"on April 9, NPR journalist Uri Berliner published on The Free Press — a repository of anti-trans coverage that champions detransitioners, founded by former New York Times journalist Bari Weiss — his complaint that his employer has been overridden by liberal bias. The Free Press states it’s “#1 on Substack,” the same platform on which Erin Reed publishes.
In short, Berliner believes a woke culture at NPR in recent years has transformed the outlet to its detriment."
Berliner had also spoken on an episode of Bari Weiss's Honestly podcast.
One diagnosis by Jamelle Bouie (Bluesky 1): "aging white journalist intensely resentful of younger colleagues of color who are getting acclaim and recognition he desires — many such cases" (Bluesky 2): "the anti-woke hysteria in journalism is about jobs and status, not standards"
Another by IDtheMike (Bluesky): "I finally read the Uri Berliner essay, and it's just an old guy looking for reasons to vote for RFK Jr who happens to have worked at NPR for 25 years. In short, he's losing his marbles and diagnosing his paranoia as a conspiracy by NPR. It's sad."
The New York Times reported credulously on Berliner's appearance: "NPR in Turmoil After It Is Accused of Liberal Bias."
On April 12, NPR suspended Berliner without pay for five days (which it revealed on April 16) on the basis that he violated NPR's policy by not seeking approval to appear in another news outlet. He was warned that another violation would result in his termination. Berliner resigned from NPR the morning of April 17.
Berliner's essay had "angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR," as David Folkenflik wrote for NPR.
Folkenflik continued:
"Conservative activist Christopher Rufo is among those now targeting NPR's new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network. Among others, those posts include a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist and another that appeared to minimize rioting during social justice protests that year. Maher took the job at NPR last month — her first at a news organization."
He added: "Several NPR journalists told me they are no longer willing to work with Berliner as they no longer have confidence that he will keep private their internal musings about stories as they work through coverage."
As Parker Molloy describes it:
"Berliner, a senior business editor and reporter, argues that NPR lost conservative listeners in recent years, making vague accusations about biased coverage and an unsupported claim that the organization “tell[s] people how to think” — something that would have benefitted from even a single example.
As one Democratic House staffer noted on X (fka Twitter), few of Berliner’s claims held up to scrutiny. Whether claims about NPR supposedly ignoring “Russiagate” stories that made Democrats look bad (they didn't), claims about NPR not covering Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 (they did), or claims about NPR brushing off the “lab leak” theory of the COVID-19 origin (they didn’t) — these simply didn’t hold up to light scrutiny."
For more info, Molloy recommends:
“The Real Story Behind NPR’s Current Problems” (Slate, Alicia Montgomery, 4/16/24) “Uri Berliner dragged NPR. What now?” (The Night Light, Joshua Johnson, 4/10/24) “How my NPR colleague failed at ‘viewpoint diversity’” (Differ We Must, Steve Inskeep, 4/16/24)Jon Becker says (Bluesky): "I have now read responses to Uri Berliner by 3 current and former NPR employees (Joshua Johnson, Steve Inskeep, and Alicia Montgomery). They are all very strong critiques and fact checks. But, nobody who reads The FP will see them. I wish I knew how to solve that problem."
Further reading
On the theme of consequences, may I please direct you to my essay: "When I, A Trans Person, Spoke to a Bioethicist About Consequences: We did not agree, and I was wrong," Jan 7, 2024"
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