“Schiff, who is the most level-headed Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has become NPR’s guide, its omnipresent muse. By my calculations, NPR anchors interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During several of those conversations, Schiff alluded to the alleged “This” is evidence of collusion. Schiff’s speaking issues have become the subject of NPR’s reporting,” Berliner wrote.
After Robert Mueller’s report found “no credible collusion,” he wrote, the Trump-Russia story disappeared from NPR’s coverage. Berliner said the outlet acted as if it never happened.
An NPR editor speaks out against his own media outlet about his politics beyond Trump and Russia, Hunter Biden’s computer history, and much more. (Left: Spencer Platt/Getty Images | Center: Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis Getty Images | Right: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
PRIOR TO THE DURHAM REPORT, TV NETWORKS ALLOWED RUSSIAGATE BOOSTER ADAM SCHIFF TO DEMAND “PROOF” OF COLLUSION
Berliner also pointed to NPR’s resolve to turn a blind eye to Hunter Biden’s computer story in 2020.
“Computer newsworthiness. But the eternal journalistic intuition of sticking to a hot news story is drowned. In a meeting with colleagues, I heard one of NPR’s most productive and independent reporters say that it was OK that we didn’t stick to the news. because it could help Trump,” he wrote.
When the New York Post first reported on Hunter Biden’s computer in 2020, NPR issued a notorious explanation for why it wasn’t covering the story. At the time, a popular narrative in liberal media was that the computer was a conceivable Russian disinformation operation. However, its content was later verified through various media outlets that had criticized it in the past.
“We don’t need to waste time on stories that aren’t really stories, and we don’t need to waste listeners and readers’ time on stories that are just natural distractions,” NPR said.
NPR released a statement in 2020 saying it wouldn’t waste its time on Hunter Biden’s computer story, which they said wasn’t real. (Screenshot/NPRPublicEditor/Twitter | Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)
NPR UNDER FIRE OVER HUNTER BIDEN CLAIM LAPTOP STORY HAS BEEN ‘DISCREDITED’ BY US INTELLIGENCE AND MEDIA.
“But it was not a natural distraction, nor a product of Russian disinformation, as dozens of current and former intelligence officials have suggested. The computer belonged to Hunter Biden. Su contents revealed his connection to the corrupt world of multimillion-dollar influence peddling. and the conceivable implications for his father,” Berliner continues.
Berliner also pointed to NPR’s policy on the COVID-19 lab leak theory, which he said the outlet intended to ignore. Similar to Biden’s laptop story, the concept that the virus may have escaped from a virology lab in Wuhan, China. , was branded right-wing before, even though it was all accepted at least as a credible theory in the mainstream media.
“During the pandemic, a number of investigative journalists made compelling, if not conclusive, arguments in favor of leaking the lab. But at NPR, we weren’t willing to pivot or even tiptoe away from the insistence with which we support the herb theory. origin story,” he said.
NPR’s construction in Washington, D. C. (iStock)
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Berliner said one of his colleagues on the science team asked why they were so despised on the theory and that his answer was “bizarre. “
“The colleague compared this to the Bush administration’s baseless argument that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which means we will not be fooled again. But those two occasions were not remotely related. Once again, politics masked the interest and independence that deserve to have guided our work,” he wrote.
Contacted for comment, an NPR spokeswoman referred Fox News Digital to a memo from editor Edith Chapin, in which she said she and her team “disagreed” with Berliner’s assessment of the quality of journalism and NPR’s integrity.
“We are proud to help the remarkable paintings made through our offices and broadcasts cover a wide diversity of difficult stories. We believe that inclusivity — among our people, with our sourcing, and in our global coverage — is key to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world,” he wrote.
“Journalism is a collaborative process. Rigorous debate and self-examination are mandatory elements of our research, and exploration of the diverse perspectives the world offers is mandatory to our public service mission. That is why we have processes in place to determine the accuracy of the facts. And that’s why we adhere to the highest editorial criteria. That’s why we have a criteria and practices editor, as well as a public editor to reposition the public. That’s why we stick to resources, so we can broaden the diversity of perspectives. in our reports. We conduct those internal debates, apply strict editorial criteria, and interact in processes that measure our paintings exactly because we recognize that no one has a “view of nothingness. “
“That said, none of our paintings are immune from scrutiny or criticism. We want to have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the general public, fostering a culture of verbal exchange that breaks down the silos we end up folding. Ideally, we interact in this discussion with respect, with the purpose of editing and strengthening everyone’s paintings. As our emerging strategic direction brings new perspectives on the audiences we ultimately serve and those we don’t serve, we have a legal responsibility to think more rigorously. and measure how our policy delivers on our public service to all audiences.
She concluded that she was proud of the organization’s work and praised NPR as “one of the most trusted news organizations in the country. “
“The explanation for why we remain one of the most trusted news agencies in the country is not that we respect people’s ability to form their own judgment,” he added.
Note: This article was updated with a reaction from NPR.
Hanna Panreck is an editor at Fox News.