Black Bloggers and NPR

There is a "hot" conversation over at Mirror on America regarding NPR and the program "Black Bloggers Roundtable." African American Blogger Angry Independent believes NPR's Black Bloggers Roundtable show has blown it again. Here is just a bit of what he had to say, along with a link to his full post and comments. By The Angry Independent I have been ill and really did not want to blog today at all.... but this silliness bugs me... mainly because I know there are more astute African American bloggers available for this show. Yet News and Notes brings on the same crew over and over again. This is the same crew (except for one) that trashed Michael Moore's film "Sicko" a few weeks ago. First Farai Chideya refers to Jasmyne Cannick as a Political blogger.... yet she rarely offers any substantive political commentary on the show. Let's be truthful here.... Cannick is an entertainment & pop culture blogger....not a serious political blogger. In fact, she constantly expresses her disinterest in political issues, and instead focuses on the latest events in the entertainment world.... Black entertainment in particular. But that's not what really annoyed me.... what annoyed me was the nonsense spouted by blogger Michael David Cobb Bowen. On the show he stated that Iraq was being turned around because of the surge. WHAT? I guess he missed the report of the 142 people killed yesterday and the new problems within the Iraqi Government. Bowen must be tapping into the Bush propaganda machine, which has created a completely different reality for those who want to avoid the facts about Iraq. More from the Angry Independent HERE PS, I regularly blog with The Angry Independent and have been invited to be a guest bloggers with him recently on the Rude Pundit Blog. I have also been invited to participate in NPR's Black Bloggers Roundtable on Wednesday August 15th. I'm not sure if my invite is due to the Angry Independents' continued post regarding NPR's need to bring more African American "political" bloggers to the program, but I'm sure it did not hurt. I hope NPR scheduled the Angry Independent. He needs to be on the program. NPR has posted a link saying: -- The blog, "Mirror on America," ripped our weekly Bloggers' Roundtable segment, saying, "I know there are more astute African American bloggers available for this show." It's great that African American bloggers are stepping it up. It's also great that corporations and media are listening and responding.