NPR suspended senior business editor Uri Berliner last week after his salacious column alleging his workplace’s adoption of liberal values has alienated Americans and broken trust with the public radio organization’s audience.
Berliner confirmed his five-day suspension to NPR on Monday, telling its media reporter that NPR’s top brass chastised him for not seeking approval before penning his Free Press column last week. The suspension, which began on Friday, is without pay and was labeled as a “final warning.”
Berliner admitted he had not gotten approval from NPR brass to write the column, but he did get approval for a TV appearance on NewsNation. His follow-up interview with The New York Times also went without approval—as did Berliner’s interview with NPR confirming his suspension.
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“Talking to an NPR journalist and being fired for that would be extraordinary, I think,” he told NPR.
Berliner accused NPR of lacking “viewpoint diversity,” alleging that its adoption of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies have damaged its journalists’ independence. The screed roiled NPR’s newsroom, prompting a rebuke from editor-in-chief Edith Chapin and a right-wing-led outrage against the outlet and NPR CEO Katherine Maher.
