National Public Radio (NPR) CEO and president Katherine Maher lashed out at senior Editor Uri Berliner over a scathing op-ed he wrote for The Free Press — in which he claimed that NPR had displayed political bias on a number of occasions and, in doing so, had “lost America’s trust.”
Maher, who stepped into her role at NPR just three weeks ago, claimed that Berliner’s assessment — made after 25 years with the outlet — was “deeply simplistic” as well as “profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”
Without mentioning Berliner by name — or giving any specifics with regard to his comments — Maher simply claimed that NPR was devoted to providing information to the public, and that the outlet’s “service to this aspirational mission was called in question this week.”
“Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions,” Maher continued. “Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”
Maher went on to suggest that Berliner’s assessment of bias had been based on his own objections to a diverse workplace — when, in fact, he had given a series of examples where diversity of thought had either not been present or had been actively shut down.
“It is deeply simplistic to assert that the diversity of America can be reduced to any particular set of beliefs, and faulty reasoning to infer that identity is determinative of one’s thoughts or political leanings,” Maher claimed. “Each of our colleagues are here because they are excellent, accomplished professionals with an intense commitment to our work: we are stronger because of the work we do together, and we owe each other our utmost respect. We fulfill our mission best when we look and sound like the country we serve.”
Maher’s objections raised eyebrows after a number of her old Twitter posts came to light, revealing her personal political leanings.
NPR's new CEO is just as insane as you'd expect her to be pic.twitter.com/BDob66lNne
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) April 14, 2024
Two years ago I made a commitment to never step on a speaker's stage without talking about our climate crisis. It is the world we have built and our responsibility to confront. https://t.co/nSH8hDas5r
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) August 13, 2021
Now can we end the filibuster?
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) March 23, 2021
If we can basically agree people should wear a mask to the grocery store because it's in the best interests of most of us, we should also be able to protect the vast majority of us who want to go to the grocery store (and other public venues) without risk of fatal gun violence.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) March 23, 2021