CPB has awarded $1.9 million to NPR to support 11 new positions in its newsroom.
NPR announced the plan to add the new positions earlier this year, creating a “Backstop” team to provide final review of news stories. The plan includes adding standards editors and content strategy analysts.
“Misinformation and disinformation are threats to our democracy,” CPB President Patricia Harrison said in Friday’s news release. “The American people place great trust in public media’s informational and educational content. We are proud to support NPR’s commitment to maintaining that trust by increasing its editorial oversight, transparency, and inclusion of diverse perspectives across its content.”
The new positions were announced after now-former network editor Uri Berliner penned an essay in April that alleged a lack of ideological diversity among NPR’s news staff. Perceived biases at NPR were then the subject of a U.S. House hearing in May.
In a note sent to staff in May, NPR Editor in Chief Edith Chapin said the new “Backstop” team would not be involved in the inception or development of work but would instead make sure coverage gets a final review.
Berliner’s essay and the feedback it generated were “a factor” in the changes, which NPR had already been considering for a while, Chapin told Current in May.
“You’ve got to strike when the iron is hot,” Chapin said.