Has NPR lost America’s trust?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:eople who were so bothered by coverage of the BLM movement etc. never really were as left or even moderate as they thought they were. They want everything to be all-white all the time again.


This is a ridiculous statement. Covering BLM movement isn't the problem. It is the biased reporting that's the problem. It's the hyper focus on stories about marginalized communities that has become tedious and repetitive. It is the chatty, talk show host style of many of the hosts that is annoying.

Some people probably like these changes and that NPR needs to modernize. However, NPR listeners have dropped from 60 million to 40 million and sponsors have declined. Clearly, lots of listeners don't like what they are offering.l

I like hearing the occasional stories of people with different perspectives. Mixed with coverage across the political spectrum.

And it has been annoyingly chatty forever. CarTalk was the worst.

[Anonymous]

I like hearing occasional stories of people with different perspectives as well. And I don't mind chatty hosts on shows like CarTalk and WWDT. But on All things Consider and Morning Edition, I want mostly unbiased news delivered by hosts that sound serious.

Again, NPR has supporters who really like the programming. They listen and donate. This thread is more focused on why NPR has lost listeners and why one of its top journalists went public with concerns about the organization. If NPR were thriving, this thread wouldn't exist. But its not. And the organization seems unable or unwilling to investigate the problems. Instead, NPR seems to content to attribute the problems on COVID and continue on its current course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NPR has been pretty open-minded and tolerant for decades.

Claims that NPR is far left show how far right MAGA has pushed American politics.

People who were so bothered by coverage of the BLM movement etc. never really were as left or even moderate as they thought they were. They want everything to be all-white all the time again.

Huh? The last thing I want is all-white programming. And focusing on hyper-left-wing identity politics isn’t even something most non-whites want! Like why is this so hard for my fellow liberals to understand? Do you actually think that the average black or Hispanic listener just wants to hear this kind of thing over unbiased news coverage?

NPR is playing to a very small elite audience that’s increasingly annoying to the majority of the country, regardless of race. That’s why their audience is faltering and longtime listeners are no longer interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like hearing occasional stories of people with different perspectives as well. And I don't mind chatty hosts on shows like CarTalk and WWDT. But on All things Considered and Morning Edition, I want mostly unbiased news delivered by hosts that sound serious.

Again, NPR has supporters who really like the programming. They listen and donate. This thread is more focused on why NPR has lost listeners and why one of its top journalists went public with concerns about the organization. If NPR were thriving, this thread wouldn't exist. But its not. And the organization seems unable or unwilling to investigate the problems. Instead, NPR seems to content to attribute the problems on COVID and continue on its current course.

But All Things Considered isn't really a news program - it's commentary on a wide variety of subjects, including some news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NPR has been pretty open-minded and tolerant for decades.

Claims that NPR is far left show how far right MAGA has pushed American politics.

People who were so bothered by coverage of the BLM movement etc. never really were as left or even moderate as they thought they were. They want everything to be all-white all the time again.

Huh? The last thing I want is all-white programming. And focusing on hyper-left-wing identity politics isn’t even something most non-whites want! Like why is this so hard for my fellow liberals to understand? Do you actually think that the average black or Hispanic listener just wants to hear this kind of thing over unbiased news coverage?

NPR is playing to a very small elite audience that’s increasingly annoying to the majority of the country, regardless of race. That’s why their audience is faltering and longtime listeners are no longer interested.

This is so important. People are so annoyed that Trump will be president again. I absolutely blame the constant identity politics and silencing of actual discourse.

[Anonymous]

In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NPR has been pretty open-minded and tolerant for decades.

Claims that NPR is far left show how far right MAGA has pushed American politics.

People who were so bothered by coverage of the BLM movement etc. never really were as left or even moderate as they thought they were. They want everything to be all-white all the time again.

Huh? The last thing I want is all-white programming. And focusing on hyper-left-wing identity politics isn’t even something most non-whites want! Like why is this so hard for my fellow liberals to understand? Do you actually think that the average black or Hispanic listener just wants to hear this kind of thing over unbiased news coverage?

NPR is playing to a very small elite audience that’s increasingly annoying to the majority of the country, regardless of race. That’s why their audience is faltering and longtime listeners are no longer interested.

+1 exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

DEI = Didn't Earn It.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

DEI = Didn't Earn It.

^ evidence that we need more DEI, not less.

Until it’s no longer notable that there are X number of stories about non-white Christian men then we need more of those stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

DEI = Didn't Earn It.

^ evidence that we need more DEI, not less.

Until it’s no longer notable that there are X number of stories about non-white Christian men then we need more of those stories.

Not if the people who need to hear them —and I agree some people need to hear these stories—are tuning out because of overload. Sometimes beating people over the head is less effective or self-defeating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

DEI = Didn't Earn It.

^ evidence that we need more DEI, not less.

Until it’s no longer notable that there are X number of stories about non-white Christian men then we need more of those stories.

Not if the people who need to hear them —and I agree some people need to hear these stories—are tuning out because of overload. Sometimes beating people over the head is less effective or self-defeating.

It takes repetition to normalize it. We have had decades of just white Christian male coverage.

“ And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.” -RGB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

DEI = Didn't Earn It.

^ evidence that we need more DEI, not less.

Until it’s no longer notable that there are X number of stories about non-white Christian men then we need more of those stories.

Not if the people who need to hear them —and I agree some people need to hear these stories—are tuning out because of overload. Sometimes beating people over the head is less effective or self-defeating.

It takes repetition to normalize it. We have had decades of just white Christian male coverage.

“ And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.” -RGB

Again, if your audience tunes out after the umpteenth earnest or accusatory story, because you never gave them an occasional breather or something they could relate to (say, an occasional story focusing on those dreaded male Christians)… then you haven’t actually made any progress.

Those dreaded male Christians quickly understood that you despise them (it does kinda come out in your posts), and that’s the reason you’re not giving them any programming or air time.

And now that they’ve left, you’re accomplishing nothing in the way of enlightening those dreaded male Christians.

And soon you’re just speaking into an echo chamber that already agrees with you. Also that echo chamber is a much smaller audience.

—a female liberal who’s worried this stuff is why we might lose the election

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

DEI = Didn't Earn It.

^ evidence that we need more DEI, not less.

Until it’s no longer notable that there are X number of stories about non-white Christian men then we need more of those stories.

Not if the people who need to hear them —and I agree some people need to hear these stories—are tuning out because of overload. Sometimes beating people over the head is less effective or self-defeating.

It takes repetition to normalize it. We have had decades of just white Christian male coverage.

“ And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.” -RGB

What an idiotic quote. Replacing male supremacy with female supremacy is just as sexist.

I’m fine with more diversity, but not more ideology. We are getting the latter. Diversity in an of itself isn’t always virtuous or better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

I am black woman who's been listening to NPR for 30 years. I'm sorry, they have not changed, you have. I don't see them as diverse AT ALL. Every time there is a black show, they cancel it. That's been happening over the last 10 years.

They haven't changed. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2021, John Lansing, CEO of NPR, described the "North Star" project as follows: "that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that “we needed to double down our efforts” in diversity, equity and inclusion. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Diversity is the “North Star” of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it “filters through everything that we do with all of our work.” Again--DEI was *the top priority at NPR*. Not an initiative. This was why every single story on ATC and ME felt like a DEI story; because the filter was *literally* applied. Over the two-year period following, they lost ~20M listeners--and gained no "diverse" listeners. These are just facts. They did a strategy, and their listening audience hated it. (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/)

I am black woman who's been listening to NPR for 30 years. I'm sorry, they have not changed, you have. I don't see them as diverse AT ALL. Every time there is a black show, they cancel it. That's been happening over the last 10 years.

They haven't changed. Sorry.

Give Candace Owens a try. She gets good ratings and has had her own show for years.