Piece Comment

Review of A Report From The Field


This is a very casual interview with two hosts, Kathleen Turner and Charline Spektor. They talk with Lt. Paul Rieckhoff who spent a tour in Iraq and is preparing to go back. Rieckhoff had some very interesting and provocative things to say about life in the military, what it is like to be in Iraq and his thoughts on the broken promises made by military and political leaders. This is a terrific subject for an interview and Rieckhoff had a lot to say from his very specific vantage point of being on the ground in Iraq. Unfortunately it was hard listening to get to this important content. The problem—the hosts sounded totally unscripted and unprepared—frankly they sounded amateur. They didn’t respect this listener’s time. Here’s one example. They didn’t introduce the topic or the guest—they had the Rieckhoff introduce himself—including his name and rank. A suggestion—listen to how Terry Gross welcomes, introduces and reintroduces guests to Fresh Air throughout the program. The hosts’ interviewing approach was far too casual and unscripted for such an important topic.