A yearslong push to diversify NPR’s staff, in part to lure listeners beyond its aging and predominantly white audience, hasn’t generated the listenership boost some executives had hoped for. But the effort, which NPR’s former chief executive called its “North Star,” had been a point of contention within the organization, as detailed by The New York Times in their, "Inside the Crisis at NPR". Upon departing the organization, longtime editor Uri Berliner, said NPR’s leaders had placed race and identity as “paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace” - at the expense of diverse political viewpoints, and at the risk of losing its audience. These accusations by Berliner were leveled in an essay published in The Free Press, "I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.". Still, some critics of NPR believe NPR’s “North Star” strategy has failed for a completely different reason: It has not taken ideological diversity into account. Tim Eby, who was the general manager of St. Louis Public Radio until 2020, said in an interview that while it made sense for NPR to seek an audience that looked more like the country, he wasn’t sure its approach was the right one. And its story selection has on occasion left it open to criticism that its focus on race and identity has affected its news judgment. There have been stories, for instance, on how to "decolonize your bookshelf” and “thin privilege."
"Making matters more complicated: NPR’s unusual leadership structure. NPR’s reach is the result of its hundreds of member stations around the country, many of which both pay NPR for its shows and produce their own. But the leaders of those member stations - who control NPR’s board - often have conflicting priorities and compete with the network for donors, making changes more difficult. Together, the challenges raise questions about the long-term vitality of NPR, one of the country’s most storied and far-reaching media organizations. The demographics of the country being what they are, it goes without saying that if you want to have a sustainable business going forward, you have to reach new audiences,” he said. “I think the question is how you’re doing that. I think they’ve overcompensated on attempts to reach audiences that are not going to listen," he added." But NPR’s troubles extend far beyond concerns about its journalism. Internal documents reviewed by The Times and interviews with more than two dozen current and former public radio executives show how profoundly the nonprofit is struggling to succeed in the fast-changing media industry. It is grappling with a declining audience and falling revenue - and internal conflict about how to fix it."
A counterpoint, made by ex-editorial assistant Alicia Montgomery suggests that there's a different lesson to be considered here. In "The Real Story Behind NPR’s Current Problems" in the pages of Slate, Montgomery states; "I leaned on the positive, and the belief that NPR was great and could be better. So I was a part of a lot of the “Let’s make this diversity thing work” efforts that rankled Uri. I remember leading one session he attended, when he spoke out to insist that NPR’s diversity problem had a lot to do with issues beyond race, like class, region, education, and political perspective. He was right, and I told him so. But maybe the stove-piping meant that Uri didn’t see the pattern in those efforts that started wearing my spirit down. Some big news in the world or an internal failure would spark a wave of carefully stage-managed soul-searching from leadership, and ad hoc committees of well-intentioned volunteers would be assembled to write lists of recommendations. Then those recommendations would be politely received, filed away, and forgotten. And two or three years later, some new crisis would start the cycle all over again. In my experience, those multihyphenated identity groups or task forces were disproportionately full of junior staffers. Because many veterans - except for true-believing tryhards like me - understood that they were a waste of time." Photo credit: Erin Schaff
