Radio Sweethearts

Merry Christmas, public radio lovers!

Don’t you kind of wish you were at the NPR Christmas party? Take a second to imagine that – Carl Castle in a burgundy smoking jacket and slippers, padding around with a hotty toddy making sure everyone is having a good time, Ira Glass pretending he doesn’t notice that Terry Gross is totally trying to engage him in a flirtatious verbal sparring match. Brooke is totally standing by the punch, giggling with Renee Montagne and Michele Norris while Bob sulks over by the aluminum tree, trying to work up the nerve to give Brooke the mix tape that Bob Boilen helped him make.

(Matthew wishes he could get an invitation to this just to hang out with Sarah Vowell, and possibly, maybe, if he works up the nerve, ask her over to his house to watch High Fidelity.)

Alas, someone still has to read the news. This week’s On the Media is especially light. It’s like they got a memo right before taping that said “Hurry up and be journalists and get down here! Steve Inskeep brought a flask!”

The episode opens with some talk about campaign advertising. I’m not going to elaborate, because I know I’m going to be typing that sentence repeatedly until after the election.

The talk of advertising quickly leads to a discussion of factual accuracy. Brooke interviews Craig Silverman, the genius editor behind Regret The Error (link), a Web site that collects media errors and the correction blurbs that run in their wake. Every year, Silverman and his staff give an award to the Error of the Year. The winner this year? A photo that ran in all sorts of media (including Reuters) of the Russian mission to plant a flag at the bottom of the Arctic ocean turned out to be from the movie “Titanic.” The error was corrected by a teenager in Finland who had seen Titanic way too many times.

Brooke is totally enamored with this dude. Hell, I am, too. She’s giggling and cracking jokes, and I’m really hoping that after the interview, Silverman had enough sense to ask for her number.

All things considered, 2007′s errors weren’t nearly as catastrophic as last year’s. However, following a story on media coverage of the death penalty, Bob is quick to point out that 2007 has been an especially dangerous year to be a journalist.

Making the news is a tough business. This year, 64 journalists were killed in action, and 30 of those were Iraqi nationals. But there is a bright spot – for the first time in a long time, there were no journalists killed in Colombia.

After the carnage (mangled facts, botched executions, fallen comerades) of the first half of the episode, it’s a relief to get to the second half, which is all about that warm fuzzy feeling people get around the holidays, particularly when they watch cartoons.

A segment on the revolutionary “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” turns into a reminder that in the cartoons of the 1950′s, there was a sort of acceptance of difference that we just don’t really get anymore. Talking snowmen, a Jack-in-the-Box named Charlie, Rudolph, and other imperfect creatures are all able to celebrate Christmas together, in the warm glow of a claymation fire.

These cartoons are still relevant today. They’re classic, and every year, their ratings stay high. And yeah, people aren’t that idealistic anymore, but it’s that time of year when I kind of wish that we were. I want Rudolph to be accepted. I want errant facts corralled into their proper places. I want our very own Charlie Brown, Bob Garfield, to finally get the things he wants the most.

I want public radio to continue to make an emotional mess of me for years to come.

Happy holidays from the two of us at Radio Sweethearts. We hope you and your family have a really great one.

Now where’s Carl Castle? I think I need another drink.

Posted by Kerry, edited…*longing sigh* by Matthew.