‘We Lost America’s Trust’: NPR Veteran Says Network Has ‘Lost Its Way’

A 25-year NPR veteran wrote a scathing op-ed saying that his network had “lost its way,” pointing to various examples, including coverage of transgender issues and the refusal to use terms like “biological sex.”

In The Free Press article titled, “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust,” NPR Senior Business Editor Uri Berliner wrote that “an open-minded, curious culture prevailed,” previously — but said that had all changed and now “we don’t have an audience that reflects America.” The biggest problem he has seen at NPR is the lack of “viewpoint diversity.”

“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,” Berliner said, adding that all appeared to be covered and framed in the same fashion. After George Floyd’s death, he said the message came down from the top of the network, “America’s infestation with systemic racism was declared loud and clear: it was a given.”