He said the radio network’s host Adam Schiff, a senior Democratic congressman and arch-critic of Mr Trump, reported dozens of times during the investigation, but barely mentioned it once it failed to establish collusion.
“It is one thing to swing and miss on a major story… What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection,” Mr Berliner wrote.
“Especially when you expect high standards of transparency from public figures and institutions, but don’t practise those standards yourself.”
By contrast, NPR chose not to cover the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop as reported by the New York Post ahead of the 2020 election, where Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate.
Thousands of emails concerning Hunter Biden’s business dealings were later confirmed by The Washington Post, while the laptop was seized by the FBI in connection with a tax evasion probe into the businessman.
Mr Berliner said he heard “one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists” argue that “it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump”.
Covid-19 origin
NPR also spent years dismissing suggestions that the Covid-19 could have begun with a leak from a Chinese laboratory, insisting its origins were natural.
“We didn’t budge when the energy department – the federal agency with the most expertise about laboratories and biological research – concluded, albeit with low confidence, that a lab leak was the most likely explanation for the emergence of the virus,” Mr Berliner wrote.
One journalist apparently cited George W. Bush’s claim that Iraq had mass weapons of destruction – as a pretext for going to war in 2003 – as the reason they did not accept the explanation.
“But these two events were not even remotely related,” Mr Berliner argued. “Again, politics were blotting out the curiosity and independence that ought to have been driving our work.”
Edith Chapin, NPR’s chief news executive, said: “We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories.
“We believe that inclusion – among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage – is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world.”
She added: “None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole.”
