Why are taxpayers footing the bill for this organization again?
Berliner’s sleuthing turned up a number of revelations, some plainly obvious (86 Democrat editors, 0 Republicans), and some mildly surprising. But the more shocking revelations that this saga may have uncovered is the fresh scrutiny of newly minted chief editor Katherine Maher’s very public partisan views.
Berliner in a Tuesday interview ripped NPR CEO Katherine Maher over a trove of past posts unearthed on X. Those included calling Donald Trump “racist” in 2018 and blasting Hillary Clinton for using the terms “boy” and “girl,” saying she was “erasing language for non-binary people.” Maher seems to see herself as more than a journalist, but an activist and even a censor, not tasked with spreading news, but defeating it.
As Christopher Rufo reported on X, “Katherine Maher says the "the number one challenge" in her fight against disinformation is "the First Amendment in the United States," which makes it "a little bit tricky" to censor "bad information" and "the influence peddlers" who spread it. Maher appears to insinuate the corporate actors have free speech but individuals do not.
In 2020, Katherine Maher, who would later become NPR's CEO, made several controversial statements during the Black Lives Matter protests, which included widespread looting and property damage. Maher commented that it was “hard to be mad” about the destruction, even going so far as to justify the protesters' disregard for private property. The following day, Maher continued “white silence is complicity,” and said “... America is addicted to white supremacy and that’s the real issue.” She also predictably advocated for race-based reparations in 2020, framing it as a moral obligation for America to atone for its "original collective sin and unpaid debt." Is there any doubt that wokeism is a full-fledged religion at this point? It even has the original sin (being born white). Matt Taibbi panned her resume, writing that it reads like “overeducated nonsense-babbling white ladies[…]it’s difficult to believe she’s real.” Elon Musk put it simply: “This person is a crazy racist!”
When she’s not self-flagellating over the lack of melanin in her skin, she’s dreaming of female political figures in ways that verge on the indecent. “Had a dream where Kamala and I were on a road trip in an unspecified location, sampling and comparing nuts and baklava from roadside stands,” she wrote, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris. “Woke up very hungry.” That might be the gayest sentence I’ve ever heard, and I majored in Musical Theatre. Moreover, I somehow doubt that it’s nuts rather than say, eggs, which Maher dreamt of Harris sampling, but what do I know? I can’t read her mind. Thank God.
In a New York tImes interview over the scandal, Maher claimed that, “What matters is NPR’s work and my commitment as its C.E.O.: public service, editorial independence and the mission to serve all of the American public.[…]NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests.”
Does anyone really believe that?
NPR has consistently asserted that "federal funding is essential" to its operations. However, considering that federal funds reportedly constitute only 1 percent of its budget, the question arises: Why not sever ties with public funding altogether? Katherine Maher had the audacity to attack Uri Berliner for his honest critique and plea for more balanced newsroom diversity, branding his comments as “profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.” It's clear whose feelings really matter at NPR.
Back in 2011, a decent 26 percent of NPR’s listeners identified as conservative. Fast forward, and that’s plummeted to a mere 11 percent. At this rate, any conservative listeners are probably just stumbling across NPR by accident and don’t realize what they’re listening to. Meanwhile, about 70 percent of the audience now leans liberal, yet NPR has the gall to expect all American taxpayers to foot the bill for its increasingly biased programming.
The market typically rewards what people actually want. If NPR can’t sustain itself on public demand, why should the US taxpayer fund them? If they can manage on their own, then they don’t need our money. It’s not about whether you like NPR’s liberal slant; the point is, they shouldn’t be using federal funds to push any agenda. And for someone like myself who was just fleeced on April 15th to send a check to the Treasury that will quite literally pay for my competition in the media space… I say defund NPR.
