Uri Berliner, a senior business editor at NPR, says he started sounding the alarm internally when he noticed a bias creep into the network’s coverage. (Pete Kiehart for The Free Press)
The saying "Go Woke, Go Broke" is often true for companies that embrace controversial political views, but this does not diminish the disappointment and pain felt by the public. NPR radio was once a trusted American icon, but it has lost that status due to its adoption of a woke agenda. Some within the company recognized the growing divide between its views and those of the public but failed to take corrective action. As a result, NPR may never regain the respect it once had.
NPR's focus on race and gender identity hindered their ability to differentiate diversity, equity, and inclusion from deception, exclusion, and ignorance
Yesterday, Uri Berliner, an editor at National Public Radio (NPR), accused the government-funded news outlet of displaying blatant bias during Donald Trump's presidency. In an essay published in The Free Press, "I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust." Berliner, a veteran of 25 years at the firm, alleged that NPR attempted to take Trump down by clinging to and reinforcing the ridiculous Russia-collusion allegations that were championed by Adam Schiff. Allegations that were proven to be false and baseless after thorough investigation.
Berliner argues that NPR's focus on race and gender identity hindered their ability to differentiate diversity, equity, and inclusion from deception, exclusion, and ignorance.
“Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting. At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff. But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.”(The Free Press)
When NPR wasn’t setting up a smoke screen for Biden, it worked diligently to facilitate excuses for Anthony Fauci
Endlessly dogging the Trump presidency overshadowed the lack of coverage of a real story: the Hunter Biden laptop, which just happened to take place during the 2020 election cycle. That truth was shrugged off by the managing editor that Berliner claims to have stated that:
“We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”(The Free Press)
For no apparent reason other than his connection to Joe Biden, a drug-addicted con man's abhorrent behavior was ignored by National Public Radio, which is not the behavior one expects from a news organization.
When NPR wasn’t setting up a smoke screen for Biden, it worked diligently to facilitate excuses for Anthony Fauci. A liar that perpetuated the largest hoax ever on the American public over the Covid-19 “plandemic.”
“We became fervent members of Team Natural Origin, even declaring that the lab leak had been debunked by scientists. But that wasn’t the case.” (The Free Press)
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"We weren’t just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals.”
“Berliner claims that the company has devoted significant resources to establishing a more diverse audience, but it has not been successful. In 2023, according to our demographic research, 6 percent of our news audience was black, far short of the overall U.S. adult population, which is 14.4 percent black. And Hispanics were only 7 percent, compared to the overall Hispanic adult population, around 19 percent. Our news audience doesn’t come close to reflecting America. It’s overwhelmingly white and progressive, and clustered around coastal cities and college towns.” (The Free Press)“An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America. That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model.”
Berliner also noted the company’s audience has moved dramatically to the left, based on polling.
“Back in 2011, although NPR’s audience tilted a bit to the left, it still bore a resemblance to America at large. Twenty-six percent of listeners described themselves as conservative, 23 percent as middle of the road, and 37 percent as liberal. 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. We weren’t just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals.” (The Free Press)
The new name for NPR should be Non-Public Radio
Berliner wrote:
“We were given unconscious bias training sessions. A growing DEI staff offered regular meetings imploring us to ‘start talking about race.’ Monthly dialogues were offered for ‘women of color’ and ‘men of color.’ Non-binary people of color were included, too. These initiatives, bolstered by a $1 million grant from the NPR Foundation, came from management, from the top down.” (The Free Press)“Crucially, they were in sync culturally with what was happening at the grassroots—among producers, reporters, and other staffers. Most visible was a burgeoning number of employee resource, or affinity groups based on identity.”
According to Berliner, these groups were made up of ethnic and sexual minorities. “The role and standing of affinity groups, including those outside NPR, were more than that. They became a priority for NPR’s union, SAG-AFTRA, an item in collective bargaining.”
NPR once had a strong connection with the American public but lost it by prioritizing the woke left agenda over established values.
This is a lose-lose situation, where everyone suffers. It seems that the left fails to understand the negative impacts of their actions, which speaks volumes about the liberals in power.
The new name for NPR should be Non-Public Radio, which is more fitting of their current position.
Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.
