Top NPR editors ‘strongly disagree’ with network veteran’s take on quality of journalism

Top editors at NPR are defending the outlet’s journalism after a scathing op-ed from an employee who argues the public broadcaster has lost its way.

Uri Berliner, a senior editor who has worked at NPR for more than 20 years, wrote in a piece published this week for The Free Press that “those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online” are getting “the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.”

“An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America,” Berliner wrote. “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.”

The opinion column got widespread attention this week, sparking a memo from NPR leadership to its employees standing by its editorial principles and news gathering standards.

“We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories,” NPR’s chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote to employees, the outlet reported after Berliner’s op-ed published. “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.”

Berliner said Tuesday evening he was “not surprised” by the response his op-ed received from NPR management.

“I will say I’ve had a lot of support from colleagues, and many of them unexpected, who say they agree with me,” he said during an appearance on Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation program. “Some of them say this confidentially, but I think there’s been a lot of response saying, look, these are things that need to be addressed. We haven’t, we’ve been too reluctant, too frightened, too timid to deal with these things. And I think that, this is the right opportunity to bring it all out in the open.”

NewsNation is a cable news network that like The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group.

NPR has long faced criticism from Republican politicians and right-wing pundits over what they often argue is a left-leaning editorial strategy and hostility toward conservatives; some have called for the public broadcaster to be “defunded.”

Berliner wrote in his op-ed that he disagrees with that posture.

“As the country becomes more fractured, there’s still a need for a public institution where stories are told and viewpoints exchanged in good faith,” he wrote. “Defunding, as a rebuke from Congress, wouldn’t change the journalism at NPR. That needs to come from within.”

—Updated at 1:16 p.m.