Listeners Comment on Recent Segments

NOAH ADAMS, Host: `Dear All Things Considered. Hello, my name is Jerry Johnson, and I am writing from Glendale, Wisconsin. I heard a segment about the evolution of telecommunications which included a four-minute sound track from a 1938 Bell system film called Voice of the City. You said that the announcer's name was now unknown and that was a shame. Well, the voice of that highly energetic announcer is recognized by millions of members of the Bahai faith around the world as William Sears. William Sears left a highly successful career in television broadcasting to service humanity in Africa and in other parts of the globe and to author a number of books including Thief in the Night, God Loves Laughter, and Release the Sun. William Sears passed from this physical reality in 1992, but is forever remembered in the hearts of all of us who have heard or read the healing message of Buha Allah [sp] that Mr. Sears carried throughout the world.'

ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: This letter is from Chris Freed [sp] of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. `I was shocked by Bob Garfield's report on the introduction of Kraft Foods into the Dominican Republic. Unlike your typical balanced report, this one was shallow and sugar coated, much like an advertisement. It praised the convenience and low cost of Kraft's macaroni and cheese, but said nothing about the negative impact of introducing such foods into undeveloped countries, the low nutrient value of macaroni and cheese compared to the reliable rice and beans.'

NOAH ADAMS: Our story about a bear hunt in Wisconsin brought most of our mail this week. Susan Sansen Bower [sp] of Westerville, Ohio, writes, `While I am not an anti-hunting activist, I was sickened by your coverage. Having to listen to the bear being chased by a pack of hounds, cornered in a tree, and then shot five times before dying was distressing enough. Adding to that the disregard the owners of the dogs had for the injuries suffered by one of their animals when the bear attacked it only increased by amazement at the cruelty some humans enjoy in the name of sport.'

ROBERT SIEGEL: Peter Blush of Brome Lake, Quebec, Canada, says, `You managed to redefine the term yahoo. Listening to these beer-swilling louts justify their fun by claiming that they helped manage the wildlife population is tiresome and an over-used excuse for many hunters.'

NOAH ADAMS: Andrew Bretaki [sp] of Topsham, Maine, writes, `Hunting indeed. I have eaten bear meat but it didn't require trucks, dogs, or a two-way radio to locate, and it was felled with one shot. If bear were so prolific that they required thinning, why did they need dogs to even find one?'

ROBERT SIEGEL: Arlene McCannick [sp] of Jamaica, New York, says, `Oddly, the most infuriating thing about the segment wasn't so much the bear hunters but the reporter's total impassiveness in the face of such gleeful brutality. I want to scream at him, `Why don't you ask these people how they would like to be hunted down by dogs, treed, and then shot five times before they fell to their deaths'.'

NOAH ADAMS: From Los Angeles, Kirk James Murphy echoes those comments and adds, `What was the benefit from the graphic depiction of violence towards a living, thinking, crying being? The sound engineer thoughtfully insured the audience could hear the bear's cries after the noble hunter alluded to them. Given the highly charged emotions regarding this issue, the answer `to inform' is a glib evasion. The same information could have been conveyed without the gruesome sound portrait.'

ROBERT SIEGEL: Thanks to all for writing. Our address is Letters, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. The zip code is 20001. By e-mail, it's atc@npr.org., and we'd appreciate it if you'd send along a daytime telephone number and also tell us how to pronounce your name.

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