NPR editor’s tell-all confirms what we already knew about the media
Regardless of the troubling trends in American journalism, we should all recognize the importance of a free, fair and functioning press.
2024 has not been kind to American journalism. Mainstream news outlets -- including NBC News, CBS, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, TIME and Business Insider -- have laid off hundreds of staffers. Publishers and media analysts have been casting about for possible explanations, whether difficult economic headwinds, the collapse of ad revenue or Americans’ “news fatigue” ahead of another presidential election.
But we can thank Uri Berliner, a senior business editor at NPR, for revealing the main reason for journalism’s dire situation: Americans these days just don’t trust the news.
Berliner’s first-person account of the past near-decade at NPR – from Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign through the present – reveals a litany of reasons for this loss of faith. Berliner argues that NPR’s increasingly leftward tilt, lack of transparency, ideological groupthink and prioritization of diversity of identity and physical appearance above other values have led the organization astray.
Berliner’s experience at NPR matches the broader reality facing journalism today. A 2023 Gallup survey showed that only 32 percent of Americans have some or a great deal of trust in journalism – a major problem for an industry that purports to provide news to a broad audience. Perhaps that’s because only 3.4 percent of journalists identify as Republicans, compared to 36 percent for Democrats, according to a recent Syracuse University survey.
Unsurprisingly, this political shift has turned off many Americans. Berliner notes that 49 percent of NPR’s listeners in 2011 described themselves as moderate or conservative. This number dropped to 33 percent by 2023, with the remainder being liberal or very liberal – suggesting that non-liberals have abandoned the network in droves.
How did journalism get to this point? Many Americans feel the news today doesn’t treat both sides fairly. They think it reflects deep-seated liberal biases, puts its finger on the scale for progressive policies and looks down on those with traditional or conservative beliefs. They’re not wrong; Uri Berliner joins a growing list of journalists at mainstream publications (including Bari Weiss, James Bennet, Adam Rubenstein, Juan Williams and others) who have publicly lamented how the news has abandoned its journalistic values. One hopes that Berliner will be able to stay at NPR if he chooses; the others left their jobs or were forced out.
In one sense, this isn’t new; journalists have skewed left for generations. In 2001, longtime CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg wrote “Bias,” a tell-all criticizing colleagues at his own network for “often sounding more like flacks for liberal causes than objective journalists.” It became a #1 bestseller.
What’s troubling today is the new ideology that’s taken over newsrooms during the Trump years. Journalism is now focused more on political correctness and political point scoring than on traditional journalistic ethics like fairness, independence and truth-seeking. It enforces a rigid orthodoxy that promotes specific viewpoints while shutting out other voices that don’t stick to the approved narrative. In short, the news today tells its readers, viewers and listeners what to think.
That’s why organizations like The Fund for American Studies (TFAS), which I lead, are working to bring balance back to newsrooms. In 2023, TFAS launched the Center for Excellence in Journalism and the Student Journalism Association – two programs that will support more ideological diversity in the media, and promote honest reporting and the seeking of truth.
Regardless of the troubling trends in American journalism, we should all recognize the importance of a free, fair and functioning press. The current situation is alarming news for our Republic, which assumes a well-informed public that can sustain our system of government and way of life. By supporting the next generation of fair-minded journalists and bringing traditional journalistic values back into newsrooms, we can restore balance to this critical American institution – and save a future Uri Berliner from needing to write a similar tell-all.
Roger Ream is the president of The Fund for American Studies (TFAS), a nonprofit educational organization that works with students and young leaders to promote the principles of free-market economics, limited government and honorable leadership. He is also the host of the Liberty + Leadership podcast.