Uri Berliner, a veteran editor and reporter with National Public Radio, is quitting following his suspension for criticizing the outlet’s liberal bias.
His benching came in the wake of his in-depth piece in The Free Press that called into question the impartiality of NPR’s coverage, an issue conservatives have raised for years.
“I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years,” Mr. Berliner wrote on X Wednesday. “I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism.”
Mr. Berliner also wrote that he “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.”
In that essay, he hit NPR for ignoring broader viewpoints, noting, “In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans.”
Also, in his story, Mr. Berliner cited NPR CEO Katherine Maher’s leftward slant as she blasted Hillary Clinton for using the words “boy” and “girl” because they were “erasing language for nonbinary people.”
In addition, during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Ms. Maher expressed sympathy toward looting. She has also been publicly critical of former President Donald Trump, branding him in one deleted post as a “racist.”
Isabel Lara, an NPR spokeswoman, addressed the concerns Tuesday, stating that Ms. Maher was not engaged in a journalistic role when making those remarks and pointed out that, like any American citizen, she was asserting her First Amendment rights.
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