ok, i think we should be skeptical of this piece of data and require this much rigor before we believe the assertion, but then let’s also require the same from the other direction. we don’t have academic peer reviewed papers on why npr is losing listeners either.
either we allow speculation and trust individual anecdotes or we don’t.
all i see is that yes, media across all political spectrums are seeing downturns. the rest of the speculation is just copium by people who believe they know more than insiders who have decades of experience and institutional knowledge.
>we don’t have academic peer reviewed papers on why npr is losing listeners either.
No, but we don't need any for the main complaint of the "veteran editor": not that NPR loses listeners period, but that it specifically loses listeners from one side of the political spectrum much more.
So it's not about "why listeners leave?" as much as "why the listenership got as skewed?". For the latter question, "because there has been an increased liberal and Dem partisan and viewpoint bias" can both be factually verified, and seems like an adequate answer.
either we allow speculation and trust individual anecdotes or we don’t.
all i see is that yes, media across all political spectrums are seeing downturns. the rest of the speculation is just copium by people who believe they know more than insiders who have decades of experience and institutional knowledge.