NPR National Public Radio

[raison de arizona]

Things are heating up with NPR, the Rs are hell bent on defunding it and PBS too. A hit piece from a longtime employee:

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.
Uri Berliner, a veteran at the public radio institution, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners how to think.

So when I got a job here 25 years ago, I never looked back. As a senior editor on the business desk where news is always breaking, we’ve covered upheavals in the workplace, supermarket prices, social media, and AI.

It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding.

In recent years, however, that has changed. Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.

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.

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.

https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how- ... icas-trust

[Rolodex]

I've been listening to NPR for probably 40 years. I don't know what he's talking about. I have been angry when they did stories in the Trump era that made him sound like a normal person/president. Hardly liberal.

As to his statistics, I think more people now are described as "liberal" because they aren't RWNJs or maga. "Conservatives" in general are shrinking, and there are more outlets for them which draws folks away from traditional outlets.

I still hear long form stories about all kinds of things. There are interesting informative shows like 1A that covers all kinds of topics (the other day it was about self-driving trucks and people of all viewpoints were guests) and great interviews like Fresh Air. When they cover live events -like an impeachment trial - they just play it with no commentary at all (except saying who's talking).

Maybe this guy got old and curmudgeonly/conservative so now everyone looks like lefties to him.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

When the era in which you work has changed so drastically news cannot be reported as it once was. Fuckin’ A there are more liberals and fewer moderates. It is not the time to be moderate. Would you have encouraged moderation during the Third Reich? Hell no!!!

[raison de arizona]

Toons this article hath spawned.

► Show Spoiler

[pipistrelle]

I've been listening to NPR for probably 40 years. I don't know what he's talking about. I have been angry when they did stories in the Trump era that made him sound like a normal person/president. Hardly liberal.

Maybe this guy got old and curmudgeonly/conservative so now everyone looks like lefties to him.

I call utter BS, too. It’s straight out of the MAGA whine book.

[Slim Cognito]

When I had satellite radio, I quit listening to NPR because of the ridiculous conservatives flapping their yaps.

[Foggy]

I quit listening because they helped Donald Trump win the presidency in 2016. Fuck 'em.

[AndyinPA]

C-Span became unwatchable for the same reason.

[Rolodex]

I quit listening because they helped Donald Trump win the presidency in 2016. Fuck 'em.

And yet maga calls NPR libtards.

[bill_g]

I quit listening because they helped Donald Trump win the presidency in 2016. Fuck 'em.

And yet maga calls NPR libtards.

Cuz if NPR were a bushel of apples with one orange on top, they claim it was all oranges.

I've listened to NPR for decades, and still consider them the best place for national and world news. Back in the 90's I'd listen to NPR, and later in the morning catch a bit of Rush Limbaugh just to round out my understanding. I was trying to capture differences in opinion and POV in national stories. Wasn't always successful.

[pipistrelle]

That opinion piece is a bit inaccurate. I’ve lost my shocked face. Detailed thread.

[roadscholar]

The problem is simple: Reality, facts, and solid information have a liberal bias.

Conservatives would only be happy with NPR if they broadcast right-wing fictions... which they should not do, regardless.

[raison de arizona]

[raison de arizona]

new: About 50 NPR employees sign a letter to CEO Katherine Maher and top editor Edith Chapin calling for, among other things, a public rebuke of the “factual inaccuracies and elisions” in Uri Berliner’s Free Press essay.