A senior business editor at National Public Radio believes the organization has lost the plot.
Uri Berliner has been with NPR for 25 years. He recently wrote an article for The Free Press in which he explains how in recent years, diversity of thought has been shunned in favor of what many would consider leftist media narratives.
NPR has always been a left-wing radio station, but as Berliner notes, in 2011, “Twenty-six percent of listeners described themselves as conservative, 23 percent as middle of the road, and 37 percent as liberal.”
Much had changed by 2023 and NPR’s audience skewed even further left.
“By 2023, the picture was completely different: only 11 percent described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, 21 percent as middle of the road, and 67 percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal.”
So, what happened in between 2011 and 2023?
Berliner cited a few major developments being responsible for this shift.
NPR pushed the Russia collusion hoax but fell relatively quiet in the wake of the Mueller Report exonerating former President Donald Trump.
Berliner also mentions NPR’s lack of coverage of Hunter Biden‘s laptop. “The laptop was newsworthy. But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump.”
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Additionally, COVID was also a critical moment for NPR as the station stamped out any suggestion of the virus coming from a lab, opting to be on “Team Natural Origin” as Berliner put it.
NPR decided rather than give each side a voice on COVID’s origins, they were going to stick with what Anthony Fauci claimed.
After George Floyd’s death, Berliner wanted NPR to actually look at race in America and put claims of systemic racism under a microscope, “But the message from the top was very different. America’s infestation with systemic racism was declared loud and clear: it was a given. Our mission was to change it.”
NPR’s workplace culture would change in that instance as many of what Berliner deems “affinity groups” formed and began to influence how NPR covered certain stories and what language was no longer acceptable. Notably, they were asked to avoid saying biological sex, justify looting and not use “racially problematic” language.
NPR’s bias is clear to anyone tuning in, but it is significant that a current employee is expressing concerns. Don’t be mistaken about Berliner’s views. He voted against Trump in 2016 and 2020. He isn’t a conservative who has infiltrated a left-wing organization to give us the inside scoop.
Former CEO John Lansing declared that diversity was the “North Star” of NPR. Berliner hopes under new CEO Katherine Maher, it could change to something simple, “don’t tell people how to think.”
A Harris Poll in February found that 3 in 10 audience members associate NPR with being trustworthy. This coming in the wake of layoffs and podcast cancellations for NPR.
If anything, Berliner’s insight simply confirms from the other side what conservatives already knew.
