Veteran NPR reporter blasts outlet for being dominated by far-left activists who tell readers what to think

In an article for the Free Press titled, "I've Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," Berliner broke down what went wrong.

He began by noting that since it was founded in 1970, NPR had been able to capture the hearts and minds of Americans from all backgrounds, political persuasions, and walks of life. Even in 2011, the audience "still bore a resemblance to America at large."

That all changed, he explained, with the election of Donald Trump, when "what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump's presidency."

Berliner recalled how his colleagues pounced on every opportunity to paint Trump in a negative light and protect his Democratic opponent, from relentlessly pushing the Russiagate hoax and failing to admit, following the release of the Mueller Report, that they had got it wrong, to choosing not to pursue the Hunter Biden laptop story.

This trend away from straight news towards political pandering, Berliner continued, was on full display in NPR's coverage of George Floyd's death in 2020, when instead of trying to sus out whether America really was systemically racist, now-former CEO John Lansing essentially told staff they were to take it as a given that it was.

"Race and identity became paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace," Berliner lamented, noting that journalists were "required to ask everyone we interviewed their race, gender, and ethnicity (among other questions), and had to enter it in a centralized tracking system," and that everyone was "given unconscious bias training sessions."

Diversity, equity, and inclusion staff grew in number, and before long, identity politics began to reign supreme in the newsroom, and activists, not experts, called the shots when it came to language, story angle, and other important aspects of reporting.

Berliner maintained, however, that despite its slide into partisan programming, defunding the public broadcaster was not the answer. Change, he argued, could only come from within.

"Despite our missteps at NPR," he concluded, "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."

He expressed hope that the new CEO, Katherine Maher, could right the ship and get it back on course.