Kelly McBride

1 month ago | editorandpublisher.com | Kelly McBride

Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2025 10:57 am Government workers, teachers and green card holders across the country are asking editors to remove their names — and the record of their support for causes now targeted by the Trump administration — from old stories. Journalists from around the country routinely ask me for ethics help. In the last month, I’ve heard from the editor of a gay newspaper, several alternative publications, a newsroom that covers immigrant issues, student newspapers and...

1 month ago | nhpr.org | Kelly McBride

I got a lot of responses to my recent newsletter that argued that most protests don't make for compelling news stories. The NPR audience members who wrote in vociferously disagreed with me, in dozens and dozens of letters and social media comments. Some believed I was urging NPR to shirk its journalistic duties, possibly as a way of appeasing the president. Many thought that when I said the protests weren't compelling as a news story, I meant that the reasons behind the protests weren't newsworthy.

1 month ago | nhpr.org | Kelly McBride

At the Public Editor's Office, we routinely hear from audience members who take issue with NPR headlines. Vocal about their discontent, they let us know when they believe a headline was poorly framed or unfair. Sometimes, a keen-eyed reader will notice that a headline has changed, and ask why. Headlines do a lot of work. They serve as entry points into NPR's journalism on the internet. And they help online search engines match stories to users.

1 month ago | npr.org | Kelly McBride

Whenever protests break out across the country, we hear from audience members who are dissatisfied with the coverage. It happened during demonstrations in 2020 after the George Floyd murder. It happened a year ago when college students began protesting Israel's military campaign in Gaza. And since President Donald Trump was sworn in earlier this year, we've been fielding complaints about NPR's coverage of the most recent round of demonstrations.

2 months ago | npr.org | Kelly McBride

Interviewers prepare so bias doesn't seep in Good questions are the most basic tools in a reporter's kit. Yet, journalists sometimes go in unprepared. This has consequences. Fair reporting starts with fair questions. There are times when journalists will need to ask hard questions that sources don't want to answer. There are times when journalists might personally disagree with a source's point of view or even know that the source is lying or bending the truth.