The Patriot Post® · NPR's Total 'Absence of Viewpoint Diversity'

The entire mainstream media is a cesspool of leftist activism disguised as journalism. This was true when Mark Alexander launched The Patriot Post in 1996, and it’s perhaps even truer today when the media market is full of alternatives that didn’t exist 28 years ago. But don’t take our word for it. Listen to Uri Berliner, a 25-year veteran of National Public Radio, who says the partly taxpayer-funded network has lost its way and America’s trust.

He published a damning article about NPR at The Free Press, along with a podcast episode with Free Press founder and New York Times refugee Bari Weiss. Berliner describes himself as the stereotypical NPR listener: “raised by a lesbian peace activist mother” and a Subaru driver with a Spotify playlist “most similar to people in Berkeley.”

Yet he blows the whistle: “It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding. In recent years, however, that has changed.”

He argues that NPR wasn’t always this kind of left-wing, as reflected by its generally equal audience as recently as 2011 — 26% conservative, 23% middle, and 37% liberal. “By 2023,” he writes, “the picture was completely different: only 11 percent described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, 21 percent as middle of the road, and 67 percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal.”

Berliner admits that Donald Trump changed a lot of things. “As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair,” he wrote while admitting to “eagerly” voting against Trump twice. “What began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.”

For a network featuring a show called “All Things Considered,” that doesn’t sound very objective.

Indeed, Berliner points to the Russia-collusion story as evidence that NRP lost its way. “At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff,” he said. Schiff was interviewed at least 25 times, each time spouting lies about Trump and Russia. When Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that there was no credible evidence of that conclusion, Berliner said, “NPR’s coverage was notably sparse.”

“It’s bad to blow a big story,” Berliner admits. “What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection. Especially when you expect high standards of transparency from public figures and institutions, but don’t practice those standards yourself. That’s what shatters trust and engenders cynicism about the media.”

That wasn’t the end or maybe even the most destructive episode, though. As he noted, back in October 2020, a bombshell dropped about Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop, which contained evidence that Joe Biden and his son were running a lucrative influence-peddling operation. NPR, like most of the rest of the Russia-obsessed Leftmedia, were either silent or actively tried to debunk the true story.

As we noted at the time, NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride claimed there were “many, many red flags” about the laptop story, adding that NPR wouldn’t touch it in any case because “the assertions don’t amount to much.” Terence Samuels, NPR’s managing editor for news, called it a “pure distraction.”

However, “When the essential facts of the [New York] Post’s reporting were confirmed and the emails verified independently about a year and a half later,” Berliner lamented, “we could have fessed up to our misjudgment. But, like Russia collusion, we didn’t make the hard choice of transparency.”

All things considered!

He went on to talk about the Wuhan lab origin of COVID, which NPR either ignored or attempted to discredit “as racist or a right-wing conspiracy theory.” He explained how George Floyd’s death and the discussion about systemic racism became not an opportunity for journalism but a declaration of something obvious accompanied by a “mission … to change it.” In fact, DEI soon became “the ‘North Star’ of the organization,” complete with mandatory “unconscious bias training” and a database of identity markers for all interviewees.

Ultimately, his most important point is about the real lack of diversity. “What’s notable is the extent to which people at every level of NPR have comfortably coalesced around the progressive worldview,” he wrote. “And this, I believe, is the most damaging development at NPR: the absence of viewpoint diversity.”

He has the receipts.

“Concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity,” he said, “I looked at voter registration for our newsroom. In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.” So much for that “North Star” of diversity. In fact, when Berliner complained about this, he was met with either indifference or canceled meetings. Publicly, NPR responded to Berliner’s story by dismissing his concerns and touting again the supposed strength of its work.

For our audience, NPR hasn’t been trustworthy for decades. Notably, even a few left-wingers are starting to notice. Almost humorously, Berliner points to an example from February in which NPR employees were treated to a poll showing that the network was more trustworthy than CNN or The New York Times. What was its score? Three out of 10 audience members found it trustworthy. Berliner deadpanned, “Only in a world where media credibility has completely imploded would a 3-in-10 trustworthy score be something to boast about.”

Only a Subaru-driving left-winger like Berliner would take so long to admit some of the obvious truth about the partly taxpayer-funded Leftmedia outlet when it has spent more than 50 years advancing a big government agenda on behalf of Democrats.