Wiebke ([info]wiebke) wrote in [info]npr_junkie,
@ 2005-09-01 18:10:00
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Current mood: impressed
Entry tags:hurricane katrina

Go Robert!
I'm currently listening to Robert Siegel going after the Secretary of Homeland Security who keeps evading his questions about people at the convention center in New Orleans, who don't have food and water. It's unreal... This guy he's interviewing is talking out of two sides of his mouth and Robert won't let it go. The official dismissed reports of anarchy and starvation and death as "rumors" and Robert is like, "Well, these are reporters who've not only covered previous hurricanes... but war zones!!!!!" Finally the Secretary was like, "Well, if you're saying this... I can't argue with you... do you think we should check it out?" He then got the reporter on scene on the air, talking about people "living like animals" with death, rape, etc. It is beyond bad, and only 8-10 blocks from the Superdome. Then after THAT, Robert announces that they got a message from the Secretary saying they had confirmed the problem!

Definitely one of the most dramatic live broadcasts I've heard on NPR, possibly since 9/11.


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[info]marchenland
2005-09-01 10:21 pm UTC (link)
Paul just called me to tell me the exact same thing. Wow. I will listen at 5 my time.

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[info]wiebke
2005-09-01 11:01 pm UTC (link)
Do listen. Of course there are lots of other amazing reports on, but that one was courageous. I mean, that Secretary was being a complete WEASEL, never once saying "Oh, really? I'll get somebody to fix that NOW!" but instead accusing Robert Siegel of being a liar and saying (over and over) that people in need had to go to "designated areas" and listen to the people in charge.

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[info]squid_ink
2005-09-01 10:23 pm UTC (link)
I just heard the same thing... amazing.

It was great radio...and a bone chilling interview. How could Chertoff (sp?) not know??

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[info]wiebke
2005-09-01 11:03 pm UTC (link)
I guess possibly see him not knowing (though there was a high-profile report w/video on CNN) but it's fact that he basically denied it out of hand and said "Oh, well, they just have to get to a designated area..." that bothered me. Oh, and calling reporters rumor-mongers when in fact they had pictures, had posted descriptions of what they saw with their own eyes... *groan*

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[info]aimsmiff
2005-09-01 10:32 pm UTC (link)
a driveway moment, for sure...i sat open-mouthed in front of my house.

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[info]wiebke
2005-09-01 11:04 pm UTC (link)
I don't drive, but was listening via the 'net while working and suddenly I stopped typing and just gaped: "He DIDN'T just say that! Did he? OMG, he DID!" Which is why I started posting before it was even over.

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[info]drivingrl
2005-09-01 10:33 pm UTC (link)
I had to stop listening after a while because I was so disgusted.

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[info]wiebke
2005-09-01 11:24 pm UTC (link)
I had to keep listening b/c I wanted to see how far Robert Siegel would go to (justifiably) harass that official. He didn't disappoint.

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[info]jennybunny
2005-09-01 10:36 pm UTC (link)
When I heard that interview I decided that Robert Siegal is in fact the most amazing newsman ever.

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[info]wiebke
2005-09-01 11:25 pm UTC (link)
He didn't let go, that's for sure!

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[info]shake_it_up
2005-09-01 11:34 pm UTC (link)
For the first time ever, I was proud of Robert Siegel. Usually he just seems to read the news.

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[info]betamatt
2005-09-01 11:38 pm UTC (link)
But that diction! Even if he's just reading, he pronounces everything so well that it's a pleasure merely to listen to him.

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41 years
[info]jeremyrichards
2005-09-02 04:51 pm UTC (link)
...Siegel shared in NPR's 1994/95 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award for "The Changing of the Guard: The Republican Revolution," NPR's coverage of the first 100 days of the 104th Congress. His coverage of the peace movements in East and West Germany earned him a 1984 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award for excellence in broadcast journalism. Siegel's two-part documentary "Murder, Punishment, and Parole in Alabama" earned the 1997 American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. The series revealed a criminal justice system beset by the financial difficulties of keeping violent offenders in long-term incarceration. His other awards include the National Mental Health Association's 1991 Mental Health Award for his interviews conducted on the streets of New York in an All Things Considered story, "The Mentally Ill Homeless."

He also just reads the news.

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[info]mimimimi_word
2005-09-02 01:05 am UTC (link)
I was on the freeway listening to it. I was so proud of Robert Siegal!

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[info]crwilley
2005-09-02 01:57 am UTC (link)
I thought it was great the first time around. On the other hand, it struck me as a little dishonest to run the interview on the replay two hours later knowing that the Secretary had confirmed the information.

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[info]venialblur
2005-09-02 02:45 am UTC (link)
earlier today there was a quote on the front page of the drudge report. it wasn't a link or anything. but it mentioned condoleeza rice and the secretary of homeland security went to a showing of Spamalot in NYC yesterday or tuesday.

it's gone now, though, and i tried googling a story like that but havent' found anything.
does anyone else have an article/heard mention of this?

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[info]kappsgurl
2005-09-02 04:08 pm UTC (link)
I think this is what you're looking for:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/342712p-292600c.html

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[info]venialblur
2005-09-02 04:15 pm UTC (link)
ok, so it was just condy, not the secr. of homeland.

still, that's pretty bad =/

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[info]daylightrambler
2005-09-02 04:54 am UTC (link)
I heard it in the car as I was pulling in the driveway. My jaw just dropped, totally speechless. It's easy to see why Siegal was pissed. It's one thing to dismiss a rumor, it's completely different when you question the veracity of a colleague.
After Chertoff hung up, though, and the reporter reiterated all he had seen and heard--the looting, the violence, the chaos---I just sat in the car and cried.

After 9/11, it seemed like the country dropped everything, and looked toward the smoking hulk that had once stood bright on the New York skyline. This time around, it feels like people are glancing, and then turning away quickly, and running to the gas station-while another of America's "New" cites lies underwater, gasping for air, pleading for help...

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For those that missed it...
[info]sofvckinghot
2005-09-02 11:15 am UTC (link)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828771

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Re: For those that missed it...
[info]screwtheodds
2005-09-02 03:42 pm UTC (link)
The story continues with the partner segement:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828774

At the end of the segment, Robert mentions that Chertoff's secretary has called in with a confirmation that Chertoff was able to authenticated the story of thousands going without aid in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Nice - have your secretary call in to confrim you just made an ass of yourself on national radio...


NPR now has an RSS feed set for Katrina as well.

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Re: For those that missed it...
[info]sofvckinghot
2005-09-02 03:59 pm UTC (link)
Thanks!

When they kindly confirmed the obvious, did Chertoff's secretary also say what ACTION would result?

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[info]tectonic_drift
2005-09-02 12:44 pm UTC (link)
I heard it too, and was also moved. He is always so calm and polite. For the first time I heard some anger underneath as he was defending reports from the NPR correspondent. He stood firm and it confirmed again why I like him so much.

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