NPR prides itself on doing radio journalism in a unique way: contextual, thoughtful and sound-rich, according to its devotees. In the previous column, I also remarked that length is one of the attributes that distinguishes NPR from other broadcasters. While commercial radio specializes in the 20-to-40-second reports, NPR News programs devote longer periods of time to stories and segments — in the range of six minutes on average, I wrote.
But some listeners and even a few NPR journalists said that isn’t quite the same as it used to be. In fact, they claim that NPR’s newfound appeal and growth in audiences has come at the expense of the more traditional, longer-form radio reports.
So what are the facts? Just how well and how often do the NPR News programs handle longer reports?
Here’s what I found out:
NPR newsmagazines broadcast reports that are still substantially longer than commercial radio. But not as long as they used to be. NPR reports are no longer six minutes on the average. Here is how it breaks down for September and October of this year:
- Morning Edition – 4.6 minutes
- Weekend Edition Saturday – 5.3 minutes
- Weekend Edition Sunday – 5.5 minutes
- All Things Considered - 4.6 minutes
- All Things Considered (Sat. & Sun.) - 5.4 minutes
Of course, NPR programs regularly air longer-form documentaries, some of which can run 20 to 30 minutes. But at least over these two months, the average was in the five-minute range.
What does this mean for the audience and for NPR’s journalism? Opinions as to whether this is a good thing — or just an inevitability — will vary on this. Shorter stories mean that the programs air a larger number and presumably a broader range of subjects and reports.
In a recent article about the changing nature of radio news in the American Journalism Review, NPR and commercial radio people agreed that even though many people have found NPR and listen to it because it sounds different, it may not sound as different as it once did.
Susan Stamberg is quoted as saying that after hosting All Things Considered for two weeks this summer, she was struck by how much more breaking news is covered.
Jay Kernis is NPR’s vice president for programming. He thinks that length is only one aspect by which the value of NPR reporting can be evaluated.
“In terms of NPR’s newsmagazines, specifically Morning Edition and All Things Considered, stories are still quite long compared to anything else on the radio. Dedicated listeners have told us over the years that they preferred stories at lengths that make sense in terms of the ways in which they use radio. Usually one-third of news listeners are at home, another third in their offices, another third in their cars. They are busy when the radio is on, want more information and say they don’t have the time for longer, documentary-style stories. That doesn’t mean NPR News doesn’t produce longer-form stories, it just means the story must be truly compelling or the news value so important that it can hold a longer length. Length has little to do with NPR as a main or alternative (source of) information.”
In the not-too-recent past, long-form radio was very labor intensive. Analog technology meant that it sometimes took weeks to craft the stories, to mix in the sound from the scene and to create those audio portraits and landscapes that were known to be NPR’s hallmarks. But digital technology means that even shorter reports and daily news pieces can have those same sound-rich qualities.
My own view is that NPR still does long-form radio extremely well. It needs to ensure that those radio values remain on the programs for the benefit of the listeners. The shorter stories can still become more “radiophonic” as digital technology allows for the nimble insertion of natural sound and actuality from the scene. This means that daily news reports can and should have the same audio values as documentaries. If not, the differences between NPR and commercial radio may become increasingly blurred. And that’s what some listeners are starting to sense as NPR reports become shorter.
Counting on NPR
Thousands of demonstrators came to Washington, D.C., on Oct. 26 to protest against the Bush administration’s policy on Iraq. When NPR reported that the rally attracted “fewer than 10,000 people,” and that “organizers were disappointed with the low turnout…” many who attended were angry that their efforts had apparently been dismissed by NPR’s report.
“I am disappointed,” wrote Jesse Hafen, “by your recent coverage of the anti-war demonstrations, as I believe that your estimations of the size of the crowd (in numbers) was inaccurate. Since NPR is a guide to many, and a basis of public opinion, your error is even more disturbing.”
More than 2,300 people wrote in to express much the same sentiments. No question about it — NPR made a huge error.
To NPR’s credit, it did the right thing: It ran a correction on the air and on the Web site:
From All Things Considered Oct. 26, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Nov. 2, 2002:
“On Saturday, Oct. 26, in a story on the protest in Washington, D.C., against a U.S. war with Iraq, we erroneously reported on All Things Considered that the size of the crowd was “fewer than 10,000.” While Park Service employees gave no official estimate, it is clear that the crowd was substantially larger than that. On Sunday, Oct. 27, we reported on Weekend Edition that the crowd estimate from protest organizers was 100,000. We apologize for the error.”
In my reporting days, I quickly discovered that being inside a demonstration is perhaps one of the least-effective vantage points to make a crowd estimate. More useful to the listeners is for NPR reporters to describe the scene, quote the best estimates available and let the listeners decide for themselves. To do otherwise is to get lost in the claims and counterclaims of the participants.
Lost in this numbers game is the fact that NPR has done some solid reporting, in my opinion, of the issues and strong feelings around the country over the growing confrontation with Iraq. While the number of demonstrators is always important, so are the politics and the doubts that are emerging with increasing forthrightness from many NPR listeners.
