Grants Gone Wild! 1) Local public radio station KPCC got a big ($1.8 million) Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant that required hiring a Latino co-host, according to KPCC’s Vice President of Content. The station then pushed Madeleine Brand, who’d built a successful show after leaving NPR, into what The Wrap calls a “shotgun marriage” pairing with sports talk jock Al Martinez. The result: After a few weeks of “an uncomfortable fit with the news novice Martinez” Brand quit. … Damage control efforts are underway. But it looks like a huge philanthropy-induced Affirmative Action Fail.
2) Meanwhile, NPR listeners were treated today to an excruciatingly empty report on Aurora, Colorado. It seems that Aurora has residents of many different ethnicities. Some minority entrepreneurs open ethnic restaurants. People of other ethnicities visit these restaurants and are exposed to other cultures. Diversity is a source of strength! But it’s “not always easy.” Leading non-profits are on the case. There are meetings between the police and local residents.
Really, it’s that vacuous. Goes on for 12 days minutes. You can’t call it PC because that would imply it had a point. Why run it? It’s not like there’s nothing else happening. But it is part of NPR’s “Cities Project”–funded by a grant from the American Institute of Architects.**
Big donors may or may not talk in politics. But in public radio, apparently, it’s all about the funding … [Where’s #3?-ed. Efforting!]
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**–The sponsorship is part of AIA’s “repositioning initiative.” First step: Transparency! …