Dramatic changes in NPR's audience

Just one more way the pandemic is changing NPR. [View this email online]( [NPR Public Editor by Poynter's Kelly McBride]( Hey, NPR lovers, you’re part of a sea change! It’s true, as we all started working from home, about 25% of NPR listeners stopped listening to the network’s shows in the top markets. That sort of massive, abrupt change in media consumption was once unthinkable. What happened? No more driving to school and work. Will it ever come back? Probably not all of it, only the people who return to a daily commute. There are more details [here]( and [here.]( (Also, be sure to scroll down for a funny story about the headline on that NPR story.) But here are some other fascinating details about how you, our NPR audience, have changed in the last four months. - More people now access NPR stories via the Internet than the airwaves. - Podcast downloads and listening via apps are up, roughly by 25%. - Visits to digital stories are way up, by 76% (and likely higher as more numbers come in). - The nature of the overall audience is changing. On the airwaves, core listeners (people who rely on NPR as their first source of news) make up a bigger portion of the audience. - New supporters of local public radio stations are likely on the Web, where the large growth is. It will be critical for local stations to figure out how to find new supporters. The pledge drive may not be enough. There’s no new column this week, but if you missed last week’s [critique of Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep’s interview]( with U.S. Attorney General William Barr, you should catch up. It was the hardest swing from Kelly since she started in April. From the Inbox Here are a few quotes from the Public Editor's inbox that resonated with us. You can share your questions and concerns with us through the [NPR Contact page](. Masked examples Michiko Kobayashi writes: I'm writing not about an individual story but about an ethical principle I think media companies should adopt. I see a lot of stories, on NPR and elsewhere, that are illustrated with images of people wearing face masks incorrectly. Because there is already so much confusion and lack of information around face coverings, media should help establish new norms. My request is that you only depict people wearing face masks incorrectly when the article is about people wearing face masks incorrectly. Otherwise, crop out the poll worker or nurse with the mask hanging below their nose. Ask store and restaurant workers to pull up their masks for the photo op. I have worked at a grocery store throughout the entire pandemic so far. I don't think this kind of media message discipline is going to fix everything, but we should not be providing bad examples to the public. I have to admit, I had never thought about this. I bounced this off Nicole Werbeck, senior supervising editor for visuals, who also had never thought about our role in journalism of reinforcing social norms and teaching citizens new ways of doing things. Werbeck said she’d share your thoughts with the visuals team who select images for stories. Your question reminds me of the many duties we have in the course of our work as journalists. Our first job is to tell the truth. But we also document important news of the day. And we educate citizens. We hold the powerful accountable, including those who don’t wear masks. You can see where I’m going. Mask-wearing is a complicated story in 2020. At times, photos are meant to document the many masks that people wear, as well as the ways in which they wear them. Accuracy in that documentation may be in direct conflict with our role to educate people how to most effectively wear a mask to prevent the spread of germs. Whether or not a photo shows someone properly or improperly wearing a mask will most likely be determined by the story. When choosing a photo, editors must pick the one that best serves the journalistic purpose of the story. After that, they can consider other values, including offering a subtle example of how best to wear a mask for proper protection. This doesn’t mean that NPR doesn’t take seriously its responsibility to educate. NPR did an 8-minute Q&A on [how to wear a mask](. And a [1-minute piece]( as well. If you prefer reading to listening, here’s a [similar piece from Goats and Soda](. Isolation or death? Or both? Amanda Perez writes: I work in an assisted living community where over 10% of residents >DIED< of COVID-19. You cannot imagine the terror and the heartbreak that comes with seeing residents suddenly sicken and die. Corona was brought into the community by an asymptomatic employee. Only when that employee lost their sense of smell did they realize they had COVID. By then it was too late. I fully appreciate how hard it is for both seniors and their families to not be able to see each other. It is heartbreaking; but it is even more devastating to see people die. It was completely irresponsible for [the community to allow kitchen staff to have access to residents]( during a pandemic, and it was irresponsible for this woman to break the rules that not only protect her husband, but all other residents and employees. Scott Simon's promo of the story sounds like it's going to be spun as a heart-warming story, playing up her devotion to her husband, when in fact it is a story of self-centered negligence which, had she brought COVID into that community, would be criminal. I and my co-workers are constantly dealing with families who attempt to break the rules that are there to protect their loved ones and everyone else in the community. Believe me when I say those of us who work in elder care and who understand the risks are not one bit amused. I hope I am mistaken, and that the story will discuss the danger this woman exposed her husband and everyone else to. If not, shame on NPR. I found that story of Mary Daniel’s devotion to her husband touching and illuminating, a beautiful execution of NPR’s mission to inform the public. In the interview with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon, Mary Daniel articulated the ethical dilemma, “We have isolated these people to save their lives, but the isolation is going to kill them.” Daniel didn't break the rules, she became a member of the staff at the facility where her husband lives. NPR is not responsible for regulating nursing home policies in Florida. That responsibility falls to the [Agency for Health Care Administration.]( If anything, I want to encourage NPR to do more stories about how families and nursing homes are working together to solve this problem. Those stories give loved ones hope, while exposing a pretty bleak situation. On My Mind There’s so much NPR content worthy of praise, criticism or just a bit of conversation. Here I share a line or two about things that caught your attention or mine. Headline humor Ariel Zambelich/NPR THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS [NPR Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Ends Listeners' Commutes]( By Meredith Roaten A technical glitch turned a clever headline into a tactless one for folks using Google Search. Media critic David Folkenflik originally wrote: “[NPR Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Kills Listeners' Commutes.]( In Murphy’s Law fashion, Google Search cut off that possessive apostrophe and the last word, making it seem as if the death rate was cutting into our ratings, not what we intended. Patricia Cole, a copy editor on the digital news desk, flagged the headline before even knowing there was a problem with the Google display. She objected to the word “kills” in reference to commutes, because the pandemic has in fact killed people, a lot of people. Folkenflik explained “kills” in this case was shorthand for cut to a severe degree but when he saw how the headline read on a Google search, he and his editor agreed it had to be changed. “It's at once a little amusing and, of course, sobering because people have died from the pandemic,” he said. “The stakes are very real and very life and death for a lot of people.” Senior digital news director Tamar Charney said it’s hard to keep track of how headlines and previews for stories will be displayed because of the many ways NPR content travels. But it’s rare to have Google inadvertently change the meaning of a headline. Cole said now that the newsroom is aware this can happen, reporters, line editors and copy editors can keep a closer eye on things. Behind the Scenes This is how the news gets made. TikTok stardom during quarantine By Meredith Roaten Before NPR Music production assistant Jack Corbett entered a pandemic in mid-March, he mostly worked behind the scenes — on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts, short videos and a documentary. Now he’s taken center stage in a big way. Corbett said he misses seeing new faces from the concerts during his day as he continues to help Planet Money make videos to help people understand economics. Instead of using actors and filming on location, he mostly puts together scenes and scenarios on the green screen in his home. Instead of the expensive cameras and equipment at NPR HQ, he uses an iPhone to shoot his footage. Oh, and now he’s famous on TikTok, the video and social media app that is popular with young people. Planet Money’s short videos on the app often star Corbett and have hundreds of thousands of views. This is how Jack Corbett works from home in Los Angeles. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What is it like becoming an Internet personality during a pandemic? I don't feel like a viral TikTok star. I just feel like I'm making videos with more people commenting on them. It's just strange. There's no way to put it. I'm hyper aware I exist. Whereas before I could kind of flow through the day thinking, “Am I really here?” Sometimes I’d catch a glimpse and a reflection and I'm like, “Oh yeah, I'm still here.” But now it's like, “Hey, Jack, you're here and there’s like a million comments every day.” It felt on-brand for quarantine. Insane things were happening, so it's just the next step for insanity. People message me on Instagram all the time now, versus never before. Someone drew a picture of me on Instagram yesterday and it actually turned out to be kind of good. What’s your favorite video or TikTok that you’ve worked on? The first one was very fun, the one that kind of got the ball rolling on TikTok. It's about [the circuit breakers in the stock exchange]( and it's simultaneously about chilling out. Form and function fit so seamlessly together on that one. I have ones that I personally enjoy that are more off the wall. They're more catering to a very specific TikTok audience. It's so nice that I can make a 100 gecs (a music group) reference and then NPR Music [retweeted it]( and I was like, “Yes, you made this.” How do you keep in touch with your team working remotely? We have three weekly stand-up meetings where we talk through what we're working on and anything that we might feel blocked by — usually technology blocks. Other people can help out and say, “Try this thing.” And then on Friday, we have a week in review, where we kind of decompress. The meetings are always a fun, funny, kind of awkward. People's cameras stop working or they'll be duplicates in meetings. There'll be huge audio issues and they'll sound like a robot. Honestly, those are just fun now — as long as they can be remedied. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve found working from home? The biggest change is making videos remotely. This is a whole new thing, because at the office there are nice tripods and expensive cameras and big old batteries and storage devices. Whereas here I have the iPhone, We got green screens (for our homes) and we started doing a whole bunch of green-screen stuff. The biggest change is the kind of videos that we can make. It makes you think outside the box. Before, we would rely on actors and props and locations. All those things instantly are gone. Now I have to play every single role. So if I'm going to be a different character I [put on a new shirt](. Plus at the office, we have super, super-quick computers. Now, I’m working around those weird little video exports. How do you de-stress working from home? The beach is a three minute walk away. I just go there and I'm on East Coast time for my schedule. So when I clock out at work, it's usually around like 3 p.m. here. So it's very much in the middle of the day. The beach will do wonders in that way. Also being out here versus being in D.C., you can inhale the air and it feels OK. [Editor’s note: It’s been in the upper 90s in the District most of this week!] We in the Public Editor’s office are interested in hearing how your listening habits have changed your relationship with NPR. Do you find that you are attracted to different content? If you support a member station, will you continue to do so in the same way? You can [write us]( [tweet us]( or follow us on [Facebook](. We’re paying attention. Kelly McBride NPR Public Editor Chair, [Craig Newmark Center for Ethics & Leadership at the Poynter Institute]( The Public Editor stands as a source of independent accountability. 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