For a large portion of my adult life, I was a regular, even devout, listener to America’s National Public Radio. Funded by taxpayers and donors large and small, NPR has been a cornerstone of US liberal culture since it was founded in 1970. The NPR tote bag, given out to listeners who make a donation, has long been a staple in every bien pensant neighbourhood from Boston to Brooklyn to Berkeley.

Sadly, NPR’s transformation from broadcaster for the broadminded, quirky and intellectually curious – hallmarks of the American liberalism of yore – into purveyor of state propaganda is now beyond doubt. In this, it reflects the views of its audience. Today, the American liberal is little more than a faithful Democratic Party hack – closed-minded, dogmatic and terrified of any truth that challenges their worldview.

Last week, veteran NPR editor Uri Berliner published an essay in the Free Press confirming from the inside what had long been blindingly obvious to any outsider. ‘An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR’, Berliner writes. Its journalism has become ‘knee-jerk, activist and scolding’. ‘And now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America.’

The newsroom itself certainly does not reflect America, as Berliner notes. He surveyed the voter registration of his colleagues in Washington, DC: ‘I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.’