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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
/
NPR suspends editor who claimed left-wing bias at outlet had ‘lost
America’s trust’
By Jon Passantino and Oliver Darcy, CNN
Updated:
9:04 AM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024
Source: CNN
NPR has suspended the senior business editor who penned a scathing
online essay claiming the radio network had “lost America’s
trust” by embracing a “progressive worldview,” prompting fierce
right-wing backlash and calls to defund the public radio network.
NPR’s David Folkenflik that Uri Berliner’s five-day suspension
without pay began last Friday. In a written letter notifying Berliner
of the suspension, the network said he did not first seek approval for
work in other outlets, as is It described the notice as a “final
warning,” stating Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR’s
policy again, Folkenflik reported.
An NPR spokeswoman told CNN the outlet “does not comment on
individual personnel matters, including discipline.” Berliner did not
immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
The disciplinary action came after Berliner NPR’s news coverage in a
3,500-word piece for the anti-establishment publication The Free Press,
claiming the broadcaster had failed to properly cover allegations
Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the runup to the 2016 election,
the controversial Covid-19 lab-leak theory and the New York Post’s
Hunter Biden story.
Berliner used his complaints about how those individual stories were
covered by his colleagues to draw a sweeping conclusion that NPR had
lost “viewpoint diversity,” and started “telling listeners how to
think.”
NPR editor-in-chief Edith Chapin quickly pushed back against
Berliner’s characterization of the outlet, telling staff in a memo
that network management “strongly disagree with Uri’s assessment of
the quality of our journalism and the integrity of our newsroom
processes.”
“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,” she added.
Other NPR staffers publicly rejected Berliner’s assessment in social
media posts.
“Many things wrong w/terrible Berliner column on NPR, including not
observing basic fairness,” NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric
Deggans wrote. “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.”
But Berliner’s essay prompted from Republicans and right-wing
media, with many accusing the network of “liberal bias” and calling
for the publicly funded outlet to be stripped of its grants from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
On his Truth Social media platform, Trump called NPR a “LIBERAL
DISINFORMATION MACHINE,” that “NOT ONE DOLLAR” of government
funds should be sent to in the future.
“NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!” Trump ranted.
On Fox News, the network’s hosts fanned the flames of outrage with
hours of programming about Berliner’s essay.
“WOKE NPR EXPOSED,” declared an on-screen banner Wednesday on Fox
News’ most-watched program, “The Five.”
“NPR PUMPED OUT AN ASSEMBLY LINE OF PROPAGANDA,” blared a separate
banner on host Jesse Watters’ primetime program.
Berliner, however, did not go nearly that far in his piece. And he
stressed in his essay that defunding the broadcaster “isn’t the
answer.” In an email to CNN on Wednesday, Berliner that he rejects
the notion that NPR is a “liberal disinformation machine,” as Trump
stated.
“I have not seen Trump’s comments, but the quote you cite is not
the first time he has attacked the media,” he wrote. “He has done
it countless times before and will no doubt do it many times again.”
In the days since, the right-wing revolt against the outlet has
continued. NPR’s chief executive, Katherine Maher, has also faced
criticism from the right over old tweets skewering Trump.
NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara dismissed the attacks fueled by
right-wing activist Christopher Rufo, saying Maher “was not working
in journalism at the time and was exercising her First Amendment right
to express herself like any other American citizen.”
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