Does the name Jeffrey Dvorkin sound familiar? It should. Since July 1997, Dvorkin has been the honcho at NPR News, and the subtle, deliberate changes he's made in the operation have been refreshing. He cut his teeth at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, worked there for more than 20 years, and eventually became Managing Editor for CBC Radio news. Although it's not as famous as its progenitor, the BBC, nor as loud, flashy, and strident as the commercial networks in the US, the CBC has quietly become one of the world's premiere broadcast services. Luring Dvorkin away was a real coup for NPR.
Most noteworthy is the transformation of Morning Edition. For several years, my favorite four words on that program have been, "Bob Edwards is away." I don't care how much experience and tradition he has, the guy often sounds like he's not any more with it than I am at 6 AM. It's especially painful when Edwards, in a stupor, is conducting an interview without any semblance of interest in the subject. Lately, I've heard less of Bob and more of Alex Chadwick, Renée Montaigne, Ray Suarez, and other young voices full of natural enthusiasm. Then a well-rested Edwards returns and is generally bearable for a few weeks.
Another improvement is that the program seems brighter. The pace is slightly faster, with a greater variety of voices from the field. The dual emphases are to address complex stories with continuing coverage and to give more attention to international events. I've been particularly impressed by the way NPR covered the US elections. While not being able to completely ignore Monica and Bill and Ken and Newt, Dvorkin's minions have used that story as an excuse to fan out across the nation to see what impact all this has on the voters and non-voters. From Washington (the state), California, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Alabama, Texas, Nevada, Wisconsin, and nearly every other state, I've heard real people talk about local politics. NPR has even been able to sustain interest in the subject of voter turnout, the least glamorous but most crucial issue facing democracy in the US. And in the process, I've learned more about the mood of the country and true public opinion than I could from all of the CNN/USA Today polls. It's brilliant work.
On the world scene, certainly sorting out the good guys and bad guys in the Middle East and bailing out US banks in Asia have been most prominent. But NPR has also reported more news from places like Ecuador, Malaysia, Congo, Romania, Mexico, Turkey. I've followed politics in Great Britain, Russia, and Germany, but also in Colombia, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia. No one else is giving us this worldwide coverage. Not the New York Times, not the Associated Press, and certainly not CNN whose international news programs often feature propaganda pieces the network agreed to run in exchange for permission to locate correspondents in those countries.
In Jeffrey Dvorkin's short tenure, NPR news has gone from pretty good to extraordinary, and now should rank among the world's best news organizations. At the same time, NPR is shedding its traditional political and intellectual slant. From liberal to conservative to libertarian, from high brow to low brow, diverse points of view get fair attention not token inclusion. And there's still plenty of time left over for the unusual and amusing stories, and even sports get some regular coverage. The only bias now is for giving the audience a comprehensive and intelligent daily presentation of the world we live in. That's what journalism is all about.