NPR’s senior editor Uri Berliner blew the whistle on perceived political bias in the organization’s newsroom and coverage.
After reviewing voter registrations, the editor found 87 Democrats and zero Republicans on staff.
When presenting these findings internally, colleagues were indifferent rather than concerned about the lack of ideological diversity.
“So on May 3, 2021, I presented the findings at an all-hands editorial staff meeting. When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile. It was worse,” Berliner wrote. “It was met with profound indifference. I got a few messages from surprised, curious colleagues. But the messages were of the ‘oh wow, that’s weird’ variety, as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star.”
The editor also criticized NPR’s advocacy-style coverage of issues like the Trump presidency and Russiagate conspiracy.
“In a follow-up email exchange, a top NPR news executive told me that she had been ‘skewered’ for bringing up diversity of thought when she arrived at NPR. So, she said, ‘I want to be careful how we discuss this publicly,'” Berliner wrote.
“Throughout these exchanges, no one has ever trashed me. That’s not the NPR way. People are polite. But nothing changes. So I’ve become a visible wrong-thinker at a place I love. It’s uncomfortable, sometimes heartbreaking,” Berliner wrote.
Polls showed NPR’s audience becoming less diverse and overwhelmingly liberal in recent years.
“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,” Berliner said.
“An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America,” he added. “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.”
In response, NPR disputed the characterization and staff numbers, stressing its commitment to impartial journalism.
However, the incident highlights ongoing debates around bias and viewpoint representation in some mainstream media.
“We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories. We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world,” editor-in-chief Edith Chapin wrote.
“Journalism is a collaborative process. Rigorous debate and self-examination are necessary parts of our pursuit of the facts, and exploring the diverse perspectives that drive world events is necessary to our public service mission. That’s why we have built in processes to verify accuracy and why we adhere to the highest editorial standards.”
“With all this said, none of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole, fostering a culture of conversation that breaks down the silos that we sometimes end up retreating to. Ideally, we engage in this debate respectfully, with the goal of lifting up and strengthening each other’s work. As our emerging strategic focus brings new insights into what audiences we do and do not currently serve, we have an obligation to more rigorously consider and measure how our coverage fulfills our public service to all audiences.”
“Let’s not forget that the reason we remain one of the most trusted news organizations in the country is that we respect people’s ability to form their own judgments,” she added.
