Joe Olivo Plays a Small Business Owner on NPR

Okay folks, NPR should feel some real pain on this one. Some of you may recall last week when I beat up on NPR for presenting the views of Joe Olivo, a small business owner, on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I pointed out that the piece the segment did not put Olivo's complaints in any context so that listeners would have no way of assessing their validity.

It turned out that I was overly generous. Olivo was not a random small business owner who NPR happened to stumble upon. He is a person that the National Federal of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the lead plaintiff in the suit against the ACA, routinely sends out to speak to the media and to testify at public hearings. I discovered this from a blogpost at Balloon Juice.

One might have thought NPR would apologize for not properly identifying Mr. Olivo in its segment. However, if you thought that, you would be wrong.

Balloon Juice tells us that Mr. Olivo was back last night. He told All Things Considered listeners that a higher minimum wage is a really bad idea and would force him to lay off workers. Once again Mr. Olivo was presented as a random small business; his ties to the NFIB were not mentioned.

Come on folks, this is really Journalism 101. It's fine to put Mr. Olivo on the air and let him give his story, but don't present him as a random small business owner. The reason that you are talking to him is because the NFIB sent him to you. How could you not give this information to your audience?

If NPR keeps this up they should bill the series as Joe Olivo versus the Regulation Monster.

When Fact Checkers Can't Check Anymore: Ask the Wrong Question ...
written by Last Mover, July 09, 2012 2:33

Not only that, NPR just had Kathleen Hall Jamieson on, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center discussing why politicians lie.

With no hint of unbelievable bias - exactly what the Center claims to oversee and flush out - Jamieson proceeded to weave in the austerian point that anyone who didn't clarify that both government spending had to decline and taxes had to increase in balanced budget fashion was lying.

With such brilliant minds as Jamieson the watchdog explaining the difference between economic lies and truths in the middle of a deep recession, who needs Olivo to set the record straight?

...
written by kharris, July 09, 2012 2:35

Ah, but if Olivo is presented as representing a particular organized point of view, the "rule" of journalism require that the other side be allowed to rebut his view. If he's just a guy, relating to NPR how things stand, there's no need to go to that extra work.

...
written by Jack, July 09, 2012 8:18

It is stuff like this, appearing with ever increasing frequency, that makes me despair. NPR, Fox, CNN et. al. all presenting "information" in a way that ordinary people will accept as true. Except it's managed info. I spend a fair amount of money on paper journalism (NYT, local paper, Time, Economist and others). More and more I think I'm wasting my money and time.

I'm tired of being shocked by NPR's laziness
written by Bill, July 09, 2012 11:45

I didn't listen to it, fortunately, but this type of lazy journalism has been going on for years at NPR. Many of the questions/answers the reporters are asked by the anchor sound very well rehearsed, staged actually. As mentioned elsewhere, their Dem said/Rep said/Rep said format was already getting old in the Clinton years. It's become the CNN of radio.

Rehearsed? or Edited?
written by Ethan, July 10, 2012 11:18

My guess is that these interviews are recorded and then edited with the "interviewer" recording new questions that fit the statements already made by the "interviewee". This makes the piece flow better over the air and also makes the interviewer look smarter and more well informed. It does, however, let the interviewee control the interview stating only info and positions he/she wants stated. What the media needs is some retired trial lawyers who know how to take an adversarial deposition and dig out the real facts.

...
written by Frank Burke, July 10, 2012 2:34

I remember listening to this NPR piece and thought for sure they had identified Joe as working for the NFIB.

I checked it out and nope, that was the next person they utilized for its objectivity/counterpoint credentials: "Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a group that lobbies against increasing the minimum wage." Joe was indeed presented as a real American small business owner.

transcript here: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/08/...lp-or-harm

Well done to you and Balloon Juice for catching it.

Inquiring minds
written by PeonInChief, July 11, 2012 10:35

want to know how many minimum wage workers this guy employs.

NPR Runs a Long Correction Piece on "On the Media"
written by Frank Burke, July 14, 2012 4:47

NPR's "On the Media" show (Saturdays at 3:00 PM here in New Orleans) ran a ten-minute segment on "Joe the Printer" that addressed the criticisms raised by this post and others. Well done, Dean!

http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/jul/13/introducing-joe-olivo/

Joe Plays One.
written by FoonTheElder, July 17, 2012 12:26

Joe's not a real business owner, but he does play one on TV for the benefit of the millionaires and big corporation who really pay him.

Joe Olivo Plays a Small Business Owner on NPR

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