An NPR uproar is shaking up newsrooms, and reminds us all of the critical role that local media will play in righting our national discourse through that most American of places – the Public Square.
A week ago today, Uri Berliner – a longstanding, well-respected reporter with National Public Radio – published an essay in the Free Press titled: “I’ve been at NPR 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.”
The impact of that story was immediate. NPR suspended Berliner for a week. Berliner resigned. And NPR rushed to defend its reporting.
Berliner summarizes what has happened at NPR this way.
Conflicts between workers and bosses, between labor and management, are common in workplaces. NPR has had its share. But what’s notable is the extent to which people at every level of NPR have comfortably coalesced around the progressive worldview.
And this, I believe, is the most damaging development at NPR: the absence of viewpoint diversity.
Berliner spelled out that lack of viewpoint diversity by highlighting several significant fails at NPR: Russiagate – NPR fell in line behind Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion,” he continued, “NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.”
He also cites the Hunter Biden laptop story, COVID coverage, the Wuhan Lab Leak theory, and more as examples of where NPR sacrificed following the story wherever it may lead to ideology.
What’s most interesting about Berliner’s piece, however, is man himself.
Don’t expect to see him on FOX News as a regular correspondent chasing down the latest conspiracy theory – voter fraud, anyone?
By his own admission, Berliner is a card-carrying progressive.
You know the stereotype of the NPR listener: an EV-driving, Wordle-playing, tote bag–carrying coastal elite. It doesn’t precisely describe me, but it’s not far off. I’m Sarah Lawrence–educated, was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother, I drive a Subaru, and Spotify says my listening habits are most similar to people in Berkeley.
I fit the NPR mold. I’ll cop to that.
Though he acknowledges NPR’s left-leaning bent, he challenges the idea popular in conservative circles that the media has always been biased against the right.
Back in 2011, although NPR’s audience tilted a bit to the left, it still bore a resemblance to America at large. Twenty-six percent of listeners described themselves as conservative, 23 percent as middle of the road, and 37 percent as liberal.
By 2023, the picture was completely different: only 11 percent described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, 21 percent as middle of the road, and 67 percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal. We weren’t just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals.
Berliner, in short, has identified something far more troubling than the culture wars as we usually talk about them. He’s identified a calcification of thinking in our society writ large.
As a Washington-based reporter, I noted a change in the way conservatives related to me as a journalist around the time the Tea Party began in 2009. Prior to then, I had little trouble calling on Republican lawmakers and getting the interviews I needed to report a balanced story. Since then, Republicans have too often gone silent. Not just refusing to talk to media, but not even acknowledging the request.
Conservatives, by contrast, will often point to the Tea Party movement and say it simply tapped into the long-running progressive bias against conservatism that dates back to at least the “You don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore” speech in 1962.
Who’s to blame really isn’t the issue, however. Finding a way forward, is.
Going Local
To those who don’t follow the ins-and-outs of journalism, the Berliner story may have flown under your radar. But it touches a nerve that is central to the production of FXBG Advance.
Like Berliner, we have come to appreciate the calcification of progressive thinking that has many of our conservative citizens frustrated with media.
We also appreciate that the calcification of conservative thinking that defines FOX News and other outlets isn’t going to solve the issue of people’s trust in public institutions like media, public schools, and political offices to name just a few institutions and groups that we once talked about with pride across the political spectrum.
What will fix the calcification of thought that touches all of us is the restoration of the Public Square.
The Public Square is less a place – though there was a time when American cities once planned for a physical public square (Boston Commons, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, Jackson Square in New Orleans, Wright Square in Savannah, among many others) – than it is an idea.
The Public Square occurs at neighborhood block parties, public debates, library forums, public lectures (thankfully still alive and well here in Fredericksburg thanks to Dr. William Crawley’s exceptional work with the Great Lives series), coffee shops, pubs, barber shops, and any other place where people gather to discuss the range of opinions and news of the day.
These Public Square discussions are defined not by what they resolve, but by how much they elevate people’s understanding of one another.
These gatherings allow us to lead not with the question that effectively divides so many of us today – Are you a Democrat or a Republican? – but with the questions: What do you think about this? And why?
The 2024 elections are already drawing concerns about voter manipulation, political violence, and more. Whether any of this comes to fruition remains to be seen. We certainly hope that is not the case.
Whether worse-case scenarios emerge or not, that we are facing this situation should remind us of the importance of getting reconnected to our local Public Squares for the express purpose not of solving problems but understanding one another.
The Advance is committed to rebuilding this Public Square in our pages.
That so many of you have come alongside and supported us with your financial gifts speaks to that. Equally, if not more important, are all of you who support this Public Square with the most precious resource you have – your time.
As we continue to grow, the Advance looks to include more diverse voices from across the spectrum of people who make up this region.
Most important, in our news reporting – whether it be investigative, education, political, analysis, opinion or podcast format – we will continue to strive not to tell you what to think, but to give you information that makes you think critically about the complex and challenging problems before us.
Not surprisingly, Berliner sees this as the path forward at the national level, too.
Despite our missteps at NPR, defunding isn’t the answer. As the country becomes more fractured, there’s still a need for a public institution where stories are told and viewpoints exchanged in good faith.
