Final week, now-former NPR enterprise editor Uri Berliner drew the ire of the station’s new, far-left CEO after he referred to as out NPR for permitting the liberal worldview to dominate the newsroom. Berliner’s act of journalistic integrity in the end price him his job; he was suspended and in the end resigned. However regardless of NPR’s retaliation in opposition to a whistleblower and others coming ahead to corroborate Berliner’s claims, left-wing media ranking group NewsGuard maintained NPR’s excellent 100/100 ranking.
In his essay for The Free Press, Berliner uncovered NPR as a manufacturing facility churning out content material that catered to the liberal worldview: “There’s an unstated consensus in regards to the tales we should always pursue and the way they need to be framed. It’s frictionless—one story after one other about cases of supposed racism, transphobia, indicators of the local weather apocalypse, Israel doing one thing dangerous, and the dire risk of Republican insurance policies. It’s nearly like an meeting line.”
Earlier this week, Berliner was suspended with out pay by the station underneath the guise of it being punishment for publishing one thing with one other outlet with out getting permission first (as if NPR would have allowed him to publish one thing crucial out them to start with). NPR did give permission for Morning Version host Steve Inskeep to publish a Substack defending the station and attacking his long-time colleague.
Berliner subsequently resigned; posting his resignation letter on X. “I’m resigning from NPR, a terrific American establishment the place I’ve labored for 25 years,” he wrote. “I don’t assist calls to defund NPR. I respect the integrity of my colleagues and need for NPR to thrive and do necessary journalism. However I can not work in a newsroom the place I’m disparaged by a brand new CEO whose divisive views affirm the very issues at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay.”
My resignation letter to NPR CEO @krmaher pic.twitter.com/0hafVbcZAK
— Uri Berliner (@uberliner) April 17, 2024
Regardless of NPR looking for retribution in opposition to considered one of their journalists for publically blowing the whistle on how they had been permitting their liberal bias to poison their newsroom, thus forcing stated journalist to publically resign, NewsGuard has up to now maintained NPR’s excellent 100/100 ranking.
Berliner’s criticisms of NPR weren’t enterprise or employment-related (akin to pay or working circumstances) and had every part to do with the politics influencing the information product the group was placing out. And thus, was a problem NewsGuard ought to’ve been taking significantly, particularly contemplating that Berliner was getting assist from different former NPR staffers.
At this level, an absence of motion by NewsGuard to downgrade NPR’s rating gave the impression to be in defiance of the information and in opposition to the assist Berliner was receiving from many right-wingers.
As MRC Affiliate Editor for Enterprise & Free Speech America Joseph Vazquez famous in the 2023 research of NewsGuard’s rankings, the purpose of the entire system was for it for use as a “cudgel” in opposition to right-leaning information organizations:
NewsGuard wields its rankings as a cudgel, making an attempt to scare away advertisers from doing enterprise with media and organizations which have been accused of selling so-called “misinformation” or wrongthink on an entire host of points like abortion, local weather change, COVID-19 and elections. In so doing, NewsGuard successfully strips media retailers with which it disagrees of their advert cash, slowly bleeding out their coffers.
NewsGuard can reluctantly downgrade legacy liberal media retailers after they have horrible reporting held up underneath their nostril. They just lately downgraded The New York Occasions after the Media Analysis Heart referred to as them out a number of instances.
They should do the identical now with NPR.