National Public Radio business editor Uri Berliner was suspended after writing an essay that was critical of the organization.
The essay, published on an external site without prior approval, alleged that NPR compromised its trust with the American public by adopting a biased approach in its news reporting.
David Folkenflik, an NPR correspondent, disclosed that Mr. Berliner’s unpaid suspension of five days started Friday. The network issued a warning to Mr. Berliner through a formal letter, cautioning that any further breach of NPR’s publication policies could result in termination.
The issue follows Mr. Berliner’s 3,500-word essay for The Free Press in which he scrutinized NPR’s editorial choices. He called into question the network’s treatment of several high-profile stories, including those of former President Donald Trump’s debunked involvement with Russia, the COVID-19 origins and Hunter Biden’s Ukraine dealings as reported by the New York Post.
In the essay, Mr. Berliner expressed concerns about NPR’s commitment to offering diverse perspectives and accused it of shaping listeners’ opinions rather than providing objective reporting.
He wrote that three years ago he checked voter registration in NPR’s Washington newsroom and found it was filled with 100% Democrats.
“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,” he 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.”
According to CNN, NPR editor-in-chief Edith Chapin fired off a memo to staff, saying network management “strongly disagree with Uri’s assessment of the quality of our journalism and the integrity of our newsroom processes.”
She added, “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.”
Other NPR staffers also refuted Mr. Berliner’s condemnation.
“Many things wrong w/terrible Berliner column on NPR, including not observing basic fairness,” NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans wrote on social media. “Didn’t seek comment from NPR before publishing. Didn’t mention many things which could detract from his conclusions. Set up staffers of color as scapegoats.”
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