Anyone else find the concept a little weird? NPR is already like this in many ways (heavily left-leaning) so this argument is already somewhat moot, but: hearing news stories tailored just for me sounds ignorant. News shouldn't be a thing which I am allowed to filter based on my biases.
NPR is loaded with programming that isn't just news-related. This includes musical programming, comedy, special interest programs, and topical shows. Listeners to NPR already know this. They filter what they want to hear by turning the radio on and off.
NPR's news segments are top notch journalism. You'd be hard-pressed to find another media institution as large as NPR in the US that does nearly as good of a job in my opinion.
I'll have to see how this actually works, but it's not clear that the news itself will be tailored to the listener. For example, I might pick "Science News" and "Arts News" but not "Sports News" and I don't see that as putting myself in an echo chamber. If the categories were "News for Democrats" and "News for Social Conservatives", then that might be a concern. Also, NPR is more than just news. I regularly listen to NPR programming that isn't entirely aligned with my own world views.
>News shouldn't be a thing which I am allowed to filter based on my biases.
I'd say the opposite: News shouldn't be a thing where other people can tell me what I am "allowed" to read or not.
I left my job at CNET/CBS earlier this year to found a bay area startup -- http://recent.io/ -- with a news recommendation engine and accompanying Android/iOS apps. You can choose to read personalized "Recommended for me" articles, or certain topics, or top news articles, etc. The Recommended category is unique to you; the other categories are common to everyone.
I've shipped the alpha to a few testers, and you're welcome to sign up for the beta. After using it for a bit, you might have a different opinion about whether you should be "allowed" to select what you're interested in, or delegate that in part to a recommendation engine.
