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Media Matters
Jan. 17, 2003
Reporting on Ourselves: Can NPR Be Fair About... NPR?
By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin
Ombudsman
National Public Radio
One of the great dilemmas in journalism occurs when your own news organization makes news.
Recently NPR was awarded a large grant from the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation. The grant was for $14 million dollars and it was the size of the award that made a lot of people take notice.
Newspapers around the United States reported this not only because of the amount, but for what it says about how well-regarded NPR is by one of America's major philanthropic organizations at a time when other such funding has been in decline.
NPR reported the grant on Morning Edition and posted the news on the NPR Web site.
'Why is This News?'
Some inside NPR felt that reporting on ourselves in this manner was -- well, unseemly -- not to put too fine a point on it.
One staffer worried that this was "puffery" and "not newsworthy."
A few listeners agreed:
"If any private sector media had run a story like the one you just did, they'd have to run a disclaimer about the self-serving and self-interested nature of the story. I honestly doubt a private sector media entity would run a piece like this in the first place -- most have an editorial board that would prohibit it. Not NPR. You lost a lot of credibility today. I'm disappointed because I expected better of you."
-Tony Nash
But a few wrote to say how delighted they were that NPR had received the grant:
"As a faithful listener and member, I am delighted and will continue to tune in and support your work."
-Suzanne Scott
Not every grant and award received by NPR is newsworthy. But this one was. A certain reticence about appearing too self-congratulatory is traditional in public radio. But the NPR report by Pam Fessler was both newsworthy and journalistically balanced (it didn't focus on NPR). Listeners and even some NPR employees should not be unduly alarmed when this happens.
Reporting on a notable grant or on the awarding of important journalistic honors is a tradition in journalism. When overdone, it sounds self-serving, but for many listeners, it's a way of confirming what they already intuit -- that listening to NPR was a good choice that is now confirmed by others.
How To Handle the 'Bad' News
The harder part comes when NPR or a public radio station comes under public criticism or scrutiny in a manner that needs to be reported.
While there is nothing on the horizon that I am aware of, it is always useful to discuss this before something might arise -- such as criticism from a politician, coming as it often does in the midst of election campaigning. That's when public radio's perceived biases may be deemed a worthy election issue for some candidates. There are also organized campaigns against various media outlets. Recent campaigns against NPR's reporting reached a certain newsworthy decibel level over NPR's Middle East coverage.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have had my arguments with NPR management and staff about this issue of reporting on ourselves.
Some have argued that any reporting by NPR, on NPR, would be suspect from the beginning... that our own reporting could not possibly be considered unbiased. Better to maintain a dignified silence, they say, than risk appearing to be engaged in special pleading, or worse -- emboldening the critics.
My argument is that NPR must be able to report on itself. If not, listeners might legitimately wonder what else we have placed out of bounds because of similar doubts about our ability to report fairly. Rigorous editing, neutral language and hearing other opinions go a long way to convincing the listeners that we can report on ourselves in an unbiased and accurate manner.
There must be something about the issue of self-reporting in the air these days. Bob Steele at the Poynter Institute recently wrote that a number of newspapers are faced with the same dilemma. Read the article.
Reporting Options
Steele notes that one way to avoid the appearance of self-interested reporting was made by The Seattle Times. The Times decided to hire a freelancer to report on its growing business relationships with the other Seattle paper -- The Post-Intelligencer. Steele also mentions a Fox television station in Florida which hired two freelancers to report on a lawsuit involving the station.
Those are inventive (if somewhat costly) solutions. But in my opinion, it still leaves the readers with the impression that the editorial process suddenly becomes less capable when confronted with the task of reporting on itself.
In my experience when news organizations find themselves as "the story," they have to find a way to show their audiences that the level of trust can be maintained -- even enhanced -- by their own reporting. It's not easy to do, and can often exacerbate whatever fault line exists between journalists and management. But not to do it would cause the listeners and readers to doubt the ability of the organization to take a hard look at itself.
And that is a greater risk.
Listeners may contact me at 202-513-3246 or at ombudsman@npr.org.
Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman
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