Our Visit to NPR Headquarters

On June 12, 2006 we visited the NPR headquarters which stands for National Public Radio. We met with the ombudsman of NPR. His name is Jeffery Dvorkin. He talked to us about what he does as an ombudsman and what NPR does as a media organization. He told us that his job is to be the public's representative to National Public Radio,to be empowered to respond to significant queries and to comment and criticize regarding NPR programming. He also shared with us that he is good friends with the ombudsman of The Washington Post, Deborah Howells who we met last week. NPR is a non-profit, public radio, media organization that does news and entertainment. Most of the money comes from listeners, to help keep the station running. While talking with Dvorkin, our class noticed that he and Deborah Howells of the Washington Post both thought that journalists do not get paid alot of money, and must have thick skin. After meeting with the ombudsman, we were offered a tour of the radio station. The person that gave us the tour was Chantal De La Rionda,along with a summer intern. Chantal is the assistant of the ombudsman.

--Andy Pham & Christina Manning

Ombudsman Weekly Column