NPR's Presidential Rally Coverage: Single Report Vs. Full Context

As I prepare to wrap up my five years as Public Editor, I want to look at some of the broad themes that you — the listeners and readers — have raised repeatedly with my office. No surprise, one of the biggest concerns of the last four years has been NPR's coverage of then-candidate, now president, Donald Trump.

In a bit of convenient timing, many listeners contacted my office last week to express concerns about a brief news report summarizing President Trump's Jan. 14 rally in Milwaukee. I say "listeners" advisedly, because it's not clear to me that most of those who wrote actually heard the report; many were reacting to critical opinion pieces about it by Vox and The Washington Post.

I've made a point during my tenure to focus on NPR's work, not respond