It is hard to excerpt because it is essentially an indictment all Classical Liberals, Moderates, Centrists, and Conservatives would agree with and have agreed with for the better part of the past decade and more. The central claim is that NPR is a hard left, self-absorbed organization functioning as an advocacy group for hard left policies and the Democratic Party. That they have gotten the largest and most important stories of the past few years (Covid-19, Russiagate, Hunter Biden Laptop, AGW, wrong). Berliner focuses primarily on three but everyone could add many, many more.
In fact, it is hard to think of any major story NPR has broken and hard of think of any major story that they have reported accurately.
And, as Berliner points out, most egregiously, the errors have generally been ideologically motivated and NPR has never apologized or addressed why it is so systematically erroneous in its reporting.
Lots of interesting details in the piece, which is well worth reading.
The only major disagreement I have is the penultimate paragraph.
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. Defunding, as a rebuke from Congress, wouldn’t change the journalism at NPR. That needs to come from within.
I deeply miss the NPR of circa 2000 but I don't see any hope for reformation or restoration of trust. As a taxpayer supported organization they are already on thin ground. Why do we need such a beast when we are overwhelmed with news and entertainment choice. There is absolutely no need for a national radio.
Especially when that radio and TV corporation reflects the views and values of only a small part of the nation. And most especially when they now seem to specialize in deliberate misreporting and inability to acknowledge the trail of errors.
I wish Berliner the best and welcome his internal confirmation of that which has been assumed to be true by most moderate and right people in the nation for a long time.
Well worth reading in its entirety.
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