On Twitter this evening, I asked: “Why did Marketplace allow David Frum to suggest that TARP began with Obama?” Listen to it. Now you tell me: Is that not highly misleading?
I wanted people to know that I had strong feelings about that show even before someone sent me the Frum clip, so I followed up with this:
I hate Marketplace. It is the worst show on public radio. I time my morning shower so as to miss it. I refuse to be interviewed by them too.
Which prompted people who follow me on Twitter to ask why. A representative comment from Dwight Silverman, tech reporter for the Houston Chronicle: “Interesting. Why do you dislike it so much?” And from Nick Bergus, “Is it style? Substance? Point of view? Please explain the source of this hatred.”
Okay, I will.
Marketplace, produced by American Public Media, is a few minutes of business news sandwiched into NPR’s Morning Edition and a longer report intended for All Things Considered. The Morning Report is the one I listen to, unless I can’t stand it and run for the shower.
The problem with this report is that it cannot decide if it wants to be the audible Wall Street Journal or Adam Smith for Dummies, a business person’s show, or a show for people who only know about business from the consumer or lay person’s side. Deciding on this is too hard a problem for the mush minds at Marketplace, so it tries to be both. It wants to impress us with some taken-for-granted knowledge and also treat us like morons who don’t know their interest rates from their Nielsen ratings.
That is what I hate. I would rather 1.) listen in on a sophisticated conversation that is sometimes over my head, or 2.) have a show that is specifically made for me as a consumer and occasional victim of big business. What I do not want is a program that splits the difference. But that is what Marketplace is. It is controlled by a weak and condescending idea: You’re don’t know crap about business… oh and by the way Japan’s Nikkei index climbed .7 percent to 9,582.22.
Mostly, however, Marketplace wants to be brief. Brief is the program’s real ideology. And that is a weak, condescending idea. You’re busy, Marketplace tells us. A person on the move! You don’t have time to actually understand this stuff. But you feel you need to know about it… and you are soooooo right. We bring you people who do understand these subjects. They can acquaint you with them painlessly (briefly) so that when someone in your circle mentions the discount window at the Fed, you can say to yourself: I’ve actually heard of that. (Hey, is it really a window, or is that like… a metaphor?)
This is what Marketplace Morning Report is about: arming us not with “knowledge of,” but “acquaintance with.” (The distinction originates with Robert Park.)
Another thing I hate about Marketplace is how fake it is willing to be. Take the almost daily reports from correspondent Stephen Beard in London. Marketplace would like us to think that its hosts are having an informal conversation with Mr. Stephen. Instead of asking him for a report, the way a grown-up news show would, it conducts a little dialogue, a 45 second Q & A, with Beard. But Marketplace doesn’t trust dialogue. Uncontrolled, it may not be brief enough! Listen closely, and you realize that host and correspondent are reading from a script. They’re faking it. The producers figure you’re too stupid to know the difference between a conversation and actors reading their lines.
And anyway, you won’t care because you are rushed, on the go, a busy person who can’t be bothered to learn the details. Like which American President actually began the TARP program.
Corrected to reflect the difference between the morning and after-the-bell versions of Marketplace. –JR
UPDATE: Marketplace issued a correction, at least on the Web it did. Reads as follows:
CORRECTION 9/16/10: David Frum’s commentary about voters blaming President Obama and other politicians for a bank bailout that he believes saved the financial system omitted when the TARP lending program to banks began. It began before President Obama took office and has continued under his administration.
Also see: Marketplace’s Misleading Report On Fashion Copyright in Techdirt.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 02:28:17
Agree. Well put. ESPECIALLY your 2nd to last <p>.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 02:29:57
??? paragraph. (sorry, comment submit malfunction)
faisal_q
Sep 16, 2010 @ 02:38:08
"treat us like morons who don’t know their interest rates from their Nielsen ratings" If it’s one thing that MarketPlace understands, it’s their fatigued-driving-home-from-work-grueling-long-day-just-the-simple-facts-kthxbye audience.
Filmateria
Sep 16, 2010 @ 02:39:40
Wow! You nailed it! The "USA Today-ification" of news. Headlines like "We’re gaga over Gaga!" as though the entire country should follow the same manufactured events. The best news show in today’s media? "This American Life:" insight, passion, detail, point of view. Great comments, Jay. Never forget that the goal of most media is to sell soap. Please continue the outstanding insight.
kia
Sep 16, 2010 @ 03:07:57
Was it always this bad? I remember in the 1990s (how long ago that seems!) enjoying the little cutesy upbeat business stories, but I was a much more less attentive media consumer then. And David Brancaccio seemed genial. But the qualities you describe are pretty much the ones that have put me off of listening to public radio any more. Those chirpy tones are thick with condescension to my ear. It’s like news for the imaginary audience of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion–I mean the imaginary audience that the real audience gets to pretend to be–sentimental, slightly noodly, trusting, simple, minds as innocent as puppies. And yet the settled mental equilibrium of these sturdy <i>volk</i> must never be disturbed by anything too taxing in the way of complexity or risky opinion. Hence Marketplace. Another serving of bland.
mal
Sep 16, 2010 @ 03:08:10
Well today they said Microsoft stock was up because of the ie9 announcement. C’mon, I’m sure it has nothing to do with that, Microsoft’s been out of the browser market for what 10 years now?
eugenephoto
Sep 16, 2010 @ 03:16:49
Excellent analysis.Regarding: This is what Marketplace is about: arming us not with "knowledge of," but "acquaintance with."I’ve actually noticed this myself (I have an MS in finance). It’s pretty stark when they try to impress the listeners with esoteric items from Wall Street and then mix it up with something profoundly mundane about interest rates, say. That said, I am not that bothered by what Marketplace tries to be. P.S. Thanks for the DM linking to your analysis.
dsilverman
Sep 16, 2010 @ 03:31:53
Thanks for taking the time to respond in detail. One quick question: You talk about Marketplace as "sandwiched into" Morning Edition & All Things Considered. Are you also referring to the 30-minute version that runs in the afternoon?
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 03:35:08
I never listen to the 30 minute version, Dwight.
Walter Glass
Sep 16, 2010 @ 04:06:16
Perfectly expresses something I’ve long felt but haven’t quite known how to articulate, thanks.For me Planet Money is a great alternative to the inanity of Marketplace. They’re not above the occasional painfully precious gimmick, but they’re honest about what they’re trying to do and are usually able to do it in a way that engages and enlightens. Perfect listening for the drive home.
steph
Sep 16, 2010 @ 05:40:07
I wrote/produced there for a year – constantly urged to make sure stories were ‘hip & flip’ even in the weeks after 9/11.
Christine
Sep 16, 2010 @ 08:02:22
Insightful review of Marketplace. Now I’m wondering whether I like it precisely for the reasons you dislike it. To me, it’s so L.A., so fake, so frivolous, yet pleasant. I remember wondering during the fall-of-2008 big newspaper layoffs (of which I was a victim [worked as a researcher at a Gannett paper]) how they managed to keep the light, Hollywoodish tone throughout that time. But somehow, malgr?? tout, the tone was soothing. I used to wake up to Market Place, now it plays at lunch, because I’m in Europe listening to NPR Berlin instead of WPLN.
dsilverman
Sep 16, 2010 @ 11:47:53
Jay, while the 30-min. version is still "biz lite", your complaints about brevity might not apply there. You may want to give it a listen. Stories are longer, and they often are "stories" as opposed to scripted conversation. Still, it’s not Planet Money which, as Walter Glass indicated, is radio business journalism done right.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:19:33
This is the text of the grossly misleading Frum commentary. I bet I know how it happened. Everything has to be brief. Brief is the "concept" at Marketplace. To explain that he was talking about modifications to TARP, which actually began under Bush and Paulsen, would have put him over. Frum:In the first days of the Obama Administration, early in 2009, an important decision had to be made. America’s banks had racked up $1.5 trillion in losses during the financial crises — more than their combined total capital. The banks were bankrupt.Some economists argued that the best choice was to follow the example of Sweden in the 1990s: The government should nationalize all the banks, sift through the wreckage, transfer bad assets to a single government-owned "bad bank," and then return the cleaned-up banks to private ownership.This option was shot down by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and economic adviser Larry Summers. They advocated government help to recapitalize the banks without taking them into government ownership. And that is what happened….
Ivy_B
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:23:26
Thank you for detailing why M is so bad! I resent the time taken from Morning Edition when the stories are often most interesting to me.
Jeff Porten
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:30:41
Jay — Marketplace is the name of the evening 30-minute show. The name of the morning show (which I don’t listen to) is Marketplace Morning Report. I agree with you about lack of focus, but in the evening show, the format is neither condescending nor overly brief, and is the *only* business show in my experience which attempts to say, "Here are the numbers, and here’s how they affect people." Compared to Marketplace, the rest of the business media is just keeping score at a football game.In any case — if you don’t listen to Marketplace, don’t say you hate it. You hate their Morning Report. That makes a difference when you’re retweeted.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:39:29
I revised the text to reflect comments from Dwight and Jeff.
mike
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:41:38
Jay,Do you feel the same way about Cokie Roberts’s "two-way" as you do Stephen Beard’s? http://www.slate.com/id/2216890/
ellen braun
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:43:22
I don’t feel the same way you do at all. I listen to Marketplace in the evening. I usually follow up by checking out the website, where there is much more information to fill out the report. I much prefer this style of reporting, where a summary might provoke me to learn more on my own, to the crap that is shoved down our throats because 24 hour a day news coverage makes news out of nothing.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 13:45:47
I am not a fan of Cokie Roberts and her appearances on NPR, Mike. I don’t think anyone knows any longer what special insight, knowledge or perspective she brings to the table .
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 14:22:04
Out of decades of habit I still reflexively tune in to NPR on occasion. This happens often enough for me to know what you’re talking about. These bouts are short and always end the same way ??? except for This American Life, as Filmateria has pointed out ??? I catch myself indulging in a relapse and turn it off.It’s been a long time since it’s been possible to distinguish anything "alternative" about NPR. Their allegiance to business as usual is as transparent as that of any modern "news outlet."We’re of a similar age and I remember first listening to NPR during the Watergate Hearings. At that time it was thrilling to find calm intelligent voices intimately miked into my ears in stereo. Over the years I’ve had to come to grips with so much of what seemed to promise real change back then, from the Counter-Culture to Environmentalism, eroding away before my eyes into niche "markets" within the overall business as usual.Just the other day, listening to Ira Flato cut off a caller as easily and as readily as Rush Limbaugh, I realized not only were they in the same business ??? spectacle ??? but that it had always been true.This is the crisis of journalism, of all "occupations." How can anyone or any institution maintain the qualities of honesty and fealty to the development of one’s thinking while providing a product for a business whose ultimate goal is commodification and the production of consent?It’s easy to pick on the obvious ones, Marketplace, with ersatz buffoons mouthing the platitudes of real buffoons, is an easy mark. It’s a starting place. Turning it off is a first step. Spectacle only gains power over us if we give it that power. We can withhold attention, saving our attention for those things that really matter, like figuring out what really matters in the first place.I follow your work because I respect what you’ve done and see you as one of the few with a public persona who does genuinely attempt to hold to a rigor of integrity.
Zack
Sep 16, 2010 @ 14:52:36
Add to this the fact that they engage in questionable underwriting/advertising practices – doing features on products by underwriting parties, etc.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2010 @ 15:05:06
Styling a program "Business news" is a way to remove the topics that it covers from the realm of democratic policymaking. There is no separate thing as "Business," it’s all just policy by other means. This to me is the ultimate corruption of m*****place; its insistence on carving out a realm where the actions of corporations can be discussed as if they took place in a vacuum without the involvement of actual human beings.
steve m
Sep 16, 2010 @ 15:39:58
Boy is ATC monotonous – at least Marketplace is occasionally amusing. But regardless of the show, those fake "conversations" are total buzzkills. Except for when the reporter being interrogated is a stilted reader. Then they are hilarious.
Dave B
Sep 16, 2010 @ 15:50:14
As others have noted, what you’re referring to as "Marketplace" is really the brief "Marketplace Morning Report." You say you never listen to Marketplace, which is certainly your choice (it’s unclear if you’ve ever listened to the full show or not), but it would be more accurate if your article made clear that what you hate is MMP.If it turns out that you hate the 30-minute show, skipping it would require you to take a much longer shower in the early evening. Or to switch to another radio station.
almerindo
Sep 17, 2010 @ 15:32:06
I used to listen happily enough to the Marketplace Morning Report, I can’t stand hearing: "A look at business news from around the world and how it affects us here in the United States." I can’t stand that they feel the need to "brand" an international news report.
Anonymous
Sep 17, 2010 @ 15:36:25
First it was described as "… a take on the global perspective, what’s happening in business and economics around the world and how it affects us here in the United States." Which was typical mindlessless, since "a take on" added nothing and made no sense. Now they have cut that part. Apparently we’re supposed to think Marketplace is an international business report. It isn’t, of course, but this further testifies to the weak controlling idea that I mentioned.
Laurelgrove
Sep 17, 2010 @ 21:07:57
LISTEN CLOSELY and you’ll hear that most, if not all, public radio two-ways are scripted. Including the beloved This American Life and Planet Money.
Julie Drizin
Sep 18, 2010 @ 17:12:57
Wow – can you find nothing redeeming in Marketplace?. The purpose of Marketplace Morning Report is to make economic and business news quick and accessible for the majority of people (like me) who never took economics in college and don’t completely grasp all of the leading economic indicators and whatnot, while unpacking an economic perspective on other stories in the news. Sure, this personality-driven program can get a little too cutesy sometimes but I think Marketplace generally does a good job humanizing economic news. Robert Reich was a longtime commentator and I have great respect for him. They’ve done some terrific in-depth series on the global economy and other issues. As someone who believes Wall Street creates and reveres corporate criminals and engineers an unjust transfer of wealth, I can’t believe I feel compelled to defend Marketplace, but I do.
Anonymous
Sep 18, 2010 @ 18:16:15
I’m going to go a step further. I read your comment through a link on facebook. I didn’t know your perspective, so took a look and found this: "As a writer, I try to grok new media and what’s happening to the "old" press. I don’t do lifecasting but mindcasting on Twitter."Marketplace is an interesting study of evolving platforms for new media IF you study it. The way their morning and evening reports work with their website is better than most, and I hope it becomes a model. The morning report is a catchy headline, perhaps. The evening report has more in depth coverage. Their website rounds it out with tools, follow up, and an outline for topics they’re looking into for future stories. There’s plenty of opportunity for the public to contribute, before a story even becomes a story. It’s suited for an active user. They missed a detail. You noted it. They corrected it. Now look into their whole package. Compare and contrast. Then, if you like, you can bitch. For god’s sake, if you’re going to study new media, STUDY IT!
Anonymous
Sep 21, 2010 @ 18:12:11
Your gripes about the substance and style are warranted but by nature the "morning report" variation is a truncation. I don’t know what market you are all in but in Chicago there is the "Marketplace Morning Report" on in the AM, then an HOUR long show, "Marketplace" in the evening. I’ve never heard a half-hour long version. Whenever they get David Frum on there I just roll my eyes but the market reports are useful to laypeople in that if they hear the numbers often enough, a connection between market forces and world events might form in their minds …but then again these people may then believe they’re hot shot investors because they know the interest rate on 10-year treasury notes and decide to invest all their home equity into Microsoft because IE9 came out.
Not-Kia
Sep 21, 2010 @ 22:08:13
In response to Kia’s comment: "But the qualities you describe are pretty much the ones that have put me off of listening to public radio any more."Yeah…yours are the qualities that have put me off of listening to the likes of you anymore. Marketplace was good for you when you were at a certain age, but now that YOU have changed, it is not good anymore? By that token, should we replace Sesame Street with 24 because you’re older now and don’t like baby shows? Or is it that because you don’t like some NPR programs, they must all be bad? I f*ing hate Prairie Home Companion. Could do without As It Happens and a few others. There’s a *LOT* I don’t like on NPR. And a lot I don’t like on ABC. And on HBO. And on TV in general. By your logic, does it make sense that I should be ignoring everything that comes from those outlets?Your comment is like intelligence for the imaginary audience of your mind — I mean the imaginary audience that the real audience imagines you have — deferential, agreeing, trusty, simple minds as capable of tossing out the entire spectrum of programming out the window because of a perceived sentiment that it all has the same slant. And yet, the settled mental equilibrium you have that allows you to use pretentious terms like volk can’t be disturbed by anything resembling an open mind…it’s too taxing in the way of complexity and risky to do anything but generalize. Hence your comment. Another serving of self-serving…..And while we’re in here, thanks for the commentary, Jay. I think that if they chose a single direction they’d be better off serving the people they target and the people in the other group would be able to appreciate it more also.
Anonymous
Sep 22, 2010 @ 17:32:38
I’ll never listen to Marketplace the same way again…
aidian
Sep 23, 2010 @ 17:05:18
I still think the evening show is worthwhile… in a sort of homogenized, yuppie, public-radio sort of way…. but your basic complaints are valid. There’s actually nothing worse than a scripted talk back… as someone in the business it offends me to hear one "well that’s a great question, and I just happened to have a soundbite ready to roll on just that topic"
Grist
Sep 25, 2010 @ 04:30:23
On the subject of fakery on NPR, does anyone else laugh or cringe when they add sound-effects of machine-gun fire or explosions in the background of their reports of combat in Afghanistan?
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Trail Homes for Sale
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In addition to what I said earlier, here’s my take on the Sunday shows just giving the nut jobs more air time and spreading Collective Fear for no good reason on Huffington Post today
Senuke
Feb 02, 2012 @ 17:41:31
If it’s one thing that MarketPlace understands, it’s their fatigued-driving-home-from-work-grueling-long-day-just-the-simple-facts-kthxbye audience.
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