(IntegrityTimes.com) – Long-time NPR editor Uri Berliner submitted his resignation on April 17 after he was suspended for speaking out in a Free Press essay about the company’s “absence of viewpoint diversity.” He was reportedly suspended for five days starting on April 12 after his piece revealed that NPR was biased in its reporting of Russiagate, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the lab leak theory, and the adoption of the systemic racism theory. Berliner also accused the outlet of downplaying instances of antisemitism following the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7 last year.
Berliner also revealed that most NPR newsroom employees were registered Democrats, which he said was reflected in articles written about former President Trump and others. NPR reporter David Folkenflik broke the news of Berliner’s suspension, noting that his revelations about the political leaning of the staff “angered many of his colleagues” and led to the announcement of internal reviews of the outlet’s coverage, which would be conducted monthly. Folkenflik argued that Berliner’s reporting provided ammunition to Republicans critical of the network. Folkenflik wrote that he spoke with Berliner, who suggested that NPR’s new CEO Katherine Maher was too biased to lead the network, pointing to her previous social media posts.
NPR said that it had informed Berliner that he had not received approval to publish works for other outlets, which was a requirement that must be followed by NPR journalists. The suspension letter was reportedly his final warning, which included the threat of termination if he violated the policy again. Berliner announced his resignation in a post on X, formerly Twitter, noting that he had worked at NPR for 25 years. He wrote that he could not work with the new CEO, as her political views were representative of the issues he cited in his essay for the Free Press. Republicans have long called for the defunding of NPR for its left-leaning bias, which will likely continue following Berliner’s revelations.
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