NPR Public Editor

Carlos Carmonamedina for NPR Public Editor

A recent NPR story about tipping generated a lot of reaction from the audience. When I mentioned a letter we received to the reporter, Stacey Vanek Smith, she said she, too, had received a lot of audience feedback.

Why? Lots of reasons. Tipping is a universal experience in the United States. Many people have to make multiple decisions about tipping every week. Sure, there’s the barista and the hairstylist. But also the person who pulls your beer at the baseball stadium and the person who rings you up at the bowling alley.

Tipping is a sentinel issue in the U.S. because it is integral to how we’ve implemented wage policies, structured the service economy and determined the prices for some goods. What seems like a small choice rooted in feedback or generosity is really a complicated network of decisions made by systems we can’t even see most of the time.

So when Smith’s recent story about what it feels like to be the person asking for a tip aired, people had thoughts on it.

Read on to see how two audience members interpreted the facts that were presented and wanted more information, as well as what we learned from the reporter.

We also spotlight a follow-up story to an NPR-Marshall Project investigation that prompted the Bureau of Prisons to shut down a prison unit. Building on that reporting, an accountability group is pushing the bureau to pursue criminal charges against the staff accused of abusing prisoners.

FROM THE INBOX

Here are a few quotes from the Public Editor’s inbox that resonated with us. Letters are edited for length and clarity. You can share your questions and concerns with us through the NPR Contact page.

On tipping: One story isn’t the whole…