The NPR Politics Podcast

Come away with thoughts of how media use to cover news…

I’ve just approached my 4th year of listening to this podcast every day. A quick, informative way to hear what’s happening daily in this crazy political landscape we live in. Thank you to all your reporters for keeping us up to date.

NPR is a good journalism provider of news. But, since 2016 the reporting out of context or “opinions” in a non-opinion space has expanded year on year which is a turn off for journalism junkies like me.

After years of listening and supporting NPR politics, and as we go into Election Day, I’m expressing my disbelief at how flimsy this “analysis” has become. Being a nearly daily podcast, you could have gone deep into the policies of Project 2025. You could, as suggested on a recent On the Media segment, gone into the actual parallels of fascist rhetoric, matched by suggested policy by the Republican Party. If deemed to be too “imbalanced” you could have dug far more deeply into the policies of the Harris campaign, which you demanded and criticized a lack of, and then only cursorily discussed once released. The main coverage has been the horse race, and micro changes in polls, sometime directly and sometimes though talking about “voters.” You frequently jump to “analysis,” before discussing the actual subjects. That may make you feel smart, attempting to predict how something will be “spun” but when you do that as your primary analysis, you aren’t doing anything at all. It has the flavor of witty banter about the napkins at a dinner party and what people will say about them while the house is on fire. I’m sure my criticisms will be dismissed out of hand. But I’m in my late 40s, grew up on NPR, and had been instilling the next generation (my kids) with that same love. I find myself listening less and less to NPR programming (still love my local affiliate WNYC) and less inclined to pledge my support every year. Why? The quality of reporting has plummeted. You don’t need to be biased. You just need actual reporting, which is not, “I interviewed someone about how mad they are at Biden about the price of eggs, which they said were $12 a dozen, which isn’t true but did I inform them, no. That’s just their FEELING about it, so I’m reporting that FEELING.” That informs nothing and no one. Just gives a platform for feeling to carry the day, which listeners then have feelings about and on and on. I gave this election cycle another go, but every episode comes out, I see what you’re discussing, sigh and think, should I even bother listening. I know what they’re going to say and it’s going to be empty and vapid. I’m only writing this rant because I actually want NPR to succeed and flourish. This isn’t the way.