by mocopdx (2024-04-17 12:29:26)
In reply to: Not a good look for NPR. posted by Bacchus
The interview Bari Weiss did with Berliner is worth a listen (linked).
It went from a public institution with a liberal-lean-but-considered-all-views, to a mouthpiece for stringent Twitter Leftism. Every time I turn it on, the story is something like "why pickleball is oppressing trans women of color".
I used to listen more when I would be on the road every Sunday for a long period of time. Now I listen several times a week when I'm commuting.
Too few of their "news" stories are about hard news. Everything they do seems to get connected back to some type of social justice cause. They're always seeking a way to take some neutral topic and spin it to the left.
Their interviews are even worse. They always bring on someone from the left, politician or expert, to talk about a topic. The interview questions are always leading questions which lay out the interviewees position exactly. The subject simply has to agree and expand. Never a probing question. I have never heard anyone on NPR interview anyone who could be considered conservative so I don't know what kind of questions they would ask in that instance.
...These are all NPR interviews.
Interview With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
A Conversation With Senator Tom Cotton
Republican strategist Scott Jennings discusses the Biden impeachment inquiry
Our Interview With GOP Presidential Hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy
Nikki Haley says Biden is 'more dangerous' than Trump but neither is fit for the job
...among others I've heard in recent years.
"We regularly set up live interviews with Republican officials and Trump surrogates. But it was tough because NPR always loved guests who would be insightful, honest, and—perhaps above all—polite. There were plenty of people who’d for years fit that description across the partisan divide in official Washington, but they were scarce in the Trump administration. We changed the format of live political interviews, adding what we called a “level-set.” That would be three-ish minutes after a conversation with a political operative or elected official when a host and NPR reporter would try to fact-check what had just been said."
Montgomery is a long time NPR correspondent, and her Slate article is very critical of NPR's news -- not for the same reason as Uri, but she reaches many of the same conclusions about the character and quality of recent NPR journalism.
I listen to NPR - have since I was a kid. But it got to the point for a while (it's been better lately) where we'd start placing bets which stock phrase would get thrown into the story - things like "...in the age of Trump" or "especially people of color", or the like.
I just skimmed through a couple and they seem to be part of podcasts which I don't listen to. I think all of us are generally talking about the radio programs that you would listen to, for example, in the car.
Nevertheless, there is a distinct difference between the adversarial style of questioning the NPR hosts use in these interviews versus the softballs that are tossed up to politicians and others on the left. I can't tell you how many times I have been disappointed when they announced that they are going to next be interviewing some Democratic politician only to discover that there was really no need to ask the questions since the host had all the answers. It always seems like two friends chatting about a subject on which they agree. That's what I find disappointing.
...that were then saved to the NPR site for later listening, i.e., as podcasts. I say this because I recall hearing at least some of these as I drove around in my car with NPR on.
...journalists and editors who have left their former orgs noting how the newsroom and editorial desks have changed.
The Weiss interview was solid (I was particularly appalled by Berliner's comments on news staff taking talking points and editorial guidance from advocacy organizations), and echos stuff that has appeared elsewhere.
I remember in residency (2015 to 2018) thinking it was reasonable, but haven't really listened since then.
But, I only listen to Morning Edition so I don’t know about the other programs. Anyway, one of the anchors of Morning Edition had a response to Berliner’s piece that I thought was worthwhile so I’ve linked it below.
prior permission of management, both in a public forum and in writing?
I am pretty sure that was what got Berliner his suspension.
I await Inskeep's sanction.
(I say this as someone who listens to both the national (SXM) and local NPR stations semi-regularly)
Where are you getting that Inskeep didn’t have authorization? He’s been publishing that Substack for awhile now.
a panel moderator what he thought about the recent events - I'm guessing he didn't have advance permission to tell the audience his opinions on the Berliner piece.
And I didn't see any indication Inskeep had permission to air his complaints about Berliner on the Substack, but maybe he did have management's okay on that - he should have noted it if he did, given that was the purported basis for Berliner's suspension without pay.
They appear to be a far larger organization than they were even 10 years ago, thanks to their pivot to the left, which I imagine has improved donations. My evidence is the size of their staff, which grows while most have not.
Here in AZ, we have quite a few journalists who have quit other outlets to work for the local NPR outlet. That can't be because they pay worse.
I listen to our local NPR quite a bit because they run different types of stories which I appreciate but mostly because I care more about how my political opponents think than the drivel on conservative talk radio.
Not to mention people.
I would say NPR was trending in the wrong direction, but since Trumpism they've gone fully off the rails.
This isn't a defense of Trump- I hate the man. But, the direction much of the left took in response was immature and psychotic.
