From: Eva Rodriguez, Vice President and Executive Editor, NPR
Re: Monthly Content Review
September 2024 session
This cohort, the second one thus far, met for the first time September 30 to review NPR's coverage of the Republican (July) and Democratic (August) national conventions.
The Cohort:
Eric Deggans, TV Critic/Media Analyst, Arts & Culture Desk
Lauren Frayer, International Correspondent
Aisha Harris, Host, Pop Culture Happy Hour
Martin Kaste, National Correspondent
Kyle Mackie, Associate Producer, Team Atlas
Nick Michael, Supervising Editor, Visuals
Estefania Mitre, Visuals Producer, Visuals
Padma Rama, Editor, Washington Desk
Denice Rios, DME, Evenings
Note: DME Jim Kane joined at my request to take notes to allow me to focus entirely on the conversation.
The Content, by the numbers:
NPR aired or published 1,932 pieces of content (not including Newscast) in August 2024.
· By category: 1,551 were news -- produced pieces or two-ways with NPR/Member station reporters or outside experts/newsmakers; 242 were categorized as culture and 114 as music. (25 pieces were uncategorized.)
· By platform: Broadcast shows hosted 1,041 of these pieces, owned and operated digital platforms were vehicles for 684 stories and podcasts accounted for 206. (Content posted exclusively on third-party platforms such as Instagram and YouTube were not discoverable in this data scrape.)
The Topic: NPR's coverage of the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention and whether there were noticeable differences in subjects tackled, number of stories, framing of issues, tone, etc.
The discussion, generally:
The cohort reviewed audio pieces – two-ways and produced pieces – generated by NPR during the RNC (July 15-18) and DNC (Aug. 19-22) and aired on Morning Edition or All Things Considered. NPR aired 27 radio stories and four politics podcasts during the RNC and 24 radio pieces and four politics podcasts during the DNC. The slightly higher story count for the RNC reflected that the RNC started just two days after an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, with additional stories focused on security and the impact of that shocking event on delegates and other attendees.
The coverage of the RNC in general was respectful, fair and contextualized when it came to the president's family, VP nominee JD Vance, speakers (including formal rivals) and the religious themes that ran through many of the days of the event. But a couple of members of the cohort questioned whether we may have been too timid in pointing out some of Trump's more controversial or factually-questionable remarks during his 90-minute plus closing night speech. One person argued it could be seen as watering down the former president's remarks. This led to a conversation about the need to air and publish pieces in which listeners and readers can experience a person's words directly as long as the language meets NPR and FCC standards. (Note: The digital coverage of Trump's convention speech included a fact-check of the former president. Reporters often have more space to go in depth on digital platforms compared to audio work for a show that is, by definition, time constrained.)
One point raised early in the discussion of the DNC was why we didn't cover more thoroughly the concerns of some Democrats -- and criticism from some Republicans -- about the process that led to Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's nominee. The Washington desk, which took the lead in shaping and delivering coverage, incorporated references to the controversy in at least two pieces during the convention. (The desk also produced stories immediately after Biden's withdrawal that addressed concerns within the party about what some felt was a questionable process that led to Harris's speedy nomination.) Most Washington reporters were focused on the planned speeches and activities and the official delegations within the convention — the formal program. Virtually all of the criticism of the nomination "coronation" or "coup" was emanating from outside of the floor of the convention and was more the purview of reporters from other desks who spent more of their time speaking with outside voices. There was agreement that some listeners could have missed the depth or significance of these concerns because they were merely mentioned within pieces that tackled broader issues, rather than featured in their own standalone.
We also discussed NPR coverage of the "non-committed," including "double haters" who were dissatisfied with either candidate and those who lobbied for voters to withhold support for the Democrats because of the administration's stance on the Israel-Hamas war and the significant number of civilian casualties as a result of that conflict. NPR produced several radio pieces on the "uncommitted" movement in Michigan and beyond earlier in the year and we published a digital piece and aired a spot on the last day of the DNC that focused exclusively on these outside-the-arena protestors. A few members of the cohort nevertheless reported seeing complaints on social media about NPR's lack of coverage of this topic. This pointed to the need to cross-promote NPR's work on our owned & operated and third-party platforms so that listeners and readers are aware of the wide range of offerings.
The takeaways:
1. When more than one desk is involved in coverage – especially when one desk takes the lead on one part of an event or development and another takes the lead from a different vantage point – coordination and communication is imperative to ensure NPR is highlighting the most consequential story lines and developments. How can we ensure this happens each and every time? More to come.
2. NPR should flag consistently that we offer additional and often robust coverage on NPR.org and the NPR app. On these two platforms we organize coverage by topic or event so that it's more easily found by visitors. Because of the linear nature of radio coverage listeners who dip in and out for just minutes at a time may have the incorrect impression that NPR is only highlighting one part of the story. We should continue to tag these "one voice" stories with "For more information and different views please visit NPR.org or the NPR app." Another approach: reduce the number of "one voice" pieces and conduct three-ways in which the host moderates a conversation with people on opposite sides of an issue or that features beat reporters that can convey competing views based on on-the-ground reporting.
3. Within NPR/FCC and "taste" standards, allow listeners and readers to hear or read direct quotes from the subject to avoid reporters or hosts having to characterize a person's comments. This allows the audience to hear or read for themselves and to decide for themselves what they think.
Copyright 2024 NPR