Uri Berliner didn’t just attack NPR. He attacked a community. His article denigrated a nationwide chosen family, bonded by their love of learning, their civic duty and their belief in doing good. Perhaps he forgot why he showed up.
You know, a lot of your stories as a young blerd resonate with me. I was a private school brat - all but my senior year of HS were at Catholic schools - but I encountered that same feeling of social isolation, that same confusion when people seemed so hostile to knowledge and truth, and so confused because why wouldn't people care about those things? If you don't care about those things, how can you know anything else to be correct?
And like you, NPR has long served as a panacea for a lot of that - knowing there was a cohort that cared about those things, and did their best to serve them.
I'm reading this piece as part of Parker Malloy's recommendations around the whole thing, and I find it thoughtful and true and seeing a problem I see in a lot of other places. Parker also linked Alicia Montgomery's piece over on Slate - https://slate.com/business/2024/04/npr-diversity-public-broadcasting-radio.html
And that one I think really hit the head on a lot of this, especially the DEI bits which I have seen mirrored in corporate America in my time there. Those in power are afraid to be uncomfortable, terrified of the repercussions of saying or advocating for the wrong thing, caught up in a web of social games because everyone is always chasing the next advancement - as if you aren't, you don't go up.
But even with that - places like NPR remain important. Because they give us weird kids something to look up to, something to hope at - and when inevitably we find out, later, that it doesn't live up to our dreams...well, some of us, a precious few, decide that they will do the work to ensure the place lives up to the dreams of the next kid.
And a precious few of those precious few actually succeed.
I don't think you should let go of the kid still in you. If it's like mine - yea, she hurts a lot. She wants to cry a lot. But that pain, that anxiety, all of that comes because she still sees the better world, still dares to dream, still believes in the hope that that better world can come to pass.
And if I let her go, I may free myself of her pain, but what do I lose in sacrificing her dreams?
I am an adult convert to Roman Catholic, so I can feel some empathy for your reaction to being told that a beloved institution has feet of clay, perhaps mixed with a bit of dung. My wordsmithing is of a different sort than yours, but I admire your craft. That said, I think that you have ignored 3 specific, pretty well documented, criticisms of NPR's bias in Berliner's piece. Yesterday (IIRC) I was listening to NPR - I really don't recall if it was ATC or The World, but I think it was ATC. There was a bit about how Republican were parroting Russia propaganda about Ukraine funding and how dangerous that was (tone and shading of Trump/Russian collusion to my ear). Next up, with no sense of irony, was NPR parroting Hamas propaganda about Israel and genocide.
Berliner picked 3 examples - and the importance of the Russia hoax was demonstrated yesterday. I went back to review your Clinical Journalism piece which you linked, to make sure I was seeing your whole perspective. Early on, you touched on the "fine people" meme. Even Politifact wouldn't let that one pass, though they tried to pass it off as context and timing. https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/apr/26/context-trumps-very-fine-people-both-sides-remarks/
The common worldview of NPR has let some pernicious weeds grow in the garden of civic discourse. I hated it when my church got caught up in pedophilia charges. I hate it for NPR. Killing the messenger isn't the helpful response, however. Because I admire you, I am not withholding from you what I believe to be truth. Not only because the truth shall set you free, but also because people you respect are entitled to the truth. Correct me if I am wrong, of course.
Your ad hominem and melodramitic response to Berliner's clear criticisms manifests the kind of bias that is destroying political journaism. A media organization is not a family but a public service. Uri said what is widely known among ex listeners because he has no internal hearing.
This is how I feel. Republicans built their vast right wing, fact adverse propaganda apparatus spanning radio, print, tv, and social media. People who don't want to contend with collective reality have plenty of other platforms to choose from to keep being spoon-fed only what they want to hear, that thankfully don't get taxpayer funding (yet).
Those people left NPR long ago, not an account of "liberal bias," but because they cannot stand the notion of having to engage with facts they don't like, or with any of the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, experiences, collective worries, policy preferences, etc. of any Americans who don't think and act and believe just as they do. I've certainly sat through plenty of NPR interviews done in the heartland diners of America, even though much of what they have to say doesn't seem to guide us to any coherent policy propositions that would *actually fix* any of their complaints. I hear their opinions far and wide, what I don't hear is any genuine desire to pursue actual policy that would help them or improve things, just the embrace of scapegoating nonsense.
NPR refusing to platform known liars, propagandists, and open Christo-fascists and white supremacists IS the thing you do when you're a journalistic outfit with a modicum of integrity. Framing the statements of elected officials properly when they LIE or disseminate the propaganda of our adversaries is JOURNALISM, not editorializing.
I've been reading a lot of books (both fiction and nonfiction) about people's experiences leading up to and during WWII... and I have an inkling that Uri Berliner is one of those people whose fear of the possibility of America embracing fascism has inspired him to capitulate and enable in an effort at self preservation, and (possibly) the preservation of NPR in physicality... while in the offing being willing to destroy what makes the institution great and worth having. I don't know if this is a conscious or subconscious endeavor on Berliner's part. But I think Joshua Johnson is VERY INSIGHTFUL in thinking Uri's comments were born of fear.
The question is... are decisions borne out of fear our best ones? And is "killing NPR (spiritually & reputationally), to save NPR" a proposition worth actually considering?
Courage demands that good people hold the line against the bad faith effort of fascist sympathizers (and the cowards who enable them) to destroy all that is good, inclusive, honest, and hopeful in this world.
Anyone who actually listens to NPR in 2024 knows that while it skews liberal it is not anything out of the mainstream and platforms more right wing views than any right wing outlet would do in the opposite direction. As for Uri Berliner, I don't know the man. But his traveling media road show sure does suggest that it's an effort to delegitimize NPR because they're not sufficiently carrying water for Israeli propagandists - which itself is laughable since NPR has been plenty down the middle on Gaza. As soon as the floating turd Chris Rufo pops up it's always an indicator.
Isn't that the truth. Chris Rufo is synonymous with bad faith chaos agent, and any one with two braincells to rub together should be able to recognize how he doesn't genuinely care about the Jewish people or Palestinians, or the unborn, or whatever facetious nonsense he's ranting about in any given day.
He's constantly playing both sides against the middle in a very deliberate bad faith effort to *maximize* the harm and destruction to everyone involved.
What I find remarkable about Rufo is that he acknowledges he's a propagandist and openly discusses what he's doing in terms of corrupting language to achieve his political ends and yet he's still allowed to parade around as some legitimate think tank academic who should be taken seriously.
I will have to listen to this and read it. I listen to npr all day long. You actually made me a listener forever Your show was inciteful, funny, loved listening to you ask great questions. Curious you are. That’s a wonderful thing. Don’t ever let anything dim your inner light ❤️
Thank you so much for sharing this article from your heart. I love hearing about your beginnings and the pictures were terrific. I was a faithful NPR Diane listener and when she left I felt deserted but along came Joshua Johnson and I grew to admire him and his presence and his style even when discussing things I didn't understand and really didn't want to. I grew with you although I did not have your background you have taught me a lot about life, about living, about others. I, too, felt the betrayal as a listener and appreciated hearing your voice on this and now your writing.
I’m sure Berliner will now wind up at Fox News, the WSJ, the New York Post or The Free Press joining the conga line of clowns ranting against criticism of Israel, trans folks, DEI, CRT and all things “woke” which none of them can define. He’s an ass. Good riddance.
Perhaps Mr. Berliner should have suggested improvements for NPR. I perceive he did, by simply identifying its many faults. Nevertheless, let me offer some direct suggestions. 1. Understand the difference between reporting and editorial. 2. When writing editorial, declare it editorial. 3. Eliminate all bias in reporting. Understand that reporting should focus on the facts, that you are establishing a record of now for future historians. If you want to include context in your reporting, feel free to do so, and always include both sides. And in doing so avoid or eliminate the bias in adverbs and adjectives that NPR has so faithfully deployed to suggest a “proper context.” Good luck!
Why should NPR represent "both sides" when in so many cases, one side is telling you an objective fact like "it's raining" and the adherents of the other side are saying, "No it's not! It has never rained! Don't believe your own eyes and ears, and the fact that you got wet when you walked out the door this morning without an umbrella! There is no rain! But if we let immigrants into the country and allow women & trans people do what they prefer with their own bodies, we'll have FLOODS like we've never seen before!"
It serves no real public interest to further disseminate the lies and false narratives of people who don't really believe in anything static and immutable, *except* their desire and sense of entitlement for power and control over everyone else.
You know, a lot of your stories as a young blerd resonate with me. I was a private school brat - all but my senior year of HS were at Catholic schools - but I encountered that same feeling of social isolation, that same confusion when people seemed so hostile to knowledge and truth, and so confused because why wouldn't people care about those things? If you don't care about those things, how can you know anything else to be correct?
And like you, NPR has long served as a panacea for a lot of that - knowing there was a cohort that cared about those things, and did their best to serve them.
I'm reading this piece as part of Parker Malloy's recommendations around the whole thing, and I find it thoughtful and true and seeing a problem I see in a lot of other places. Parker also linked Alicia Montgomery's piece over on Slate - https://slate.com/business/2024/04/npr-diversity-public-broadcasting-radio.html
And that one I think really hit the head on a lot of this, especially the DEI bits which I have seen mirrored in corporate America in my time there. Those in power are afraid to be uncomfortable, terrified of the repercussions of saying or advocating for the wrong thing, caught up in a web of social games because everyone is always chasing the next advancement - as if you aren't, you don't go up.
But even with that - places like NPR remain important. Because they give us weird kids something to look up to, something to hope at - and when inevitably we find out, later, that it doesn't live up to our dreams...well, some of us, a precious few, decide that they will do the work to ensure the place lives up to the dreams of the next kid.
And a precious few of those precious few actually succeed.
I don't think you should let go of the kid still in you. If it's like mine - yea, she hurts a lot. She wants to cry a lot. But that pain, that anxiety, all of that comes because she still sees the better world, still dares to dream, still believes in the hope that that better world can come to pass.
And if I let her go, I may free myself of her pain, but what do I lose in sacrificing her dreams?
I am an adult convert to Roman Catholic, so I can feel some empathy for your reaction to being told that a beloved institution has feet of clay, perhaps mixed with a bit of dung. My wordsmithing is of a different sort than yours, but I admire your craft. That said, I think that you have ignored 3 specific, pretty well documented, criticisms of NPR's bias in Berliner's piece. Yesterday (IIRC) I was listening to NPR - I really don't recall if it was ATC or The World, but I think it was ATC. There was a bit about how Republican were parroting Russia propaganda about Ukraine funding and how dangerous that was (tone and shading of Trump/Russian collusion to my ear). Next up, with no sense of irony, was NPR parroting Hamas propaganda about Israel and genocide.
Berliner picked 3 examples - and the importance of the Russia hoax was demonstrated yesterday. I went back to review your Clinical Journalism piece which you linked, to make sure I was seeing your whole perspective. Early on, you touched on the "fine people" meme. Even Politifact wouldn't let that one pass, though they tried to pass it off as context and timing. https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/apr/26/context-trumps-very-fine-people-both-sides-remarks/
The common worldview of NPR has let some pernicious weeds grow in the garden of civic discourse. I hated it when my church got caught up in pedophilia charges. I hate it for NPR. Killing the messenger isn't the helpful response, however. Because I admire you, I am not withholding from you what I believe to be truth. Not only because the truth shall set you free, but also because people you respect are entitled to the truth. Correct me if I am wrong, of course.
What "hamas propaganda" are you referring to?
The news coming out of Gaza is tightly controlled by Hamas sympathists. I do not recall which particular story I heard on April 9, but here is a pretty well documented example of the type: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-hospital-rocket-gaza-e0fa550faa4678f024797b72132452e3
I think that story predates the particular turn on NPR you're referring to. Never the less, I appreciate your response.
Your ad hominem and melodramitic response to Berliner's clear criticisms manifests the kind of bias that is destroying political journaism. A media organization is not a family but a public service. Uri said what is widely known among ex listeners because he has no internal hearing.
Go listen to Fox News. From an ex-listener who can't take the phony shit that's become.
This is how I feel. Republicans built their vast right wing, fact adverse propaganda apparatus spanning radio, print, tv, and social media. People who don't want to contend with collective reality have plenty of other platforms to choose from to keep being spoon-fed only what they want to hear, that thankfully don't get taxpayer funding (yet).
Those people left NPR long ago, not an account of "liberal bias," but because they cannot stand the notion of having to engage with facts they don't like, or with any of the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, experiences, collective worries, policy preferences, etc. of any Americans who don't think and act and believe just as they do. I've certainly sat through plenty of NPR interviews done in the heartland diners of America, even though much of what they have to say doesn't seem to guide us to any coherent policy propositions that would *actually fix* any of their complaints. I hear their opinions far and wide, what I don't hear is any genuine desire to pursue actual policy that would help them or improve things, just the embrace of scapegoating nonsense.
NPR refusing to platform known liars, propagandists, and open Christo-fascists and white supremacists IS the thing you do when you're a journalistic outfit with a modicum of integrity. Framing the statements of elected officials properly when they LIE or disseminate the propaganda of our adversaries is JOURNALISM, not editorializing.
I've been reading a lot of books (both fiction and nonfiction) about people's experiences leading up to and during WWII... and I have an inkling that Uri Berliner is one of those people whose fear of the possibility of America embracing fascism has inspired him to capitulate and enable in an effort at self preservation, and (possibly) the preservation of NPR in physicality... while in the offing being willing to destroy what makes the institution great and worth having. I don't know if this is a conscious or subconscious endeavor on Berliner's part. But I think Joshua Johnson is VERY INSIGHTFUL in thinking Uri's comments were born of fear.
The question is... are decisions borne out of fear our best ones? And is "killing NPR (spiritually & reputationally), to save NPR" a proposition worth actually considering?
Courage demands that good people hold the line against the bad faith effort of fascist sympathizers (and the cowards who enable them) to destroy all that is good, inclusive, honest, and hopeful in this world.
Anyone who actually listens to NPR in 2024 knows that while it skews liberal it is not anything out of the mainstream and platforms more right wing views than any right wing outlet would do in the opposite direction. As for Uri Berliner, I don't know the man. But his traveling media road show sure does suggest that it's an effort to delegitimize NPR because they're not sufficiently carrying water for Israeli propagandists - which itself is laughable since NPR has been plenty down the middle on Gaza. As soon as the floating turd Chris Rufo pops up it's always an indicator.
Isn't that the truth. Chris Rufo is synonymous with bad faith chaos agent, and any one with two braincells to rub together should be able to recognize how he doesn't genuinely care about the Jewish people or Palestinians, or the unborn, or whatever facetious nonsense he's ranting about in any given day.
He's constantly playing both sides against the middle in a very deliberate bad faith effort to *maximize* the harm and destruction to everyone involved.
What I find remarkable about Rufo is that he acknowledges he's a propagandist and openly discusses what he's doing in terms of corrupting language to achieve his political ends and yet he's still allowed to parade around as some legitimate think tank academic who should be taken seriously.
I will have to listen to this and read it. I listen to npr all day long. You actually made me a listener forever Your show was inciteful, funny, loved listening to you ask great questions. Curious you are. That’s a wonderful thing. Don’t ever let anything dim your inner light ❤️
Thank you so much for sharing this article from your heart. I love hearing about your beginnings and the pictures were terrific. I was a faithful NPR Diane listener and when she left I felt deserted but along came Joshua Johnson and I grew to admire him and his presence and his style even when discussing things I didn't understand and really didn't want to. I grew with you although I did not have your background you have taught me a lot about life, about living, about others. I, too, felt the betrayal as a listener and appreciated hearing your voice on this and now your writing.
I’m sure Berliner will now wind up at Fox News, the WSJ, the New York Post or The Free Press joining the conga line of clowns ranting against criticism of Israel, trans folks, DEI, CRT and all things “woke” which none of them can define. He’s an ass. Good riddance.
I’ve had a strong emotional attachment to you since I first heard you. Now you’ve explained why. You’re a gift Joshua
This is what it's about. This is what it's ALWAYS about. https://www.foxnews.com/media/npr-editor-knocks-outlets-troubling-avoidance-growing-antisemitism-following-oct-7
uh-Yup.
Perhaps Mr. Berliner should have suggested improvements for NPR. I perceive he did, by simply identifying its many faults. Nevertheless, let me offer some direct suggestions. 1. Understand the difference between reporting and editorial. 2. When writing editorial, declare it editorial. 3. Eliminate all bias in reporting. Understand that reporting should focus on the facts, that you are establishing a record of now for future historians. If you want to include context in your reporting, feel free to do so, and always include both sides. And in doing so avoid or eliminate the bias in adverbs and adjectives that NPR has so faithfully deployed to suggest a “proper context.” Good luck!
Why should NPR represent "both sides" when in so many cases, one side is telling you an objective fact like "it's raining" and the adherents of the other side are saying, "No it's not! It has never rained! Don't believe your own eyes and ears, and the fact that you got wet when you walked out the door this morning without an umbrella! There is no rain! But if we let immigrants into the country and allow women & trans people do what they prefer with their own bodies, we'll have FLOODS like we've never seen before!"
It serves no real public interest to further disseminate the lies and false narratives of people who don't really believe in anything static and immutable, *except* their desire and sense of entitlement for power and control over everyone else.