Uli Berliner quit the station days after he was suspended for an essay that accused the network of a lack of diversity of viewpoints.
A senior editor at a US public broadcaster who accused his employer of liberal bias and sparked a heated debate over journalistic standards has resigned.
Just over a week after National Public Radio (NPR) editor Uli Berliner published an essay accusing the station of fixating on race and identity and lacking “diversity of viewpoints,” He announced his resignation on Wednesday.
“I am leaving NPR, the great American institution I have worked for for 25 years. I do not support the call to defund NPR. I respect the integrity of my colleagues and I am leaving NPR, the great American institution where I have worked for 25 years. I want the company to thrive and do important journalism,” Berliner said in his resignation letter published in X.
“But I can't work in a newsroom where the new CEO despises the disagreements that support the very NPR issues I cited in my Free Press essay.”
My resignation letter to the NPR CEO @kmaher pic.twitter.com/0hafVbcZAK
— Uli Berliner (@uberliner) April 17, 2024
NPR did not respond to a request for comment.
Berliner's resignation comes after NPR on Friday suspended the editor-in-chief for five days without pay for his essay criticizing the station.
In an essay published in the Free Press, Berliner gave a progressive slant to coverage of major news stories, including the coronavirus pandemic and claims that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia. He claimed that the Free Press had lost the public's trust as a result.
“There is a tacit consensus about the story we should pursue and how we should frame it,” Berliner writes.
“There's no friction as story after story comes out about racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, bad things about Israel, and the dire threat of Republican policies. It's almost an assembly line. Something like that.”
Berlinera also pointed to voter registration data showing there are 87 Democrats and no Republicans on staff at the outlet's Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Berliner's essay comes after NPR employees, including recently appointed CEO Katherine Maher, whose views came under scrutiny after old tweets surfaced in which conservatives express progressive views. It prompted a public backlash.
“Asking questions about whether we are fulfilling our mission should always be fair game. Journalism, after all, is nothing if not hard questions,” Maher said, also published online. This was stated in a memo to staff.
“It is extremely disrespectful, hurtful, and humiliating to question whether people are faithfully carrying out their mission based on their perceived identity.”
