NPR business editor Uri Berliner earned a five-day suspension without pay from his bosses this week for having violated the network’s policy prohibiting unauthorized work for other outlets. Warned that if he did it again, he could be fired, Berliner made the next move and resigned.
There’s no doubt that Berliner is guilty. He acknowledges that he did not clear the writing of his essay in the Free Press, “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust,” which napalms NPR’s reputation and the news standards of his NPR colleagues. The piece enjoyed an extended run on X, where everybody who hates NPR and everybody who worships it queued up to debate it.
But as is often the case when employers punish their workers, Berliner’s transgression was not as much about what he did (write an outside piece without permission) but what he said.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here