When Uri Berliner started his career at the National Public Radio 25 years ago, he did this with a sense of pride and the knowledge that his stories in all corners of the nation would be heard.
“One of the things I really found a bit inspiring was that if I worked on a story, there might be a farmer in Nebraska on his tractor in the morning to listen to, you know, a story I worked on,” he told The Daily Mail.
“That was one of the reasons why I wanted to work at NPR because of the reach of all types of people. But you know, I don't know that farmer is still listening. '
Last year Berliner wrote an article with the title: 'How we Lost America's Trust'.
The detailed how NPR was obsessed with diversity and progressive narrative corners, lost his way to journalism and on the road shed millions of listeners.
On Thursday, his article was submitted as evidence in a hearing of the Subcommissie DOGE, in which Republicans argued for defending public broadcasters NPR and PBS for becoming 'radical left-wing ultrasound chambers'.
The Republican chairman, rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, said, “We believe that you can all hate us on your own dime.”
People participate in a meeting to rely on the congress to protect the financing for PBS and NPR, outside the NPR headquarters in Washington, DC on March 26
Uri Berliner worked at NPR for 25 years and wrote a viral article: 'How we Lost America's Trust'
During the hearing, NPR Chief Executive Katherine Maher admitted that the network was 'since' in the non -strive of the Hunter Biden -laptop story in 2020, and she accused her former social media messages from Donald Trump a 'racist' and a 'sociopath'.
NPR is partially financed via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which was authorized by the congress in 1967.
Every year the CPB receives $ 500 million in taxpayers that it distributes to NPR and PBS.
Berliner resigned as an editor after he was suspended about his article last year.
After the hearing of the congress, he thought about how NPR had reached this point.
“In 2011 our audience was quite closely divided between people who said they were liberal moderates and conservatives, perhaps a bit left,” he explained.
'By 2023 it was six to one progressives and I think the programming has been adjusted fairly clearly to them. People in the middle, the moderates, certainly the conservatives, have left. They are just gone and they have lost that audience. '
He added: 'I think it wasn't suddenly, it was gradually and just built on itself. One of the things was Donald Trump, when he won in 2016, I think the Newsroom was amazed. People were desperate and it was unexpected.
“I mean, I think two things were going on. One was that people were destroyed personally, but we also missed the story. We missed the support that Trump had. '
President and CEO of the National Public Radio Katherine Maher testifies during a hearing of the Huis Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the US Capitol on March 26 in Washington, DC
Berliner said it was clear at that time that NPR 'lived in a bubble' and 'had to make better contact with the rest of the country'.
But that message was not heard, and stories telling and stories became 'very fixed and progressive', including around transgender issues, climate change and COVID-19 School closures, “he said.
“It seemed like wrong, and there I was out, and I thought it was harmful to us,” said Berliner.
“I noticed that the way our audience shifted, lost a whole stretch of the country, and that told me something.”
In the meantime, the leadership of NPR promoted diversity as the 'North Star' of the organization, making it “the crucial thing, even above journalism,” he said.
“I think a lot of the Covid cover was really misleading, and I think I was not willing to consider the idea that it came from a lab and science there that supported that possibility.”
Republican rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused NPR and PBS of Bias. “We believe that you can all hate us on your own dime,” she said
Whether the farmer will coordinate again in Nebraska, it is always possible.
“I hope so,” said Berliner. “I have not seen any real proof of that. But look, I always have to be optimistic. I think there are still good people who work there.
'I just think they really have to take a lot more into account with the search for soul. And I think they should hire people with different perspectives.
“I would like to emphasize this more than anything – that NPR, when I was there, really suffered from a lack of point of view diversity, with people with different political points of view and people who want to express different points of view.”
A consensus developed because “we were a kind of ultrasound room,” said Berliner.
He suggested that NPR would go out and actively recruit people with different perspectives, such as journalists who went to a religious institution, grew up in another part of the country or in the army.
“There is a way to tackle that, but I don't think they did that,” he said. “I have not seen any proof of that.”
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia asks witnesses during a hearing for the Commission for Supervision and Government Reform, in Washington, DC on March 26
Rep. Garcia speaks for poster from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during a hearing of the Huis Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the US Capitol on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC
Berliner said that the hearing of the congress had been a bit on 'watching a WWE match'.
“The Republicans would aggressively attack and Democrats would want the conversation about cuddly animals and local news in Alaska, and I think we got that,” he said.
“I don't think something has been solved. I think both parties are a bit locked up in their position. '
Berliner offered a different solution: instead of fighting NPR against defundering, the active public should refuse money and become completely transparent about his progressive political views.
“NPR says that they receive around four, maybe five percent of their financing, either directly from the CPB or indirectly through the member stations when they buy NPR programming,” he explained.
Of the budget of around $ 300 million from NPR, that would come true $ 15 million.
Berliner said that the organization could collect that money elsewhere.
“And it would send a message with the text:” We are alone, we are independent, “he said.
“I think they could do that. It would be an opportunity for fundraising for them to say: “We are a progressive network at this time of Trump.” And I think there are rich, left leaning people who may want to support them in that effort. '
The head office for National Public Radio in Washington, DC
Berliner acknowledged that there would be 'only fall -out' for small national radio stations if all public financing was lost, but the congress could dedicate a smaller amount specifically for them.
In the meantime, NPR could get more money from business sponsorship, which already form a large part of its income.
Between 2020 and 2024, the weekly listeners fell from 60 million to 42 million.
It is unlikely that an openly progressive network seduces listeners in all corners of America.
“But I don't think they will get that now,” said Berliner. “I think that's the problem.”
