Legal Insurrection reported last week on the lengthy story written by Uri Berliner, a longtime senior business editor and reporter for NPR, detailing his employer’s transition from being liberally biased to full-scale woke, complete with staffers who were “anguished” over Donald Trump’s presidency as well as the death of George Floyd and what followed.

In the article, which was published by the Bari Weiss-founded Free Press, Berliner noted how the arrival of Donald Trump onto the national political scene in 2016 was a triggering point for NPR’s hardcore leftist newsroom, the D.C. location of which there were 87 Democrats in editorial positions and none who were Republicans:

Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.

[…]

Concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity, I looked at voter registration for our newsroom. In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.

Needless to say, Berliner’s report sparked outrage at NPR headquarters and beyond, with some staffers reportedly feeling betrayed while non-NPR media figures have busily tried to downplay Berliner’s accusations or to outright accuse him of lying.

Meanwhile, NPR chief executive Katherine Maher called Berliner’s write-up “profoundly disrespectful”:

Here’s some of the memo: pic.twitter.com/c9NKlPWNK5

— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) April 12, 2024

A few days later, news broke that Berliner had been suspended without pay for a week for the crime of saying the quiet part out loud:

NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had “lost America’s trust” by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset.

Berliner’s five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported.

[…]

In presenting Berliner’s suspension Thursday afternoon, the organization told the editor he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists. It called the letter a “final warning,” saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR’s policy again. Berliner is a dues-paying member of NPR’s newsroom union but says he is not appealing the punishment.

[…]

Berliner says he did not get permission from NPR to speak with me for this story but that he was not worried about the consequences: “Talking to an NPR journalist and being fired for that would be extraordinary, I think.”

NPR did some soul searching and found the guy who told the truth about what NPR has become was the problem. https://t.co/Wq06ZkVRSU

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 16, 2024

Their response to him saying dissent isn’t tolerated at NPR was to suspend him for criticizing their political agenda.

Taxpayer-funded. https://t.co/g79xp3L5lq

— Sunny (@sunnyright) April 16, 2024

Incredible.

He wrote a piece suggesting that the organization doesn’t take criticism seriously, is dominated by activists, & doesn’t engage in any self-reflection.

The CEO, who has a history of supporting activism, then responds by ignoring the substance and suspending him. https://t.co/CRasfq2igA

— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 16, 2024

Adding to the turmoil at NPR are tweets from Katherine Maher that have resurfaced and which prove that she is the epitome of a woke, self-loathing leftist. Here are a few examples:

I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property.

— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) May 31, 2020

(Also to be clear, I am not conflating provocateurs with protestors. Instead, saying this should not be the thing anyone sheds tears over. Cheesecakes are insured; the right to be black and breathe is without measure.)

— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) May 31, 2020

In response to Berliner’s story and the backlash that followed, George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley, who himself is no stranger to criticism from left-wing media outlets, hit the nail on the head:

…Again, it is reminiscent of what we have seemed in higher education where faculties have been purged of conservative, libertarian, or dissenting voices. NPR obviously has a right to be slanted and bias. It does not have a right to public funding in presenting such coverage.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 16, 2024

Amen.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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