Hierarchy of NPeRsons in Authority

Thanks to Burgraff for the bones of the toon.

In Alicia Shepard's defense of the Zinn offense, she writes,

After the flood of emails, I asked Sweeney to take another listen.

He agreed the Horowitz quote is harsh in tone. "That doesn't undermine the legitimacy of using his point of view," said Sweeney.

So it was NPR Managing Editor David Sweeney who green-lighted sicking the attack dog Horowitz on Howard Zinn. Searching NPR for David Sweeney doesn't produce the usual bio. Perhaps he's too new on the job? Or too much of a spook for words?

Googling "Sweeney NPR" finally led to this facebook pic of Sweeney.

According to a story in Webnewser, Sweeney was promoted last May:

NPR Looks to Hire a Digital News M.E. As More Leadership Changes Are Announced (5/13/09)

David Sweeney is assuming the position of Managing Editor. David will direct the daily editorial process -- determining which stories will be covered, how and by whom. The desks; Foreign, Washington, Science, National and the Newscast unit will all report to him. David's reputation as a clear decision-maker and the manager who anticipates everyone's needs will be invaluable as we work to streamline communication and coordination and help shows and online get what they need. He will initially work a Tuesday-Saturday schedule to cover the start-up of the Newsdesk and will report to Dick.

By the way, the comment at the Webnewser site is quite interesting.

"Dick" is Dick Meyer, who was also shuffled in during the NPR management shakeup last May. He was plucked from CBS to become the Executive Editor of NPR news. I guess that's what Alicia means about NPR being a Main Stream Media organization.

So Sweeney answers to Dick Meyer who answers to Kinsey Wilson, a brilliant investigative journalist (heh) who cut his teeth at that muckraking outfit, USA Today.

From 2000-2005, Wilson was Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of USATODAY.com. He expanded the mission and staffing of the site, developed third-party partnerships and led the staff through coverage of major news events including the disputed 2000 presidential election, the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina.

Yeah, remember all the ground-breaking exposes about those issues in USA Today?

Who does Kinsey answer to? Hard to tell. I invite the reader to go to Muckety and see if you can figure this behemoth out.