Theres a blockbuster article at Bari Weisss website The Free Press today‚ headlined Ive Been at NPR for 25 Years. Heres How We Lost Americas Trust. Will the writer still be at NPR after this article makes the rounds?Its Uri Berliner‚ a Senior Business Editor for the public radio giant. He begins by establishing that he';s a standard NPR-type liberal‚ but he';s concerned about the current tilt of NPR';s audience:Back in 2011‚ although NPRs audience tilted a bit to the left‚ it still bore aresemblance to America at large. Twenty-six percent of listeners described themselves as conservative‚ 23 percent as middle of the road‚ and 37 percent as liberal.By 2023‚ the picture was completely different: only 11 percent described themselves as very or somewhat conservative‚ 21 percent as middle of the road‚ and 67 percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal. We werent just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals.Berliner thinks NPR used to be more balanced (we';ll agree to disagree)‚ but it all went awry with Trump‚ and collusion:Schiff‚ who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee‚ became NPRs guiding hand‚ its ever-present muse. By my count‚ NPR hostsinterviewed Schiff25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations‚ Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.But when theMueller reportfound no credible evidence of collusion‚ NPRs coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.Berliner also found this never-admit-error tendency with the Hunter Biden laptop (a ";pure distraction";) and the Covid lab-leak theory‚ which had too much ";Wuhan flu"; energy. One colleague on NPR';s Science Desk ";compared it to the Bush administrations unfounded argument that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction‚ apparently meaning we wont get fooled again.";But it gets really interesting when he turns to NPR CEO John Lansing and how he reacted after George Floyd';s death in police custody in 2020: When it comes to identifying and ending systemic racism‚ Lansing wrote in a companywide article‚ we can be agents of change. Listening and deep reflection are necessary but not enough. They must be followed by constructive and meaningful steps forward. I will hold myself accountable for this.And we were told thatNPR itselfwas part of the problem. In confessional language he said the leaders of public media‚ starting with memust be aware of how we ourselves have benefited from white privilege in our careers. We must understand the unconscious bias we bring to our work and interactions. And we must commit ourselvesbody and soulto profound changes in ourselves and our institutions.DEI broke out at NPR‚ complete with ";affinity groups"; for employees by race and sexuality‚ and the DEI lingo police:In a document called NPR Transgender Coverage Guidancedisseminated by news managementwere asked to avoid the termbiological sex. (The editorial guidance was prepared with the help of a former staffer of the National Center for Transgender Equality.) The mindset animates bizarre storieson howThe Beatlesandbird namesare racially problematic‚ and others that are alarmingly divisive;justifying looting‚ with claims that fears aboutcrime are racist; and suggesting that Asian Americans who oppose affirmative action have beenmanipulated bywhite conservatives.Berliner thought NPR didn';t have enough fairness and balance of viewpoints. ";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."; Click on how Berliner decided to crusade a little inside NPR: So on May 3‚ 2021‚ I presented the findings at an all-hands editorial staff meeting. When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans‚ the response wasnt hostile. It was worse. It was met with profound indifference. I got a few messages from surprised‚ curious colleagues. But the messages were of the oh wow‚ thats weird variety‚ as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star.In a follow-up email exchange‚ a top NPR news executive told me that she had been skewered for bringing up diversity of thoughtwhen she arrived at NPR. So‚ she said‚ I want to be careful how we discuss this publicly.For years‚ I have been persistent. When I believe our coverage has gone off the rails‚ I have written regular emails to top news leaders‚ sometimes even having one-on-one sessions with them. On March 10‚ 2022‚ I wrote to a top news executive about the numerous times we described the controversialeducation bill in Floridaas the Dont Say Gay bill when it didnt even use the wordgay. I pushed to set the record straight‚ and wrote another time to ask why we keep using that word that many Hispanics hateLatinx. On March 31‚ 2022‚ I was invited to a managers meeting to present my observations.Throughout these exchanges‚ no one has ever trashed me. Thats not the NPR way. People are polite. But nothing changes. So Ive become a visible wrong-thinker at a place I love. Its uncomfortable‚ sometimes heartbreaking.Even so‚ out of frustration‚ on November 6‚ 2022‚ I wrote to the captain of ship North StarCEO John Lansingabout the lack of viewpoint diversity and asked if we could have a conversation about it. I got no response‚ so I followed up four days later. He said he would appreciate hearing my perspective and copied his assistant to set up a meeting. On December 15‚ the morning of the meeting‚ Lansings assistant wrote back to cancel our conversation because he was under the weather. She said he was looking forward to chatting and a new meeting invitation would be sent. But it never came.I wont speculate about why our meeting never happened. Being CEO of NPR is a demanding job with lots of constituents and headaches to deal with. But whats indisputable is that no one in a C-suite or upper management position has chosen to deal with the lack of viewpoint diversity at NPR and how that affects our journalism.Berliner is holding out hope now that Lansing stepped down as CEO and NPR selected Katharine Maher (not a journalist) as the new CEO. Most of us have no optimism about a Chris Licht-ian move toward fairness.