A Jewish NPR editor resigned on Wednesday after the network suspended him for criticizing NPR for becoming narrow-minded and suppressing other viewpoints, including in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Uri Berliner, a veteran editor at NPR, published a critique of the network in the Free Press last week, writing that while when he started at NPR there was an "open-minded, curious culture," that changed in recent years.
My resignation letter to NPR CEO @krmaher pic.twitter.com/0hafVbcZAK
— Uri Berliner (@uberliner) April 17, 2024
"Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the US population," wrote Berliner.
Berliner noted that while NPR used to pride itself on its wide, diverse audience, that changed over time, describing the current audience of NPR as "overwhelmingly white and progressive, and clustered around coastal cities and college towns."
"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America," warned the veteran editor. "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."
Berliner listed several issues he found with NPR's reporting, including its coverage of controversy concerning Hunter Biden, claims of collusion between former US President Donald Trump and Russia, and coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and the origins of the virus.
Another issue Berliner listed was NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
"We have approached the Israel-Hamas war and its spillover onto streets and campuses through the 'intersectional' lens that has jumped from the faculty lounge to newsrooms. Oppressor versus oppressed," wrote Berliner. "That’s meant highlighting the suffering of Palestinians at almost every turn while downplaying the atrocities of October 7, overlooking how Hamas intentionally puts Palestinian civilians in peril, and giving little weight to the explosion of antisemitic hate around the world."
Berliner insisted that at NPR there is an "unspoken consensus" about which stories should be covered and how they should be framed.
"It’s frictionless—one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad, and the dire threat of Republican policies," said Berliner. "It’s almost like an assembly line."
Berliner explained that he informed the editorial staff at NPR in 2021 that there appeared to be a lack of diversity of views at NPR, saying he was met with "profound indifference."
After publishing the critique, NPR reported that Berliner had been suspended for five days without pay.
Berliner's colleagues argue critique was unfair and inaccurate
In an email to staff on Tuesday, Edith Chapin, NPR's editor in chief, said that she is "proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," according to The New York Times.
"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," added Chapin.
According to NPR, Chapin told the NPR newsroom that Executive Editor Eva Rodriguez would lead meetings on a monthly basis to review coverage, asking questions about whether the coverage captured the diversity of the US "in all of its complexity and in a way that helped listeners and readers recognize themselves and their communities?"
Chaping told NPR that such meetings had been discussed since last year and that now seemed the right time to implement it. "Healthy discussion is something we need more of," she said.
During a meet-and-greet between the hosts of NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on Wednesday, Katherin Maher, the network's new CEO, told the hosts that she didn't want Berliner becoming a "martyr," two people with knowledge of the meeting told The New York Times.
In a note to staff after Berliner's piece was published, Maher wrote, "Asking a question about whether we're living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning."
Maher argued that it is "deeply simplistic to assert that the diversity of America can be reduced to any particular set of beliefs, and faulty reasoning to infer that identity is determinative of one's thoughts or political leanings."
Maher insisted that NPR's audience today is "younger," "more diverse," and "more representative of America." The CEO added that the network would conduct audience research to gain insight into how to reach more of the American public and establish quarterly network-wide editorial planning and review meetings to hear from local networks affiliated with NPR.
An NPR spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that Berliner's article was a "bad faith attack that follows an established playbook, as online actors with explicit agendas work to discredit independent news organizations."
Eric Deggans, NPR's TV critic, wrote on X that Berliner's critique was "not fair, filled with inaccuracies, and delivered...in bad faith."
I agree. I do worry about this. But I think it is also important point out, repeatedly, that the critique sparking this backlash is also not fair, filled w/ inaccuracies and delivered, in my opinion, in bad faith. Steve Inskeep has a great column on this: https://t.co/hZk4EHImK4 https://t.co/AiHrtnLJ5f
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) April 16, 2024
Steve Inskeep, the host of NPR's "Morning Edition" and "Up First," wrote on Substack that Berliner's article was "filled with errors and omissions." Inskeep insisted that, in contrast to Berliner's critique, there is plenty of debate in NPR concerning which stories to cover and how to cover them.
I am one of the many NPR employees registered as a "no party" DC voter who were conveniently excluded from the article's tally. https://t.co/flNw1c1tMl
— Scott Detrow (@scottdetrow) April 12, 2024
Inskeep pointed out several discrepancies he found between Uri's claims and the content of NPR's coverage, including concerning his issues with coverage about Israel.
"After the Oct. 7 attack, my first interview was with a member of the Israeli war cabinet," wrote Inskeep. "When I went to Israel, my first story was on a Hamas missile attack; my second was on a Hezbollah attack; my third was on a hostage family. Later, I interviewed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I have also interviewed many Palestinians and even a member of Hamas, covering all sides as a journalist should."
"While in Israel, I saw my colleague Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv and heard from my colleague Anas Baba in Gaza. Both have covered the story fairly, honorably, and at great personal cost. Scores of Americans, Israelis and Palestinians have contributed to the coverage."
Inskeep stressed that Berliner should have had someone vet the article and noted that Berliner had not worked on any of the beats that he critiqued. Inskeep added that while he agrees with some aspects of Berliner's critique, much of it was unfounded and inaccurate.
"Morning Edition" host Michel Martin told NPR that some colleagues at the network agree with Berliner that stories are often presented through "ideological or idealistic prism," but insisted that this should be addressed through training and mentorship, "not by blowing the place up, by trashing your colleagues, in full view of people who don't really care about it anyway."
Jeffrey Dvorkin, who served as ombudsman for NPR until 2006, expressed support for Berliner, writing on X "I know Uri. He's not wrong."
I know Uri. He’s not wrong. https://t.co/9hc8XrNwNi
— Jeffrey Dvorkin (@jdvorkin) April 9, 2024
Shortly after his suspension, Berliner announced in an X post that he had resigned from NPR, stressing that he does not support calls to defund NPR and respects the integrity of his colleagues. "But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay," wrote Berliner.