[timbuck2]

The Ombudsman is responsive and a good guy. I would encourage polite, short emails that detail people's objections. Legislation should be passed to make funding voluntary. I pay enough taxes and I certianly do not appreciate my tax dollars making their way to NPR to push a leftist agenda.

-T

[Dr. Frank fan]

I'm sure he's a good guy and I think it's fine to voice your objections. My point is that the real problem here is systematic and won't be fixed by "corrections" or "clarifications" about this Ridley guy's affiliation.

The problem is not so much that this Ridley guy (who is he, anyway? why should we care again?) was mis-labeled a "swing voter" when he's clearly not. Ok that's bad, but the deeper issue is that a news feature "Interview With A Swing-Voter" is a fundamentally stupid idea, inevitably susceptible to bias, in the first place.

The subtext of such a story after all is "What This Person Thinks Is Important, And Centrist, And You Should Listen, And Care". The temptation to laden such a news story with one's own biases is just too great. And no matter how conscientiously it's done, such a story is going to be propaganda, almost by default.

[Drango]

The Ombudsman is responsive and a good guy.

Responsive? Somewhat, but he is no friend of conservatives. There is not one conservative on-air host or talent on NPR. Not one. And he turns a blind eye to it.

As to making funding voluntary....thanks for the chuckle.