NPR News Now - Podcast Rankings and reviews

This is a great podcast to get a quick news summary. It mirrors the news summary that comes up every hour on the radio. The hosts run down the major news stories at the moment in about 5 minutes, focusing purely on the what’s going on without any analysis or commentary. ‘NPR News Now’ is not a very telling title. They should consider reverting the title to ‘NPR Hourly News Summary.’

I rely on these top of the hour news summaries to stay up to date without drowning in the spin and conjecture that bogs down so many news feeds. I do wish prior episodes were accessible (at least 24 hours), but that is the only thing I’d amend. My reason: Often, early morning broadcasts (especially) have reports not updated or repeated later in the day, usually of a more international nature.

I never regret the minutes I spend listening to the hourly NPR news update. It’s reliable, never sensationalistic, and always tells me what’s most important to know.

I’m grateful for the clear quick and concise news reporting. It allows me to catch up and if I want further analysis I have the option with other podcasts by NPR equally well produced.

After giving NPR multiple chances and having given multiple review ‘suggestions’ to NPR, I have switched over to a less biased news service. As a lifelong media professional I have certain standards I expect of my colleagues in the news industry. The main one, unbiased news reporting. NPR failed this rudimentary requirement. Too often I heard the President called by his surname, breaking the media APStyle guidelines. Too often I heard the ‘dig’ at the President, commentary tossed in unnecessarily. Too often an opinion. These basic items we ask of our guardians of truth (the media) were ignored far too often for me to be able to give NPR credibility as a news source. You lost a listener...a colleague, because you injected opinion where only facts should be. I hope one day NPR gets their act together and I can once again tune in. But for now, I’ll get the facts elsewhere. NPR you just joined CNN and MSNBC as entertainment and not real legitimate news.

I really love NPR. I listen daily. I donate annually. And I am concerned with advertisements creeping into every inch of the enterprise.

Up First makes you sit through 2 to 4 advertisements before starting.

For a five minute hourly news brief, please, please, please spare us.

I understand you have to pay the bills, but this is getting ridiculous.