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WBUR fires Tom Ashbrook

BU Today reports the NPR station found no evidence that the now former On Point host sexually harassed anybody but that he was canned "after an independent review verified claims that he had created an abusive work environment."

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So WBUR Sr. mgmt. knew of conditions in the workplace but couldn't fix them...sounds like there should be some mgmt. changes at BUR.

The BU story reads like a Fox News (Fair & Balanced) report...Where is Tom Ashbrook's statement? At least the Globe story had Ashbrook's comments.

Where is mgmt accountability other than we need to do a better job?...perhaps get a new one.

OnPoint was head & shoulders above anything else on WBUR and Ashbrook's efforts for perfection was evident in his shows. He held guests accountable and would not let them off the hook if & when they went on with their talking points.

He'll be missed and WBUR will no longer get my $$.

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OnPoint was head & shoulders above anything else on WBUR and Ashbrook's efforts for perfection was evident in his shows. He held guests accountable and would not let them off the hook if & when they went on with their talking points.

It was boring, sensationalist garbage of the lowest order, and was the reason Iong ago broke my regular NPR habit as he was all that was on when I wanted to listen.

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He was such an arrogant jerk. Nothing like the host always trying to make sure the listeners know now smart HE is. From the first time I heard his show, after Christopher Lydon left WBUR, I just changed the station. Stopped giving them my NPR funds and sent it to WGBH instead.

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but no one and I mean no one is a bigger example of an out of touch limousine liberal know it all than Jim Braude.

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Can't even listen to his douche spew ever. At all. I don't know why the hell he isn't in jail for that stunt he pulled a few years ago with the closed roadway.

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Yeah, I see him in the Fresh Pond Whole Foods every now and again. He literally carries himself like an old Roman Senator, like he should be wearing the flowing garb with the arm held up and under the cloth out schooling the acolytes.

What a jagoff.

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"Ashbrook had created a work environment that included verbal assaults, intimidating actions, consistent bullying, and unwanted touching." -- BU Today

Unwanted touching isn't sexual harassment? Sounds like assault and battery at a minimum. After the despicable firing of Juan Williams, lurid, multiple child rape accusations against the voice of Elmo and now Tom Ashbrook touching, bullying and intimidating people, perhaps WEEI can rent a bigger classroom and invite the public broadcasting crowd to the upcoming sensitivity class.

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NPRs senior vice president of news, Mike Oreskes, was fired for the long trail of sexual harassment a few months ago.

The place is a cesshole.

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NPR fires their own, admits it, and spends a lot of time discussing on-air what they could have done better.

Fox denies and pays off women and only cans people after tremendous public (advertiser) pressure.

So as broadcast news goes, NPR is still better then anyone else in the US. They have their faults, for sure, but overall it's strong journalism. Wish there was more of it.

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NPR let Oreskes go on a TWO YEAR RAMPAGE of sexual assault so horrid that the Washington Post had to step in and blow the whistle.

That is like Clinton ratting you out for rape. I do not think there is any lower the bar can go.

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Well, got to give them an "A" for effort. Minnesota NPR, "Garrison Keillor, the creator and former host of A Prairie Home Companion, has been accused of inappropriate behavior with someone who worked with him, according to Minnesota Public Radio"

It's almost as if it's...systemic...

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It grabs every one by the pussy and just starts kissing.

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Garrison Keilor, John Hockenberry, Oreskes, all of them made their reputations being holier-than-thou moralizers who moralized at us deplorables about our bitter clinging to our antiquated notions of just about everything. And now that they've been caught NPR pretends to be brave and righteous for telling us they did a bad thing?

That is hypocrisy. Not that overused accusation of hypocrisy, but actual, factual, hypocrisy.

You can tell because all their media buddies are shilling hard for them by calling them brave while with the expectation of present and future reciprocity for similar scandals. In contrast with the sustained and pointed pressure Re: Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Milo Yianopoulos, and probably a few I'm forgetting.

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This isn't a scored pissing match - misogyny is everywhere. You can't see that because you are so blinded by your own and blinded by your perverse need to score points rather than analyze the larger reality.

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The people who are telling you it is and telling you to jump through newer and higher hoops to fight it are the same ones grabbing at their interns while everyone else in the real world is walking on eggshells and too scared to ask a woman out on a date for fear of being too forward.

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Misogyny is not everywhere

Would you know? Would you have the least fucking clue?

But then you're probably one of those guys who talks about how he doesn't have a racist bone in his body, too.

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You people were going to call me a racist anyway, sight unseen. Hell, these days even coin tosses are racist. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456295/Shani-Davis-racist-coin-tos...

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in bars recently, the idea that "everyone" (by which I assume you mean "men") is walking on eggshells, afraid to flirt with women, is false. I just saw some serious flirtation between male and female strangers last night.

I'm guessing the problem is you, and not everyone else.

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His definition of "flirt" is "start kissing" and "grab by the pussy"?

People who talk like this have extreme problems with boundaries. Even when it comes to their daughters.

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I am disappointed in you, anon. Everyone knows you go for accusations of closet homosexuality over mere incest when you have the option.

Here's the thing I was actually talking about:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soloish/wp/2018/02/12/its-tough-for-...

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Juan Williams is making good coin at Fox News. If you're ever visiting with your dad (read: MY dad) who watches that channel 24/7, you'll see that he does a pretty good job over there.

I think he was already a "Correspondent" at fox while he was still at NPR. Then when NPR canned him for daring to be an African American With a Differing Opinion, Fox promoted him and now he seems to be a recurring commentator on ALL the shows over there (the ones that air in the evening, that is. Hey Dad: Can't wait for baseball season to start so that we can you know...watch baseball.. instead of people yelling at each other).

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Although I'd say that "sensitivity training" is not quite what WBUR needs. WEEI has a problem with being racist, sexist, homophobic assholes on the air; WBUR definitely behaves better on the air, but seems to have a management culture that enabled at least two abusive individuals. WEEI may have the same problem as well, although I imagine that their initial goal is going to be "how not to be a complete dick and constantly show your ass on the airwaves" -- a low bar indeed, but a huge step up for them.

The whataboutism of Fishy and his sockpuppets, and its transparent shit-stirring motive, is predictable and hilarious. I don't know anyone on the left whose response isn't, "Hey, what about it? Let the chips fall where they may." Fish's ploy here is just another clear indicator that he will never be the source of any solutions for any worthwhile problems.

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Adding insult to injury, WGBH couldn't even get the name right when reporting on the firing this evening. They called him "Tom Ashcroft."

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believe that powerful men exploiting their positions to get way with abuse and sexual harassment is a terrible thing, regardless of their politics.

In the meantime, get back to me when NPR has to spend fifty million dollars in settlements to protect its big-ratings stars as Fox News did. Let's leave aside the aforementioned transparency of NPR and its efforts to publicly discuss the issue vs. the deliberate opacity of Fox News in the wake of such incidents. And the awful sexism that Fox News projects in its programming on a daily basis. (And the fact that if you watch Fox News and believe what it tells you, you are already a disservice to democracy with your crippled critical thinking skills.)

With NPR vs. right-wing media on the abuse and sexual harassment issue, you might be missing a little scale, honesty, and consistency problem. Liberals care about this issue and try to do something about it, frankly acknowledging it and insisting on probity and consequences among their own: consider Al Franken, for starters. Conservatives prefer to pretend it doesn't exist, and when faced with incontrovertible evidence of it when one of their guys gets exposed, labor strenuously to sweep it under the carpet, often with the help of fat checks, and attack the victims. Looking at you, entire White House staff, on Rob Porter.

I'll grant you Bill Clinton on this one, an egregious exception. You might be on firmer ground there if you didn't give Trump a pass on what looks like a much bigger pile of transgressions, underscored and italicized by his boasting about pussy-grabbing. I think you aren't being honest with yourself if you can swallow the pitiful attempt to dismiss it as mere locker-room talk. I suspect a lot of male Trump supporters took him at his word there, but unlike liberals envied his ability to be that disgusting pig, cocooned by power, wealth and fame.

On the whole, your whataboutism on this issue is painfully thin. Who exactly do you think you're kidding?

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They are kidding themselves, and sadly that seems to bee all that matters for them

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Liberal media did nothing but sermonize against Trump's escapades all while not only envying, but topping them in-house.

Maybe they ought to stick to reporting facts and not manufacturing the appearance of a leftie utopia where there are 57 genders, and the 57 Communists in the state department can be out and proud.

The astute observer will note I'm still breathing.

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n/t

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devolves into blithering gobbledygook. Might be a blood sugar level thing.

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small people can understand them. I guess I have to dumb it down a bit more, since I'm not being understood.

Still breathing.

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tiny thoughts behind them, and their apparently random order. Maybe your mom shouldn't let you drink so many Cokes in a row.

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I thought you were a food critic, not a comedian.

Well, I better let you go. I wouldn't want you to miss your daily hour of hate. I hear today they're going to bring in a real life Republican for you people to stone to death. With cruelty-free, ethically-sourced stones, of course.

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The only joke here is you, and it's not even a good joke.

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mistaking mockery for hate.

You're simply too ridiculous to merit actual enmity: a teenager pretending to be an adult and trying desperately to troll the grownups. It's why people have gradually stopped responding to you here, Roman: they know it's pointless to attempt a good-faith discussion with an insecure, attention-seeking child.

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It's why people have gradually stopped responding to you here

If anything *more* posters respond now than ever before

Usually after a Roman post there are:

A few posters who call names
A few posters who try to change the subject
A few posters who tackle the issues
Many posters who think they are psychologists for some reason

I learn a lot from Roman posts and look forward to them. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would just jump in a good conversation and start insulting posters without adding anything to the topic at hand. I enjoy a good zinger every now and again, even when people get the best of me, but it makes me sad to think that it is acceptable to just name call without adding anything else.

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You're disingenuous as hell, just like Roman.

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Is it really mockery if it doesn't work.

Here's what I mean:

You didn't change anyone's mind, you didn't shut anyone up, and you didn't even score any points, rhetorical or substantive. What have you actually accomplished besides venting and trolling? Did you at least make yourself feel good? Did you get an honest-to-God thrill up your leg from splitting a very fine hair and reducing the other guy's arguments to dust? Did you at least make yourself laugh?

Mockery only works if it actually works. That seems like a tautology, but I'll give you real examples.

Fidel Castro died not too long ago. The Canadian PM tweeted a fond eulogy. He was *mocked* for whitewashing Castro's real and documented history of human rights violations. The specific point of the real-life chorus of condemnation was (and had the effect of) reminding people that Castro wasn't a particularly good guy in his time, and that people who wash over that call their own moral judgment into question. There wasn't much pushback to that pushback because there was more than an ounce of truth in it.

Last Friday, the Dear Leader's sister attended the Olympic Opening Ceremony. The American press gushed all over her. NYT, WaPo, even WSJ if I recall. The were *mocked* for giving good PR to a PR initiative by some not-so-good people with documented records of being not-so-good. Again, the pushback came from all over, and there wasn't much to say to it other than agree because yeah...it was a fuckup.

That's mockery that works because it teaches a lesson that's worth teaching.

What are you doing here? You're calling me names or telling me to kill myself and then telling me you're better than me. You're also telling me my logic skills don't exist, but there you are, just throwing out insults and calling them arguments.

So I ask again...does it at least make you feel good? If so, I'm happy for you. It's no skin off my back. If not...what the hell are you thinking man?

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They to,d you to kill yourself in this thread. Oh, and the mockery works, and it's well deserved. Deal with it.

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Here's the link

http://www.universalhub.com/comment/651644#comment-651644

And how exactly does it work? What's your performance criterion for mockery working. Scaring me away? Changing my mind? Shutting me up? Seriously...what is it?

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We can have different opinions on how to approach policy and politics. However, you approach them immediately from a point of animosity and undeserved self-righteousness, which is rich considering your usual disposition, and then you cry foul when people call you on such behavior. If you genuinely want to discuss different viewpoints and outcomes, then do that. But you usually inject completely hyperbolic stupidity, as well as bad faith and disingenuous arguements. So to cry foul at that while acting the part of what's essentially an irrationally bratty child does nothing but serve the narrative that you deserve nothing more than what you complain about above. So, yeah, this isn't a problem with UHub so much as it is you.

Case in point: you tried to make the argument that because Miller is Jewish that that validates his (and your) point (I'd imagine). That's not how logic works, so kindly never try to make any argument about logic when you clearly don't know how it works. But if we wanted to make factual statements about absurdities, you did, in fact, say that the commenter you replied to was "funny," so I can't know that you were being anything other than serious.

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who routinely and casually tosses off assorted bigotries -- racism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism among them -- and you don't argue in good faith. I can't tell if you actually feel those things, or are just trying to rile people up, driven by some adolescent notion that it's hilarious to be hateful and get people to respond as though you are serious. I honestly can't tell if you're an anti-social, thirsty teenager or an adult who actually believes the ugly stuff you spew here. (I've eliminated a third explanation, Russian troll: you're not clever enough.) None of them is a good reflection on you.

I don't expect to change the mind of anyone who clearly exists in a bubble of right-wing propaganda and lacks basic critical thinking skills. There's only two rational responses to harebrained right-wing bigots and/or trolls like you: ignore or mock. I've been ignoring you and your ilk for a while, gone back to mocking recently. It's probably better for you and the board for you to be ignored, to let you natter your frequently-incomprehensible rants into a void.

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there are a lot more people reading the comments than there are writing them, and letting his drivel go unanswered leads to people concluding completely-wrong things like "well no one could argue with his point, so it's going unchallenged." The best solution for the site would be disabling anonymous comments and shadow-banning folks who are obviously habitual trolls, but Adam has gone on the record as being pro-anonymity, so that's out. That leaves mockery.

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That leaves mockery.

Yeah, that really worked with stopping Trump from winning the election for President of the United States of America.

The guy spoke truth and his opponents called him orange.

Are you saying if you didn't go all out on the orange thing, he would have got more votes? That mockery works?

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Liberals care about this issue

Liberals ignore the scores of abused women, assaulted by NPR employees, choosing to point figures at other assaults in a sick and twisted one-up game.

They do not care about the issue. They care about protecting the abusers. How do you think the assault victims feel about the "dialogue" when NPR has a track record of hiding systemic abuse and only pretends to be interested when caught red handed?

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You know about this because THEY DON'T.

Ever hear the phrase "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"?

Of course not. It involves evidence and logic.

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You know about this because THEY DON'T.

They do.

After years of NPR ignoring and hiding sexual abuse from the VICE PRESIDENT of their own news department, The Washington Post had to FINALLY blow the whistle.

SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR NEWS OUTLETS REPORTED THE SCANDAL before NPR finally got around to admitting it.

Real winners. The cesshole of moochers and deviants should be shut down for good.

No wait, what was their excuse? Sorry we were a bit late reporting the news, our boss was busy assaulting women.

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On full display here.

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Like Bratfart and 500,000,000 blogs that retweet Bratfart

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WHRB-FM 95.3 Boston Cambridge Harvard Radio http://whrb.org would do well to partner with speech therapy, voice therapy or vocal therapy for improving enunciation. Several announcers broadcasting over WHRB can do better, speak more clearly.

The excellent content of WHRB is worthy of the best presentation.

Please see also...

Voice Therapy
https://www.masseyeandear.org/specialties/otolaryngology/voice-laborator...

"Professional Voice
"Singers, actors, announcers, teachers and attorneys are among the professionals who depend on their voice for their livelihood. A number of voice therapists on our staff are also performers and vocal instructors. We understand the unique challenges professional voice users face and are prepared to be your partner in your vocal recovery.

"In addition to our clinical work with performers, Voice and Speech Laboratory staff members provide lectures and support for students and teachers of the many fine performing arts colleges in the Boston area, including the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory."
https://www.masseyeandear.org/specialties/otolaryngology/voice-laboratory

Voice box and upper airway
https://www.masseyeandear.org/specialties/otolaryngology/laryngology

Functioning of voice, voice difficulties, sudden changes in voice.
https://www.masseyeandear.org/specialties/otolaryngology/voice-laborator...

Common conditions of voice system
https://www.masseyeandear.org/specialties/otolaryngology/voice-laborator...

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unpaid undergraduates just in it for the chance to play some records they like, as I did when I was a college radio DJ. I'm sure I was a middling on-air presence at best, but I got to spin my kind of music, had a small following of local teens who were starved for then-novel punk rock, and didn't have access to the records the station got or that I hitched to Boston regularly to buy.

Harvard ain't Emerson, where many students have professional aspirations to the entertainment industry, and the station is accordingly well-equipped and -funded. It's free: what do you have to kick about?

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Communicating passions for the music is worth ever improving an on the air presence. Announcing is a performance. For student/college radio there can be opportunity for getting better at getting across to listeners what makes the DJ passionate about particular musical works of art.

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It is called "being on college radio". That's what college radio stations are for.

You have to start somewhere.

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I had no idea that Mass Eye and Ear was a leading center for Laryngology. Thanks for posting.

As for HRB, one reason I almost never listen except for Saturdays, when you have two gem shows, Hillbilly at Harvard and the Met Opera broadcast, is the QUANTITY of talking prior to each musical piece. They are talking to their faculty musicologists, not ordinary listeners. I don't need to know every minute detail of a composer, performer AND recording engineer's life before hearing their music.

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It's the 21st Century, 2018, time to broadcast opera/vocal performances with more humor, less starchy, less ceremonious approaches to a genre with complexity that challenges many. For example, folks with improv comedy theatre background can present the excellent content of WHRB 95,3 http://whrb.org even better.

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with the delivery of HRB announcers. They sometime flub the pronunciation of foreign words and names, but are otherwise understandable. So I wonder if you might be thinking of the gentleman who has long announced the Met broadcasts and the vocal selections which follow them? It is my understanding, he suffered a stroke.which accounts for his current vocal state.

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Will the last person who's banned please turn off the lights?

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When the misogyny stops.

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