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NPR Public Editor The Public Editor is the public's representative to NPR, serving as an independent source regarding NPR's programming.

NPR Public Editor

WITH POYNTER'S KELLY MCBRIDE

Sunday February 28, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Boy Scout Story Should Have Mentioned Gays

by Alicia C. Shepard

February 28, 2010 • Recently, NPR ran a story highlighting the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts. But the piece never mentioned the funding controversy that erupted in the early 1990's over the Boy Scouts discriminating against gays. Or that their o...

Wednesday February 24, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Ombudsman Recovery

by Alicia C. Shepard

February 24, 2010 • The Ombudsman's recovery from major shoulder surgery is taking a little longer than expected. However, she has appeared on two NPR member stations this week. You can listen to those interviews here: Radioactivity with Robert Lorei WMNF (Tampa,...

Thursday February 18, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Please Don't Spoil the Olympics

by Caitlin Huey-Burns

February 18, 2010 • Every two years, the complaint comes: Please don't ruin the Olympics by airing the results before we can watch the event on TV. But it's important to remember that NPR is, first and foremost, a news organization.

Monday February 8, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Where's the Ombudsman?

by Alicia C. Shepard

February 8, 2010 • The Ombudsman will be out of the office until Feb. 22. Meanwhile, feel free to listen to her appearance on WAMU on Feb. 8.

Thursday February 4, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Activist Historian Howard Zinn's Obit Causes a Firestorm

by Alicia C. Shepard

February 4, 2010 • Writing obituaries is a challenge to capture a person's life —warts and all —in a limited space. Hundreds in NPR's audience thought the network did a bad job on activist historian Howard Zinn's remembrance on Jan. 28. They acknowledged that the ...

Tuesday February 2, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Who Exactly is the Middle Class?

by Alicia C.. Shepard

February 2, 2010 • The term 'middle class' is thrown around a lot. Some NPR listeners wonder just who is the middle class. We set out to find out and learned that it's most of us.

Thursday January 28, 2010

Fairness & Accuracy

NPR's Mideast Coverage

January 28, 2010 • NPR pays an independent journalist to evaluate its Israeli-Palestinian coverage quarterly. The reports will appear on the Ombudsman's site, but are not edited by the Ombudsman.

Monday January 25, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Gruesome Haiti Photo: A Need for Context

by Alicia C. Shepard

January 25, 2010 • Controversial photos of dead bodies are a standard part of covering any major disasaster. NPR wrestled with one jarring image of a man walking over or on dead bodies. With a strong photo caption, it might have been more clear. The photo needed to ...

Friday January 22, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Is NPR Not Covering Obama's Slip in the Polls?

by Lori Grisham

January 22, 2010 • A conservative media watchdog site, newsbusters.org, criticized NPR for not reporting on a poll that showed how President Obama had slipped in the polls. The Ombudsman's office looked into this and found something different.

Wednesday January 20, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Is Looting a Loaded Word?

by Alicia C. Shepard

January 20, 2010 • Some listeners have expressed concerns about how NPR uses the word 'looting' and another questions the use of Richter Scale to measure the earthquake in Haiti.

Friday January 15, 2010

NPR Public Editor

Covering the Big Story

by Alicia C. Shepard

January 15, 2010 • When the earthquake hit Haiti at 4:53 p.m. on Jan. 12, no news organization was prepared to cover Haiti's biggest quake in two centuries. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at what NPR did when the quake news broke 53 minutes into the first hour of A...

Friday January 8, 2010

NPR Public Editor

OMBUDSMAN: Loud Protests on 'Tea Party' Cartoon

by Alicia C. Shepard

January 8, 2010 • Two months ago, NPR ran an animated political cartoon making fun of Tea Party activists who are deeply critical of the direction President Obama is leading the country. This week someone discovered it and the cartoon suddenly went viral, causing c...

Monday December 28, 2009

NPR Public Editor

Checking It Out to Avoid Hidden Surprises

by Alicia C. Shepard

December 28, 2009 • NPR ran a profile of a mother who tirelessly fights the Veteran's Administration to get needed equipment for her son, Staff Sgt. Jose Pequeno, who was severely injured in Iraq. A phone tip minutes after the story ran on All Things Considered indic...

Thursday December 24, 2009

NPR Public Editor

Congratulating Everyone

by Caitlin Huey-Burns

December 24, 2009 • Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan recently interviewed two men representing different sides of the same-sex marriage debate. At the end of the show, he congratulated the man who crafted a referendum to defeat gay marriage in Maine but didn't offe...

Friday December 18, 2009

NPR Public Editor

Why Do You Call Him Mr. Obama?

by Lori Grisham

December 18, 2009 • Many listeners think it's disrespectful for NPR to refer to President Obama as 'Mr. Obama' in the second reference. But NPR has a decades-old policy dating back to Gerald Ford to refer to the current president as 'Mr.' or 'the president' in the s...

Why Do You Call Him Mr. Obama?

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