“NPR” senior editor who criticized US radio resigns

Uri Berliner, senior editor at NPR (National Public Radio), from the United States, announced that he resigned on Wednesday (April 17, 2024). In a publication on his account on X (formerly Twitter), the journalist published his resignation letter and said that he does not support the “calls to defund NPR”.

“I respect the integrity of my colleagues and want NPR to prosper and deliver important journalism. But I can’t work in a newsroom where I’m belittled by a new CEO whose differing opinions confirm the problems at NPR that I mention in my Free Press article.”he said, referring to Katherine Maher, who has previously criticized the power of the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution.

Berliner had been suspended from his duties since April 12 after writing the article “I’ve been at NPR for 25 years. Here’s how we lost America’s trust.” on the news website Free Press. The text was published on April 9 and states that the NPR he lost public trust by favoring left-wing ideas.

In it, the award-winning journalist, highly respected in the sector, gives an extensive report on how the radio station adopted a policy of identity and the universe woke after Republican Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

According to Berliner, as of 2023, North American public radio, which also produces online content, has lost conservative, moderate and traditional liberal listeners and readers.

“An open and tolerant spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we do not have an audience that reflects America. That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly controversial news outlet that serves a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it is devastating to both its journalism and its business model.”he stated.

A NPR is a non-profit social media company maintained with state money (resources from US tax payers) and direct donations from its listeners. It produces content that is shared with hundreds of local North American broadcasters.

Headquartered in Washington DC, NPR It is present in several US cities and, until recently, was admired for its balanced tone.

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WOKE CULTURE

Critics of the movement for the use of neutral language in the United States relate the practice to culture woke. The literal meaning of “woke” is “I woke up”. The use of the term by the black community in the USA refers to being alert to racial injustice.

In the last decade, the term has also gained the meaning of “awareness of social and political issues, especially racism”, as defined by the Oxford dictionary. People began to define themselves as woke to identify as part of a liberal culture.

On the other hand, the word has also come to be used by those who disapprove of members of this culture and consider its members “people who talk too much about these topics [sociais]in a way that doesn’t change anything”also according to the Oxford dictionary.

The disapproval targets methods of coercion used to discourage the use of expressions considered homophobic, misogynistic or racist. One of the points criticized is the “cancellation”a type of boycott against anyone who uses these types of terms.

On the one hand, defenders of the approach woke They say that this type of non-violent protest gives visibility to historically oppressed groups and corrects the behavior of privileged sectors that had never reflected on the issue. On the other, there is the accusation that they are “language police”.