Transcript
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
This is On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.
BOB GARFIELD:
And I'm Bob Garfield with a few of your letters: Sherman Aronson of Philadelphia agrees with the assertion last week of Michael Blastland, author of The Numbers Game, that the media may be exaggerating our economic woes.
“For instance,” he writes, “I work for a small firm that grew from 65 to 130 since 2004, but 30 people were laid off in August when a big project was put on hold. Does that mean we've shrunk by 25 percent this year or that we've grown by 60 percent over four years?”
On my observation last week that President Bush seemed oblivious to the reason why an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at him, Gene Zitver of Washington, D.C. writes, quote, “Wouldn't it have been worth mentioning that in the pre-invasion era, no opposition journalist would have been allowed into the same room with the leader of Iraq? In fact, no opposition journalist would have been allowed to exist.”
And, finally, regarding our singing commentary a couple of weeks back, “Oh, the humanity,” moans one listener. Other reactions include such words as “painful,” “harmful,” “chillingly unlistenable.”
On the bright side, some called it “great,” “catchy,” “brilliant” and “brave.” And one listener declared it “a perfect desecration of Cole Porter’s enduring genius.” Uh – thanks?
Keep the unequivocal praise coming to Onthemedia.org, and don't forget to tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name.