JUST IN: NPR Suspends Veteran Editor Who Accused Outlet of Having ‘Lost America’s Trust’ With Liberal ‘Advocacy’

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NPR has suspended a veteran editor who accused the outlet of having “lost America’s trust” with consistently left-leaning “advocacy” content the editor called “devastating” to its journalism.

Longtime NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported Tuesday that Uri Berliner — NPR’s senior business editor who slammed the outlet in a recent column — has been suspended for five days without pay.

Berliner — in a column for Bari Weiss‘ Free Press site titled, “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.” — the NPR veteran sounded off about the outlet’s increasingly “liberal bent.”

“It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed,” Berliner wrote. “We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding. In recent years, however, that has changed. … An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America. That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model.”

In an interview published Tuesday, Berliner told Folkenflik, “I love NPR and feel it’s a national trust. We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they’re capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners.”

The move comes amid heavy criticism from conservatives about NPR’s new CEO, Katherine Maher. Right-leaning pundits on social media have uncovered posts from Maher in which she — among other things — appeared to downplay rioting during social justice protests.

“In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen,” Maher said in a statement published by NPR. “What matters is NPR’s work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests.”

The newly-suspended Berliner told Folkenflik, “We’re looking for a leader right now who’s going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about. And this seems to be the opposite of that.”

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