NPR Suspends Editor Over Critical Essay
NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner has been suspended for one week from the public media organization after writing an essay for the Substack publication The Free Press without seeking permission from NPR first as required by his contract. However, it was the content of the piece that’s
caused controversy as Berliner criticized the organization saying it “had allowed liberal bias to affect its coverage.” This comes as there is renewed interest among conservative legislators in challenging the use of federal funds for public media with allegations of editorial bias as a primary reason to end federal underwriting of media. NPR managing editor for standards and practices Tony Cavin spoke to The New York Times about Berliner’s piece and said it “mischaracterized NPR’s coverage of crucial stories.” Read the NYTimes story here.
for participating podcasts) and, while not a lot changes from last month, NPR’s “NPR News Now” took over the #1 spot from The New York Times’ “The Daily,” which falls to #2. Cumulus Podcasts Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rises one spot to #10, and FOX Audio Network’s “FOX News Hourly Update” climbs two places to #12. 
NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” jumps two spots to #2, bumping audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” to #4. NPR’s “Up First” remains in the #3 position. Other radio-related podcasts of note include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rising one spot to #6, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” slipping two places to #17, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” falling three spots to #27. 
First” are #2 and #3, respectively, with NBC News’ “Dateline NBC” at #4. Other talk radio-related podcasts of note include The Daily Wire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” rising two spots to #7, iHeartPodcasts’ “Stuff You Should Know” up two places to #9, and Dan Bongino’s “The Dan Bongino Show” up one spot to #11. 
NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” drops two spots to #4 and audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” rises to #2 and NPR’s “Up First” climbs to #3. Other radio related podcasts of note include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” steady at #7, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” rising three spots to #15, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” up one place to #24. 
NPR holds the #2 and #3 spots with “NPR News Now” and “Up First,” respectively. Commercial radio-related podcasts finishing in the top 20 include DailyWire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” unchanged at #9, “The Dan Bongino Show” down one spot to #12, and FOX Audio Network’s “FOX News Hourly Update” up one spot to #14. This chart reflects programs that opt in to Podtrac measurement.
Other notable findings: 1) Older Americans and women are listening to podcasts at a faster rate, with a 22% increase in listeners over the age of 55 and a 19% increase in female listeners 18+ over the past two years; 2) Top podcast genres of 2023 were News (22% of downloads), True Crime (18%), and Comedy (15%). Of True Crime podcast listeners, 67% were female, of Comedy podcast listeners 62% were male, and of News podcast listeners 58% were male; 3) The top sales networks of 2023 in the Triton U.S. Podcast Ranker were SiriusXM Podcast Network at #1, NPR at #2, and Wondery at #3. The top podcast of the year was “NPR News Now.” Triton Digital SVP measurement products & strategy Daryl Battaglia says, “2023 was another year of significant growth for the podcast industry, and with increasing female and over 55+ audiences, we can expect more content production to serve those groups in the coming year. As podcast listenership continues to rise and reach new audiences, we’ll continue to provide our customers with in-depth insights around podcast consumption and listener habits in the coming year.” 
collection migration. NPR’s “NPR News Now” is back in the #1 spot, followed by NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” at #2, audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #3, and NPR’s “Up First” at #4. Other radio-related podcasts in the top 25 include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #7 (down three places), Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” at #18 (down six spots), and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” at #25 (down nine places). 
New York Times’ “The Daily” at #2 and NPR’s “Up First” at #3. News/talk radio-related podcasts finishing in the top 20 include DailyWire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show,” down one place to #9, Dan Bongino’s “The Dan Bongino Show” steady at #11, and FOX Audio Network’s “The FOX News Hourly Update” up one place to #15. 
MSNBC, along with topping The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, PBS and NPR. The poll results show 13% of respondents cited FOX News as the single news source they turn to most often, tying broadcast networks like CBS, NBC and ABC, while besting CNN (10%) and MSNBC (3%). For comparison, public news organizations (like PBS and NPR) delivered 4%, national news organizations such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal garnered 8%, while international news sources like the BBC, Al Jazeera and The Guardian earned 3%.
result, NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” is ranked #1, audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” remains at #2, Wondery’s “Morbid” is #3, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” is steady at #4. Other talk radio-related programs of note include Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” steady at #12 and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” down three spots from the October ranker at #16. Triton Digital’s ranker is based on average weekly downloads and ranks participating networks. 
five, with The New York Times’ “The Daily” remaining in first place. NPR’s “Up First” is #2 and NBC News’ “Dateline NBC” is #3. Commercial radio-related podcasts of note in the top 20 include The Daily Wire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” – down two spots to #8 – and Dan Bongino’s “The Dan Bongino Show” – down two spots to #11. FOX Audio Network’s “FOX News Hourly Update” slipped one place to #16.
Survey says nearly half of all Americans over 13, nearly 135 million, listen to spoken word formats. The growth curve boasts an eye opening 52% jump in time spent listening at home.
word, which is a 55% increase over nine years ago (20%); 2) Spoken word listening at home has grown dramatically: 60% of the total daily audio time spent with spoken word audio is at home, 24% in the car, 13% at work, and 3% at some other location. The time spent listening to spoken word audio at home has grown to 41 daily minutes in 2023 from 27 daily minutes in 2014. Increases in at-home spoken word audio listening are seen across every hour in the listening day; 3) Spoken word listening in-car has shifted post-pandemic, but AM/FM radio remains on top: Of all the daily time spent listening to spoken word audio, time spent listening in the car has declined from 36% in 2014 to 24% in 2023. In the car, 62% of spoken word audio consumed by those in the U.S. age 13+ is to AM/FM radio content, including over the air and streams; 4) For the first time ever, the mobile device is the primary way people listen to spoken word: 39% of spoken word audio consumed daily by those age 13+ in the U.S. is on a mobile device, followed by 35% on an AM/FM radio receiver. At home, 41% of spoken word audio is consumed on a mobile device, and at work, 47% of spoken word is consumed on a mobile device. AM/FM radio receivers still dominate in-car, garnering 60% of the spoken word audio listening there; and 5) Podcasts represent a large and growing share of spoken word listening: Podcasts now represent over one-third (36%) of time spent with spoken word audio. Twenty-eight percent of time spent listening to podcasts goes to NPR/public radio. At home, 40% of spoken-word audio listening goes to podcasts. 
NPR’s “Up First” taking over the #2 spot from NBC News’ “Dateline NBC,” which falls to #3. Other commercial radio-related podcasts charting in the top 20 include The Daily Wire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” at #6, Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #9, and iHeartPodcast’s “Stuff You Should Know” at #10. The ranker is based on Unique U.S. Monthly Audience for participating podcasts.
Spoken Word Audio Report 2023. According to data from the study, 48% of those in the U.S. age 13+ listen to some type of spoken-word audio daily, and audio consumers in the U.S. age 13+ spend 31% of their daily audio time with spoken word. They say this edition of the study focuses on listening locations and explores spoken-word audio consumption at home, at work, in-car, and other locations. 
Shapiro Show,” which ranked #3 in the June 2023 ranker. This means that NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” rises to #1 with audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” remaining in the #2 spot. Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” moves up three spots to the #4 rank. Other noteworthy moves from radio-related companies includes Audacy Podcast Network’s “We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle” climbing 11 spots to the #14 rank and Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” up six places to the #16 rank. There is more dramatic movement among shows in the 20 – 100 portion of the ranker, including NBCUniversal News Group’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” falling 26 spots to the #76 rank.