The Time is Now, NPR

Contact NPR and affiliates to call for Cass Report coverage

Two bombshell reports have been released this week and this Action Alert seeks to connect them to each other.

On Tuesday, the Free Press published an account from Uri Berliner on how NPR lost America’s trust. In his account, Berliner outlines how NPR shifted from being a trusted news outlet to becoming captured by increasing rigid ideology where both top-down management and bottom-up identity-based affinity groups define language, style-guides, and what can or cannot be reported on. One specific example shared was of the Transgender Coverage Guidance, issued by editorial management, which asks NPR employees to avoid using the term biological sex. It is of considerable note that Berliner has published this piece while still working at NPR.

On Wednesday, the Cass Review Final Report was released in the UK. The report and its findings, which were discussed in depth on a LGBT-CC Spaces on X, have generated widespread international media coverage, some of which can be found on this Genspect thread. Lisa Selin-Davis offers a succinct summary of findings in her Free Press piece here.

In the UK, the Cass Review findings have been covered across all major news outlets, including the BBC. However, in the United States, the New York Times is one of the only legacy media outlets to have written about the story so far.

With increased spotlight on NPR, join us in calling on them to report on the Cass Review and its findings, particularly the implications for the current practices of pediatric gender clinics in the U.S.

Action Alert: Contact NPR to call for reporting on the Cass Review

There are a few different ways to contact NPR. You may choose one, or even better, do all three!

Option 1: Contact NPR Management.  Use this form “NPR Departments - NPR Management” or this form, “Something I heard or read - NPR Management.”  These two forms are almost the same, but it may be worth writing your message to both.

Option 2: Send a story idea. If you are a listener and you have specific programs that you want to send a message to, you can select those programs from a drop-down here.

Option 3: Find and contact your local NPR Affiliate. Search for your local NPR affiliate station here, and click on the station logo to open their website. You can usually find contact information under the “About” tab on websites. It may take a little digging! If you go this route, and you find the contact emails for local affiliates, please share this in the comments to save other people time!  For example, local affiliate WMAC/NE Public Radio is based in Albany, NY, and email addresses can be found here.

Here is a sample outline of what you could write:

1)    I am a concerned _______ (mother, father, lesbian, gay man, transgender adult, teacher, aunt, grandparent, etc) and I am a longtime NPR (or name the local affiliate) listener

2)    I have become concerned in recent years that NPR and its affiliates no longer represent a diversity of thought and viewpoints, and I have lost trust in your reporting

3)    I call upon NPR management (or the specific show, or local NPR affiliate) to report on the findings of the Cass Review, an extensive review of the evidence and outcomes of the Gender Identity Services for minors in the National Health Services of the UK. This story is of international significance with direct implications for the United States, where there is an urgent need for a non-biased review of evidence for these medical interventions for youth

4)    Add your reasons why you care, why you are concerned, and any important points you want to make about the article or the topic itself

5)    End with a statement that you hope that NPR can begin to rebuild lost trust with everyday Americans by showing the courage to report on the findings of the Cass Review, and its implications for pediatric gender clinics in the United States.

As always, if you submit letters, please leave us a note in the comments, and share any links to contact information for local affiliates that may help others! Share the inspiration with others to help it to spread and grow momentum.