I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

[iluvatar5150]

This belief that the left-wing has a monopoly on quality journalism is fascinating to me.

I’m only going where the evidence leads me. What quality journalistic outlets does the right have other than WSJ, the Dispatch, and the Economist? Everything else is dumpster fires of propaganda marketing to smooth-brained reactionaries. Some factions at Fox try to do okay reporting, sometimes, but there’s apparently more money to be made in just lying to your audience.

Mind you, I’m not criticizing them for being conservative. I’m criticizing them for producing content that’s low-brow, dishonest, and stupid. I don’t have any patience for their contemporaries on the left, but at least on the left, I have other options.

 

[probinson]

I’m only going where the evidence leads me. What quality journalistic outlets does the right have other than WSJ, the Dispatch, and the Economist?

The growth of Substack has been interesting to watch. It's definitely a mixed bag, but there are some very high-quality content producers on there.

Personally, I'm not really interested in "right-wing" and "left-wing" news. I'm interested in objectivity. Of course, everyone has a bit of bias baked into them, but some are less blatant than others.

I've seen the way that the "high-quality" outlets cover stories. Unfortunately, they mostly coalesce around an approved talking point and regurgitate the ever-loving snot out of it.

I know you downplayed the COVID lab-leak example from the article in the OP, but it's interesting, to say the least, how the legacy media coalesced around the fact that it was just a "conspiracy theory", even though the scientists they were quoting were saying in private that COVID very well could have originated in a lab.

Let's look at a more recent example: Measles outbreaks. The legacy media was all over the fact that there was a measles "outbreak" (roughly 10 cases) in Florida, because they could say it was because of Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general. But they were much quieter on the fact that there is a measles outbreak 5x larger than Florida's in Illinois that began in a migrant shelter. One fits the approved narrative, the other does not. Sure, they report on both, but in one case, it's all DeSantis' fault that there are 10 cases in all of Florida, but in the other, "high vaccination rates" are the reason there were "only" 50 cases in Illinois.

The article in the OP was spot-on. As an independent, I'm pretty good at identifying right and left wing propaganda. I don't have any party loyalty whatsoever. But much of what I read from the "high-quality" journalistic sites is nothing more than filtered, approved talking points. There is no doubt that the legacy media tilts very hard to the left, and it's not because they are better at journalism.

 

[probinson]

Ah, The Bee never disappoints...

 

[FireDragon76]

I don't listen as much as I used to because I don't have a commute anymore, but when I do listen, it feels like it's skewed younger and more simplistic. That could just be me getting older and expecting more, but I don't think so. I've read others commenting that the skew towards youth has brought with it more of the DEI-related content that the yutes care about. That strikes me as plausible.

But either way, lab leak and Hunter's laptop have nothing to do with wokeness. They were (and are) dodgy stories with little substance and a whole lot of nonsensical right-wing hysteria. There's basically no good way to report on them that won't make things worse.

NPR's focus on DEI doesn't seem any different than usual, and I've been listening off and on for decades.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

How my NPR colleague failed at “viewpoint diversity”

Uri Berliner gave a perfect example of the kind of journalism he says he’s against.

steveinskeep.substack.com

 

[iluvatar5150]

How my NPR colleague failed at “viewpoint diversity”

Uri Berliner gave a perfect example of the kind of journalism he says he’s against.

steveinskeep.substack.com

That's a pretty great takedown.

 

[rambot]

Ah, The Bee never disappoints...

View attachment 346000

See this, I don't get. IT seems more like the Bee just taking a kneejerk response to this when NPR has (actually) quite an excellent journalist reputation as far as I've heard. In my brief searches, they seem to have received quite a long list of accolades.

I can often find the Bee quite funny, even if I disagree with the political message but this one? Meh. It's funnier when their joke is ACTUALLY ironic instead of faux ironic

 

[essentialsaltes]

The drama reached a pinnacle Wednesday, when Berliner resigned while taking a shot at Maher.

Initially, Berliner was suspended for not getting approval for doing work for another publication. NPR policy requires receiving written permission from supervisors “for all outside freelance and journalistic work,” according to the employee handbook.

In his resignation letter, Berliner called NPR “a great American institution” that should not be defunded. “I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism,” he wrote in the letter, posted on his X account. “But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems I cite in my Free Press essay.”

“Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep, writing on his Substack on Tuesday, [i.e. post #65] fact-checked or contextualized several of the arguments Berliner made. For instance: Berliner wrote that he once asked “why we keep using that word that many Hispanics hate — Latinx.” Inskeep said he searched 90 days of NPR’s content and found “Latinx” was used nine times — “usually by a guest” — compared to the nearly 400 times “Latina” and “Latino” were used.