Dear Friends,
This declaration won’t come as a surprise to you, but in all my decades at KUNC this is the most polarized political climate I have ever experienced. Partisans on both sides of the presidential campaign are increasingly sending notes to the station encouraging the type of journalism found on various cable channels.
As I have attempted to convey for several years, I don’t have a problem with the overt political leanings of “cable news channels.” As publicly held companies they have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. They have taken on political identities in their programming to accomplish that.
Of course, we pride ourselves on working to be beholden only to the listening audience, without the profit pressure. Thanks to our members for making that possible.
But what is the future of our type of news reporting? That’s a question that comes up more and more often. NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride examined that question in a recent column that I would encourage you to take a few minutes to read.
After you have read it, please share your thoughts about Kelly’s analysis and how you hear reporting on KUNC. You can reach out to me directly at 970-350-0806 or Neil.Best@kunc.org.
Warm Regards,
