NPR is acting to clarify the role of longtime analyst and commentator Cokie Roberts after she co-wrote a syndicated newspaper column calling for “the rational wing” of the Republican Party to stop Donald Trump’s march toward its presidential nomination.
NPR has a policy forbidding its journalists from taking public stances on political affairs. She has not been a full-time employee for decades, and several years ago Roberts officially was named a commentator. (The timing was confirmed in separate interviews with Roberts, NPR officials and the former senior vice president for news who made the decision.) The role gives Roberts more latitude to express opinions than the network’s reporters or hosts.
“[Trump] is one of the least qualified candidates ever to make a serious run for the presidency,” Roberts wrote late last month in a syndicated column with her husband, the journalist Steven Roberts. “If he is nominated by a major party — let alone elected — the reputation of the United States would suffer a devastating blow around the world.”
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