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Top-of-the-hour newscasts have been part of NPR since its founding. And they've evolved to serve a new purpose in today's noisy and fragmented media environment, delivering a quick, headline-style rundown of the top stories for audiences that just want the bare minimum on the news of the moment.
Still, some people find flaws in newscasts, writing in to the Public Editor's office, calling newscasts repetitive, overly simple or lacking context.
Fans of the format praise it. In this years-old Reddit post, one listener gushed about the consistency of the top-of-the-hour national newscast and how much joy it brought them.
Newscasts are short and ephemeral by design, contributing to NPR's mission by informing a large audience throughout the day. For this installment of the News Literacy Edition of the NPR Public Editor newsletter, we explore newscasts and how the short stories that make up these hourly broadcasts are selected. — Amaris Castillo
The first newscast was delivered in 1971, on the debut episode of All Things Considered. Tasha Diakides, who joined NPR in 2023 as executive producer for newscast, said two things make NPR newscasts unique:
- The newscast team is the only broadcast unit at NPR that works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Diakides said this allows staff to continuously deliver news to NPR's audience. A team is always on duty to prepare a newscast at least every hour, on the hour.
- NPR's newscasts have the biggest broadcast reach of all of NPR audio products, with 21 million weekly listeners. "Especially in this fast-paced news climate that we're in right now, people are eager for short updates," Diakides said. She added that the podcast version, known as NPR News Now, is at times the No. 1 U.S. podcast, according to Podtrac, a leading podcast measurement and analytics company.
Newscasts drop into listeners' ears at regular intervals throughout the day. Diakides said their brevity is what makes them popular. "I like to think of newscasts as haikus of NPR's best reporting and storytelling, and it makes us accessible to an audience," she said. "Maybe they're not listening to a news radio station, maybe they're listening to a music station, but they can still hear our great NPR reporters or member station reporters."
Newscasts provide an entry into the story; then, NPR's news magazine shows go more in depth, adding context and analysis, Diakides said.
The vast majority of public radio stations air NPR's newscasts as part of their programming. Some of these stations may add their own local news after an NPR newscast, giving the audience the experience of hearing stories of both a national and international scale, and stories that hit closer to home.
Longtime NPR newscaster Korva Coleman said that, at times of chaos, uncertainty and confusion, people seek clarity and simplicity.
"When we are doing newscasts in particular, we want to make sure that people understand what's happening in a timely fashion, but we want to make it as clear as possible," Coleman said. "We emphasize short sentences. We emphasize brevity. You should be able to walk away from a newscast feeling super informed, and then having that feeling that you have been empowered to make a decision or take an action if you choose. If we can do that, then we have truly served listeners."
How a newscast comes together
On weekdays, Diakides said, there's an A.M. team, midday team and P.M. team. Each team gathers for an editorial meeting early in their shifts, barring any breaking news. This is when they discuss which stories will lead the newscast. Interspersed through the rest of the newscast are other stories that the team finds interesting, or fun, or related to something the team feels the NPR audience would probably want to know. Diakides said editorial meetings on the overnight and weekend shifts happen more organically because there's a leaner staff.
In total, there are 11 NPR newscasters, plus a few freelancers who are called on as-needed. Diakides said the only time more than one newscaster is on duty together is twice during the weekday, during Morning Edition and All Things Considered. "At those times with the big news magazine shows, there's a top-of-the-hour host and a bottom-of-the-hour host," she said.
Coleman's personal goal in each of her newscasts is always the same: To tell the lead story of the moment. "I want to make sure that, by the end of a newscast, a listener is fully informed as to what breaking news is at that moment," she told me. "So my job is to make sure people know what's going on right now."
Balancing the newscasts with audience habits
Americans' news consumption habits have changed dramatically in the 21st century. According to Pew Research Center, 86% of U.S. adults say they sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, including 57% who say they do so often. NPR's newscasts appear as short podcasts in places including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also ask a smart speaker to play "NPR News Now."
Katerina Eva Matsa, director of news and information research at Pew Research Center, stressed the digital shift. "People still consume news, but in many different ways," she said. "There is this compartmentalization, there is that fragmentation. Now people have choices. They live in this environment where they can choose all the different ways."
Over at NPR, less than 10% of core newscast listeners were concerned about repetition on NPR's newsmagazines, according to a newscast audience survey from March 2024. NPR research shows that the audience appreciates a mix of content — even on newscasts.
"They want that science story. They want that personal finance story. So that mix is really NPR's superpower," Diakides said. "So we're still leading with those breaking news stories, but also including important news that's happening now. And that gives us the freedom to include trend stories, innovation, state solutions, things that really impact audiences' lives on a daily basis."
She said her team works with the newsmagazines to ensure that a newscast isn't telling the same story in the same way. For example, if one of the shows brings a reporter on, a newscast will not feature the voice of that same reporter. Or if a show has a long interview on a certain angle of a top story, the newscast team will try a different angle. "And with so many interesting stories happening now, I think there's a rich variety that can come from that," Diakides said.
Newscasts collaborate closely with the reporters working in NPR's newsroom and in member stations across the country.
"We rely on both to bring our audience one step closer to what is happening on a global and national level, as well as what's happening in your state and community," Diakides said. "And I think that mix and that partnership between the NPR reporters and our member stations is so important to who we are, and we couldn't put together our newscast without their reporting."
With news consumers overwhelmed by the volume of information pushed at them every hour, NPR newscasts, one of the oldest formats in public radio, is the news product that millions of people are choosing every day. — Amaris Castillo
The Office of the Public Editor is a team. Reporters Amaris Castillo and Emily Barske Wood and copy editor Merrill Perlman make this newsletter possible. Illustrations are by Carlos Carmonamedina. We are still reading all of your messages on Facebook, X and from our inbox. As always, keep them coming.
Kelly McBride
NPR Public Editor
Chair, Craig Newmark Center for Ethics & Leadership at the Poynter Institute
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