Radio Corporation (WYPR)” (Report, Page 1).

Station manager Tony Brandon misled the WYPR Board. However, much like these Wall Street Corporate Boards of failed and failing banks and investment companies, the WYPR Board does not question much what they hear from him. They seem to just want to show up, listen to some reports, feel good about themselves volunteering for “public radio,” and then go back to their busy lives (like most people). This is the story of the WYPR Board in 2008 and 2009. It also is part of the story of the 2009 Wall Street financial crisis.

WYPR continues to make false official statements to the CPB and most likely the public. They made at least one false statement to federal auditors as recent as in a March 2009 CPB Inspector Generals Report. Furthermore, Brandon and his WYPR management team continue to assert WYPR’s financial health to the WYPR Board and the public, but people inside and outside the station are whispering otherwise. More on that in next week’s post.

What else is going on there? WYPR donating members need to become more active, or they are throwing their money away. WYPR employees probably need to protect themselves and their futures, because this station is being mismanaged. The CPB itself, as well as federal prosecutors, need to look into the secretive inner workings of the public facade of WYPR.

WYPR Falsified Records, says Corporation for Public Broadcasting Inspector General

The Inspector Generals Office of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in Washington D.C. has finalized their audit of Maryland public radio station WYPR, finding them in violation of multiple federal regulations. WYPR has violated the Federal Communications Act requiring public radio stations which receive taxpayer funds to have a functioning Community Advisory Board (CAB), according to the official federal Report # 903: Special Review of Your Public Radio Corporation. Click this link for the report.

The report also found that WYPR repeatedly certified they were in compliance with CAB regulations to get federal grant money, though they were not. They have very few records of having a functioning CAB from 2002 to 2007.

The CPB Inspector Generals Office also found that WYPR violated laws requiring opening meetings, the announcement of open-to-the-public WYPR Board of Directors and CAB meetings, in their method of keeping financial records; and by not accurately accounting for how they spent federal taxpayer funds.

The saveWYPR blog will summarize the report next week in Part II of this post. Right now we will focus on how WYPR submitted false compliance records stating they had a Community Advisory Board–when they did not–in order to receive federal grant money.

Our question is: Who signed those statements? Did they intentionally defraud the CPB and thereby siphon off taxpayer money? WYPR receives upward of $300,000 per year in CPB grant money, according to WYPR station manager Tony Brandon at the Jan. 2009 WYPR Board meeting.

This March 20, 2009 U.S. governmental report by an independent, national authority is a victory for the saveWYPR group and all concerned Maryland public radio listeners. Our outcry, our writing to local and federal officials, made it happen. Furthermore it confirms what people have been saying all alomg: 1) WYPR has been in violation of CPB regulations. 2) WYPR management runs a closed-to-the-public ship. 3) They did not support a functioning Community Advisory Board until “December 2008,” according to this report (p. 5). The first ever recorded CAB meeting was in May 2007, according to this report (p. 5). This fact–that WYPR’s first CAB meeting was in May 2007–also was confirmed to this blog by ex-CAB member Brendon Walsh on Feb. 20, 2008. This means WYPR was in violation of CPB requirements from inception in 2002 to mid-2007, though they submitted federal documents to the contrary and received hundreds of thousands of federal dollars.

“Despite these omissions,” says the report about WYPR’s lack of a Community Advisory Board, “WYPR certified its compliance annually when it applied for a CSG grant” (p. 4).

Of course we all know that when an individual, say, speeds on the highway and then claims they did not know the speed limit, they get a ticket anyway. When an individual misfiles their taxes and the IRS notices, they have to pay their back taxes with penalty. Well, WYPR misfiled their grant applications; they received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars; they have been caught. Will the U.S. government enforce the law under the Federal Communications Act? The CPB Board of Directors now must review this report and act on it, according to Inspector Generals Office member E. Jeremey Hutton in communication with this blog. What will the CPB do?

We ask: Who signed these documents attesting false complaince?

We ask: Did WYPR management and station manager Tony Brandon intend to make false statements?

We ask: What did the WYPR Board know about multiple violations of federal law by WYPR management?

We say: We will find out.

We say: A criminal investigation is called for.

The report contains more explosive evidence. Still, in the interest of Internet brevity, I will save that for Part II next week, and then Part III the week after, of this ongoing investigation.

Tune in for our next blog entry. Contact the CPB. Read the report.

WYPR Board Spring Meeting Schedule

In light of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Inspector Generals audit of WYPR, WYPR is making more effort to publicize its open WYPR board and CAB meetings, as required by law.  There will be more on that report on this blog next week.   According to the WYPR.org Web site:

The next WYPR Board Meeting is open to the public and “will take place on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 @ 3pm at the Family Tree,” as usual. The Family Tree is located at 2108 North Charles Street in Baltimore.

The WYPR Board Governance Committee  also will meet in April, on Tuesday, April 28 @ 3:00pm. This meeting is “OPEN TO THE PUBLIC,” according to WYPR.org, and will be held at the station at 2216 North Charles Street.  People just show up to attend, says WYPR director of development Alexandra Price.

The standard protocol to attend these meetings is to observe silently.  Stil; one often can chat with WYPR officials and board members, acquaintances and WYPR donating members, before and after.

WYPR Board Meets, Closes Meeting During Financial Discussion

The WYPR Board met last Wednesday, March 11, and Max Obuszewski as member of the public and saveWYPR group member attended. The meeting had seven agenda items, says Obuszewski, who was given a copy of the agenda. However the board closed the meeting to the public during an “executive session” for the last two items.

Obuszewski noted that during the open part of the WYPR Board meeting, the board seemed uncertain about the financial state of WYPR. They held a phone conference-call with NPR’s Vivian Schiller, and seemed to be fishing for new ideas to navigate these troubled times in public radio land, notes Obuszewski.

The board also discussed expanding the board to 26 members, and looking for new board members who can donate. Obuszewski sees this thinking as one sign of financial distress at WYPR. At the last board meeting, newish board member and WYPR radio personality Andy Beinstock declared the station had raised $210,000 in “pledges” during the Feb. 2009 pledge drive. They want to raise $175,000 in the May drive this year. Obuszewski thinks the board is propping up the fund drive numbers with personal support from their own pockets.

NPR’s Vivian Schiller said that some public radio stations are pooling news staff with other stations to cut staff costs. Young people are not listening to the radio, noted Schiller and some members of the WYPR Board. The young today are flocking to IPods and online. WYPR and The Baltimore Sun have worked more closely together since they brought on Sun columnist Dan Rodericks. Marc Steiner also recently has partnered with Baltimore-based The Urbanite on his WEAA (89.9) show.

WYPR closed its meeting to discuss two items on the agenda, the first being their financial update report by the board’s finance committee. They also prevented public observation of their discussion about nominees to the WYPR Community Advisory Board, and their vote on those nominees.

We do know that saveWYPR group member Maria Allwine was rejected from the WYPR Community Advisory Board (CAB). The move shows that WYPR definitely does not want criticism on their “Community Advisory Board.” While I can understand not wanting criticism (who wants it, really?), WYPR should be looking to the broadest spectrum of the community. Allwine, Obuszewski, this blog, and many others comprise one part of it. WYPR currently has trouble staffing its CAB, while Allwine has attended many CAB and Board meetings to boot.

Obuszewski says he was asked to leave the meeting during the agenda items addressing finance and the WYPR CAB. Interestingly, WYPR Board member and lawyer John Machen declined to provide a reason for the closing of the meeting to the public. Basically we can do this, Obuszewski says Machen told him.

Obuszewski believes the financial report on WYPR was “somewhat of a doomsday report.” WYPR board members during the open part of the meeting predicted advertising on public radio and across media will decline, and has yet to hit bottom.

The WYPR Board also plans to develop a succession plan at WYPR, for when station President Tony Brandon leaves. Brandon also said that the Corporation for Public Boardcasting has renewed their funding for WYPR in 2009, and that the station has received the funds. WYPR also plans to make a big-push, 24 hour around-the-clock fund drive in May.

Lastly, WYPR also has brought on a consultant, John Sutton. Andy Beinstock noted that public television and public radio is hurting. Brandon chimed in that WYPR also has to pay attention to the collapse of print media around the country this year.

WYPR BOARD MEETING on WEDS, March 11

WYPR’s next board of directors meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 11^th, at 3PM at The Family Tree at 2108 North Charles Street. The public is welcome to attend. Please do.

March 2009 WYPR News & Snow

WYPR should develop more local programming, reflected some members of the saveWYPR group, who met on March 1 at the One World Cafe in Charles Village in Baltimore, the evening before the first real snowstorm of winter arrived in slanting winds on Monday morning. I was tempted to put “winter” in quotes, considering how mild winter has been this year. This March 2nd snowstorm is the first substantial one, blowing through in large shark-fins of gusting.

Bernie of saveWYPR noted that WYPR currently has only 1 local call-in show, namely, the Dan Rodericks show from noon to 2 p.m. This show, as everyone knows, eschews controversy. However, noted Max, if WYPR dropped a show like Fresh Air for a local call-in show, they would lose listeners. The group agreed that maybe WYPR could pilot a local call-in show later in the evening, or one day per week on the weekend, to see if it could get “any legs.”

The current WYPR programming model is to replace shows with lighter fare, recently adding The Splendid Table, or the new storytelling show The Story on at 8 p.m., which is replacing News & Notes. NPR itself cancelled News & Notes, one of their better national news featuring less predictable points-of-views.

saveWYPR noted that WYPR is currently working through a process to expand its Community Advisory Board. This process seems painstakingly slow, considering that their Community Advisory Board barely attracts any members right now.  They attracted only 6 members at their Feb. 2009 meeting.

saveWYPR will meet again on Sunday, April 5, 2009 at the One World Cafe in Charles Village at 5 p.m. One World is located across from the Johns Hopkins lacrosse field at 100 W. University Parkway.

WYPR’s next board of directors meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 11^th, at 3PM at The Family Tree at 2108 North Charles Street. The public is welcome to attend.

Dave Says, Tony Says (February Fund Drive Debate)

From: Eberhardt, David
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 1:46 PM
To: ‘SKast@wypr.org’
Subject: Listening to the Fund Raising drive lately,

Where you acknowledge the community?

May I offer a few suggestions: Get management to activate a Community Advisory Board- including members who might be critical? If management is so sensitive that they must close off a segment of the listening public that actually has good things to say? And minority members? You all come off as a racist station, frankly.

I don’t see how YPR can get federal money if it keeps flying in the face of this requirement?

Make YPR more relevant to Baltimore and Maryland- we get so few programs on the problems- it seems as if you are descending into a “feel good” happy talk arena (not the right word) um…venue? chatter? dumbing down?

Even Diane Rehm has more relevant guests. (not that she asks probing questions).

My point of view- I so hate to be negative….but….

O- I like the clarity of the signal.

Can’t you guys stand up to management? Your Bd of Directors?

I think, as people, you should do more….. as humans.

Best,

Dave Eberhardt

NOTE: The message was forwarded to WYPR Station manager Tony Brandon, among others. Below is the response from this WYPR public figure.

From: Tony Brandon [mailto:tbrandon@wypr.org]
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 9:14 AM
Subject: RE: Listening to the Fund Raising drive lately,

Maybe, Dave, we should be grateful that WYPR has mnagement that has been able to raise sufficient funds so that we have not had layoffs and cutbacks.. Sometimes some gratitude is stonger than eternal negative complaining. I think most of our staff appreciates that…

---

NPR’s Shoddy Journalism

Listening to National Public Radio’s reporting on President Barack Obama’s plan to prevent millions of home foreclosures last night, on Feb. 18, the reporters never said what the plan actually implements. This vague reporting is too typical of NPR. NPR leaves listeners with a general impression, according to NPR of course; and this has the effect of making listeners mentally dependent not of facts, but on NPR.

President Barack Obama’s plan to help over 3 million homeowners stay in their homes includes refinancing mortgages at a lower cost to the homeowner, according to a USA Today article linked here. The plan especially helps homeowners whose homes are financed through Freddie Mac and Fannie May, because the government directly controls these companies. The Obama plan also provides roughly $1,000 to $1,500 in subsidies to mortgage companies that refinance home loans, with some of these payments renewable for up to three years if loans remain in good standing. Obama also will ask Congress to permit bankruptcy judges to alter terms of loans for primary residences in bankruptcy court. Right now, bankruptcy judges cannot adjust mortgage terms on primary home properties. National Public Radio should report facts. Reporting vague impressions, followed by “expert” opinion, leaves listeners ignorant.

In regard to expert opinion, the national Marketplace show on Feb. 18 revealed a right-wing bias by mislabeling Republican talking-head David Frum as just another think-tank-based, Washington D.C. expert. Mr. Frum is a long-time Republican Party strategist, 2001 speechwriter for former President Bush, and contributor to the conservative National Review. His bio is here. Marketplace, produced by American Public Media as blogger Dave notes, should have economic experts talking about the stimulus plan just passed by Congress; instead they choose a party hack without identifying him as such. Not Journalism.

WYPR and other local public radio stations need to move toward more local programming. NPR consistently displays bad journalism and thier viewpoint is too Washintgon-centric. We need more diversity on the airwaves, and local public radio stations could lead the way.