Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily” • Hacker News Board

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#11

Post by awrence » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 8:07 PM UTC

unlinked_dll wrote: post #7

This is petty of me, but I can't stand the Daily. Not because the content is bad, but because Michael Barbaro's cadence is grating to my ears. I can't get over it, and I tune off NPR whenever the Daily comes on. It brings me back to third grade and reading aloud - some kids just couldn't follow the natural rhythm of a passage or breath properly. Inserting pauses where they don't need to be, stretching out words and t…

Nope, entirely with you. I listen to quite a few podcasts but I gave up on the daily pretty quickly. I absolutely cannot stand his delivery.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#12

Post by Xophmeister » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 8:19 PM UTC

I really like The Daily. When I first started listening to it, I found it a bit “showy” and Barbaro’s affectations amused me (they still do), but I persevered — largely to learn more about US current affairs — and I’ve found the quality of the journalism, for a podcast, to be pretty high. In my opinion, it’s much better than, for example, Today in Focus, from The Guardian; it has a similar leaning, albeit UK-centric, and while it is often very good, it is sometime a bit full-on with the identity politics. I wouldn’t say The Daily is completely dispassionate, but I think they get the balance right.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#13

Post by Scoundreller » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 8:20 PM UTC

Xophmeister wrote: post #12

I really like The Daily. When I first started listening to it, I found it a bit “showy” and Barbaro’s affectations amused me (they still do), but I persevered — largely to learn more about US current affairs — and I’ve found the quality of the journalism, for a podcast, to be pretty high. In my opinion, it’s much better than, for example, Today in Focus, from The Guardian; it has a similar leaning, albeit UK-centric,…

You might want to check out CBC’s frontburner for some Canadian bias.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#14

Post by freyir » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

unlinked_dll wrote: post #7

This is petty of me, but I can't stand the Daily. Not because the content is bad, but because Michael Barbaro's cadence is grating to my ears. I can't get over it, and I tune off NPR whenever the Daily comes on. It brings me back to third grade and reading aloud - some kids just couldn't follow the natural rhythm of a passage or breath properly. Inserting pauses where they don't need to be, stretching out words and t…

I’m the same way.

His cadence and intonation is intolerable. It’s as if he’s every every syllable needs to be as dramatic as possible. He also slips into a half-whisper sometimes that perhaps is supposed to be soothing but I just find unsettling.

Not to mention, the constant interjection of hmms, huhs, and ahs as guests are speaking.

As much as I appreciated the content, I found the delivery so incredibly grating that I had to stop listening.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#15

Post by doe88 » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

I still like and often listen The Daily but more and more I'm annoyed by the sort of insularity or kind of NIH syndrom of this program. By that I mean almost all the guests are from the NYT and whatever the story is, few credits are given or mentions are made to outside journalists. Maybe I'm wrong and not very objective but in the end I find it too much self-centered, it's only my feeling at least.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#16

Post by phnofive » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 9:17 PM UTC

unlinked_dll wrote: post #7

This is petty of me, but I can't stand the Daily. Not because the content is bad, but because Michael Barbaro's cadence is grating to my ears. I can't get over it, and I tune off NPR whenever the Daily comes on. It brings me back to third grade and reading aloud - some kids just couldn't follow the natural rhythm of a passage or breath properly. Inserting pauses where they don't need to be, stretching out words and t…

The success of The Run-up is the real story behind The Daily, but his radio voice has certainly changed - quite dramatically - and back episodes highlight this:

https://rss.art19.com/episodes/80247b27-274e-4517-bdf2-428d3...

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#17

Post by danso » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 9:18 PM UTC

doe88 wrote: post #15

I still like and often listen The Daily but more and more I'm annoyed by the sort of insularity or kind of NIH syndrom of this program. By that I mean almost all the guests are from the NYT and whatever the story is, few credits are given or mentions are made to outside journalists. Maybe I'm wrong and not very objective but in the end I find it too much self-centered, it's only my feeling at least.

It’s somewhat understandable. The featured journalists are not only interviewed during work hours, they are collecting audio and notes (including behind the scenes material) on company time. It’s not just the Daily being insular, but that other journalism orgs aren’t incentivized to lend their journalists and work to the NYT for the NYT to profit from.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#18

Post by zcdziura » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 9:21 PM UTC

unlinked_dll wrote: post #7

This is petty of me, but I can't stand the Daily. Not because the content is bad, but because Michael Barbaro's cadence is grating to my ears. I can't get over it, and I tune off NPR whenever the Daily comes on. It brings me back to third grade and reading aloud - some kids just couldn't follow the natural rhythm of a passage or breath properly. Inserting pauses where they don't need to be, stretching out words and t…

While I still listen to and enjoy The Daily, I'm 100% with you with Barbaro's cadence and the way he reads from his script. Especially with how he reads off the ending "Here's what else you need to know today" line after the main story is over. It sounds like "Here's... What else... You need... Toknowthcirbfifhskd". I always laugh to myself every time I hear that.

I also understand that teasing someone about the way they speak (even if it's just to myself, hundreds of miles away from my commute to work) especially shitty because how you speak is one of the most personal things about someone, but JEEEZE!

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#19

Post by doe88 » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 9:50 PM UTC

danso wrote: post #17

doe88 wrote: post #15

I still like and often listen The Daily but more and more I'm annoyed by the sort of insularity or kind of NIH syndrom of this program. By that I mean almost all the guests are from the NYT and whatever the story is, few credits are given or mentions are made to outside journalists. Maybe I'm wrong and not very objective but in the end I find it too much self-centered, it's only my feeling at least.

It’s somewhat understandable. The featured journalists are not only interviewed during work hours, they are collecting audio and notes (including behind the scenes material) on company time. It’s not just the Daily being insular, but that other journalism orgs aren’t incentivized to lend their journalists and work to the NYT for the NYT to profit from.

I really think that for instance on a piece of investigative journalism whose the main author would be a journalist from say wapo, I've hard time thinking this person would decline an invitation to speak about and promote his/her article.

Re: Michael Barbaro and the success of “The Daily”

#20

Post by unlinked_dll » Sat, Feb 01, 2020, 9:54 PM UTC

zcdziura wrote: post #18

unlinked_dll wrote: post #7

This is petty of me, but I can't stand the Daily. Not because the content is bad, but because Michael Barbaro's cadence is grating to my ears. I can't get over it, and I tune off NPR whenever the Daily comes on. It brings me back to third grade and reading aloud - some kids just couldn't follow the natural rhythm of a passage or breath properly. Inserting pauses where they don't need to be, stretching out words and t…

While I still listen to and enjoy The Daily, I'm 100% with you with Barbaro's cadence and the way he reads from his script. Especially with how he reads off the ending "Here's what else you need to know today" line after the main story is over. It sounds like "Here's... What else... You need... Toknowthcirbfifhskd". I always laugh to myself every time I hear that. I also understand that teasing someone about the way…

I don't think it's wrong to critique a radio/podcast personality on their cadence. It's a part of the act, and it's something most pros work on and do intentionally. A lot of sportscasters talk about this (on podcasts and TV, ironically) - they put on a voice like an actor puts on a character.

I just don't care for Michael Barbaro's chosen vocal persona and find it distracting. But he's doing a good job with his show, so some people must like it.

In a similar vein I really like Terry Gross and Joe Buck but a lot of people disagree with me on both those counts.