How NPR became a national laughing stock

The smug world of public radio in the United States received a smart slap in the face last week. It was delivered by Uri Berliner, a long-time NPR reporter, who went public with his inside story of how NPR cooks the news. NPR responded by suspending him and then securing his resignation. As this unfolded, NPR’s recently appointed president, Katherine Maher, faced ridicule for her own past statements.

National Public Radio, NPR, is a cousin (or perhaps a grandchild) of the BBC. It was created in 1970, just shy of 50 years after the Beeb started sending its signals into the stratosphere. By the late 1970s, it had established itself as a staple of the college-educated American middleclass, with its afternoon news programme, All Things Considered, and its wake-up programme, Morning Edition. Just as the BBC became known for a standard of speech, NPR became known for an ‘NPR voice’. It is an empathy-saturated hush with floral accents.