National Public Radio suspended Uri Berliner, an editor who claimed earlier this month in an essay that the network had “lost America’s trust” by promoting progressive views in its coverage while deleting dissenting opinions.
Berliner’s suspension was reported by NPR correspondent David Folkenflik, who said the editor-in-chief was suspended for five days without pay starting Friday. A formal reprimand from NPR said Berliner had violated its policy of obtaining prior permission to write for other media outlets, and warned that he would be fired if he violated those guidelines in the future, Folkenflik reported.
NPR declined to comment to CBS News. “NPR does not comment on individual personnel matters, including discipline,” a spokesperson said.
Berliner’s essay in the Free Press sparked a firestorm of debate, with some conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, calling on the government to “defund” the organization. Some of Berliner’s colleagues at NPR also took issue with the essay, with “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep writing on his Substack that the article was “filled with errors and omissions.”
“These errors make NPR look bad, because it is embarrassing that an NPR reporter would do this,” Inskeep wrote.
In his essay, Berliner writes that NPR has always had a liberal bent, but that for most of its 25 years in office, the company maintained an open and curious culture. “In recent years, however, this has changed,” he writes. “Today, those who listen to NPR or read its reporting online discover something different: the worldview distilled by a very small segment of the American population.”
Berliner added: “What’s remarkable is the extent to which people at all levels of NPR have comfortably rallied around a progressive worldview.” The lack of diversity of viewpoints is “the most damaging development at NPR,” he wrote.
After the essay’s publication, NPR editor Edith Chapin said she strongly disagreed with Berliner’s conclusions and was proud to support NPR’s work.
COVID policy, DEI initiatives
Berliner criticized NPR’s coverage of major events, calling its reporting on COVID and Hunter Biden problematic. On the first topic, he wrote that the network was not covering the theory that COVID-19 was created in a Chinese lab, a theory he claimed NPR staffers “dismissed as racist or a right-wing conspiracy.
He also criticized NPR for failing to report on developments related to Hunter Biden’s laptop. “With the election just weeks away, NPR turned a blind eye,” Berliner wrote.
Berliner also criticized NPR for its internal management, citing what he claims is a growing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives.
“Race and identity have become paramount in almost every aspect of the workplace,” Berliner wrote. “A growing DEI staff has proposed regular meetings imploring us to ‘start talking about race’.”
Inskeep said Berliner’s essay left out the context in which many other news organizations had not reported on Hunter Biden’s laptop because of questions about its authenticity. He also disputed Berliner’s assertion that NPR editors and reporters do not debate story ideas.
“The story is written in a way that is probably satisfying to those who already believe it, and unconvincing to anyone else — a mirror image of his NPR review,” Inskeep wrote.
—With reporting from the Associated Press.
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