NPR Suspends Uri Berliner Thus Proving His Point About Media Bias

April 16, 2024

NPR Suspends Uri Berliner Thus Proving His Point About Media Bias

by Nina Bookout in media Post Comment

NPR has had their shorts in a knot ever since veteran reporter Uri Berliner went against the tide and confirmed what many have known all along. NPR is biased.

As I noted here, in his essay at The Free Press, Berliner admitted that NPR has always had a liberal bent. Yet in recent years, that bent turned into ‘only certain things can or should be considered’ because narratives, reasons, and yes BIAS. Furthermore, I wondered how long he’d keep his job.

Well, a suspension for five days without pay would certainly be considered retaliation wouldn’t it?

NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had “lost America’s trust” by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset.

Berliner’s five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported.

Yet the public radio network is grappling in other ways with the fallout from Berliner’s essay for the online news site The Free Press. It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network’s coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump.

The entire article, published this morning, has quite the condescending ‘he made us do it’ tone to it.

Which again, proves the point that NPR only wants CERTAIN perspectives and would rather not examine any perspective that is even remotely considered conservative.

The spin has been lit since Berliner’s thoughtful and thought-provoking essay was published. The new CEO, Katherine Maher wrote quite a memo to the staff. How dare anyone question our aspirational mission!

The first was a critique of the quality of our editorial process and the integrity of our journalists. The second was a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are.

Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.

It is deeply simplistic to assert that the diversity of America can be reduced to any particular set of beliefs, and faulty reasoning to infer that identity is determinative of one’s thoughts or political leanings. Each of our colleagues are here because they are excellent, accomplished professionals with an intense commitment to our work: we are stronger because of the work we do together, and we owe each other our utmost respect. We fulfill our mission best when we look and sound like the country we serve.

Please cue up all the tiny little violins. That last paragraph fully encapsulates the problems facing NPR and organizations all over the country. Essentially NPR is saying, why yes, we can’t report on certain stories unless our reporters look like THEM.

Katherine Maher herself has been deleting social media after folks such as Christopher Rufo dove into her history.

She once justified the shoplifting epidemic in Los Angeles on the sins of slavery.

“I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property,” Maher wrote in 2020 on Twitter, which has since been rebranded as X.

Maher, 40, also told her 26,500-plus X followers that same year that “white silence is complicity.”

“If you are white, today is the day to start a conversation in your community,” she urged.

However, she had admitted shortly prior to using “that hysteric white woman voice.”

“I was taught to do it. I’ve done it. It’s a disturbing recognition. While I don’t recall ever using it to deliberately expose another person to immediate physical harm on my own cognizance, it’s not impossible. That is whiteness,” Maher posted.

However, now that she’s the CEO of NPR, Maher will be fully objective and non-biased.

What is that deranged racist sociopath ranting about today? I truly do not understand.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) May 14, 2020

You see, she only said those things as a private citizen. Now that she’s the new CEO, we are informed that her beliefs won’t impact the NPR newsrooms, and everyone will stay objective and bias-free. And if you buy into that, I’ve an oasis on Saturn I can sell you for dirt cheap.

Needless to say, the navel gazing from the NPR newsroom is also proving Berliner’s point concerning media bias.

I’d also add that this is not “minimal scrutiny.” This accuses NPR’s newsroom of being completely rotten by political ideology, which is simply not true. Listen to our coverage. Not one story. Listen to the breadth of our journalism. I bet you’d be surprised.
— Eyder Peralta (@eyderp) April 14, 2024

NPR, while hoping the taxpayer money spigot keeps flowing, insists they’ve always been objective and fair. This article from 1993, “How Do I Hate NPR? Let Me Count The Ways,” quite literally body checks that assertion right into the ground. It’s both an entertaining and thought-provoking read. One that is just as true today as it was back in 1993!

For example: A report that the Soviets had a document about North Vietnam withholding information about hundreds of American POW’s in 1973. Evidently there were doubts about the authenticity of the document, but others said it was true. The network refused to report the full story. Sound familiar?

So,Uri Berliner was suspended without pay for five days and issued a final warning. If he grants another interview or responds to media inquiries without permission, he will be summarily fired.