I know it’s summer and all but really, NPRniks, is “All Things Considered Lite” a necessary response?

Start off with last week’s Windy the Blogging Plastic Bag in a Tree, which admittedly was filed under Categories: Fun, but nonetheless was lighter than, well, air.

It also drew 71 comments (until the website shut them down), many harshly critical of both the blogger, Kathy Frederick, and NPR’s news judgment. Sample:

Of all the things happening in the world today, NPR gave air time to a sad woman who bakes a cake for a bag stuck in a tree.

And then there were defenders of the blogger and NPR’s news judgment. Sample:

I’m amazed at the nasty tone of some of these comments. What Kathy Frederick chooses to do in her spare time is her business. It’s not for others to judge and tell her how she should fit into their little boxes. If people have a problem with the story being aired, take it up with NPR, but lets not insult Ms Frederick.

I wish we had more lighthearted stories like this. It a refreshing break from the otherwise gloomy news.

I guess. But now comes Monday’s Living by ‘Seventeen’ Magazine’s Rules, described by ATC anchor Michele Norris thusly:

For a month, 18-year-old Jamie Keiles decided to live according to the advice of Seventeen magazine and blog about it. She dressed in the “glam camp” style, she exfoliated, she shopped, she waxed. She painted her nails — a lot. And at the end of the project, she decided she liked the magazine even less than she had before — which wasn’t that much.

Not to be the skunk at the garden party, but here’s the problem:

1) This whole idea is just a five-and-dime knockoff of Living Oprah, Robyn Okrant’s year-long effort to “live my life completely according to the advice of Oprah Winfrey.”

2) ATC’s “Seventeen” segment was flat-out weak, going into gory detail about braids and double socks and five-inch heels that barely rose to the level of mundane, forget about ear-catching.

Comment on the ATC website:

Looks like NPR is trying to expand its demographic at the expense of providing us with real news.

Hey, I’m as much for Categories: Fun as the next guy, assuming the next guy isn’t Harry Reid.

But, jeez, make the fun – I dunno – fun.