An insider’s view of NPR’s leftist politics was published yesterday. Here’s a tidbit from the article on leftist NPR. (Actually, it doesn’t much surprise me.) In 2021, among those working in editorial positions at NPR, 87 were registered Democrats and none was a registered Republican. Yep, not a single one. Hmm. Is it possible that such a skewed political distribution could influence the content this group puts on the air?

I learned about NPR’s heavily-tilted  editorial staff  from an amazing article by Uri Berliner. Mr. Berliner is an award-winning  business editor who has worked at NPR for 25 years. He freely admits that he twice voted against Trump, and that he has leftest credentials, but clearly he also is a journalist who believes in honest reporting. As a guy who took several journal courses at the University of Wisconsin many years ago, I enthusiastically salute him. Thank you, Uri Berliner!

At NPR for 25 years

Berliner’s article, titled, I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust, reveals he’s a brave man. I don’t imagine his exposé of NPR’s strong tilt has been overlooked by folks who work there. His article was published yesterday in The Free Press, but I found it at another source (see here).

Mr. Berliner provides a historical view: For decades, since its founding in 1970, a wide swath of America tuned in to NPR for reliable journalism and gorgeous audio pieces with birds singing in the Amazon. Millions came to us for conversations that exposed us to voices around the country and the world radically different from our own—engaging precisely because they were unguarded and unpredictable. No image generated more pride within NPR than the farmer listening to Morning Edition from his or her tractor at sunrise.

Leftist NPR

By 2011, the audience was tilted a bit left, but it still bore a resemblance to America at large, Mr. Berliner writes. (26% of listeners described them as conservative, 23% as middle of the road, and 37% as liberal.) 

By 2023, the picture was completely different, he writes. (only 11% of listeners described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, as opposed to 21% middle of the road, and 67% very or somewhat liberal.)

Honest reporting

Mr. Berliner is forthright: 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.

This NPR editor and reporter goes on to give specifics on three issues in which his organization strayed from classic journalism reporting, the first being coverage of the 2020 election. (I insert part of that below.) The other two issues he writes about were the origin of the Covid virus, and DEI. In today’s post, I will focus on what Mr. Berliner said about NPR’s coverage of the 2020 election. The following six paragraphs are taken verbatim from his article.

Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency. 

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. 

A favorite NPR guest

Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports. (Shiff was also shifty, and a frequent dissembler.)

But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming. 

Journalist’s lament

It is one thing to swing and miss on a major story. Unfortunately, it happens. You follow the wrong leads, you get misled by sources you trusted, you’re emotionally invested in a narrative, and bits of circumstantial evidence never add up. It’s bad to blow a big story. 

What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection. Especially when you expect high standards of transparency from public figures and institutions, but don’t practice those standards yourself. That’s what shatters trust and engenders cynicism about the media.

My personal comments

Politics has been one of my recurring themes on this blog. As a matter of fact, my two initial posts, both published on October 28, 2020, were on politics; in one of them (see here), I considered the obvious leanings of certain media outlets, including PBS but not leftist NPR. Because I have also opined several times on the origin of the Covid virus, as well as DEI, I plan to follow up on Mr. Berliner’s article in the upcoming days, posting more on his report of NPR’s handling of those topics.

This is a convenient place for me to add a little nudge and inform you that all of my 110 essays posted on this blog are still available to readers. If you have a curiosity to see what I’ve scolded, or praised, or puzzled over, just slip over to the categories listed nearby, choose a topic, and see whether you agree, or disagree, with me.

News flash!!!!

As to be expected, NPR has responded today. I just skimmed the article now, but you may want to see how the media titan defended itself (to see one article click here).