Updated April 17, 2024 at 8:15pm ET
Just one day after the news of his suspension was made public, Uri Berliner announced his resignation from NPR with a scathing rebuke of CEO Katherine Mahr.
The 25-year veteran of the publicly funded news organization posted a portion of his resignation letter on X. “I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay,” he wrote.
In Megyn’s view, Berliner was left with no choice but to resign. “The one guy who was, admittedly, liberal but at least could understand the damage that doing only liberal-bent on every aspect of the news would have to this news organization… has basically been forced out,” she said. “Meanwhile, this kook who is running NPR continues to hold her perch with not a word said by NPR about her incendiary tweets over the past 15 years.”
Original article from April 16, 2024 below:
NPR found itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons last week after Uri Berliner, a 25-year veteran of the outlet, alleged it had “lost America’s trust” due to a “lack of viewpoint diversity” in a revealing op-ed.
Berliner has reportedly been placed on unpaid leave for the article, but the story doesn’t end there. The internet has subsequently dug up a number of social media posts from NPR’s new chief executive, Katherine Maher, that are indicative of the very bias Berliner wrote about.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by the hosts of Ruthless – Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook – to discuss the decline of NPR and what it says about the state of the media.
NPR Whistleblower Suspended
Nearly a week after Berliner’s article titled “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.” was published in The Free Press, word came through that NPR has suspended its award-winning senior business editor.
According to NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, Berliner was suspended for five days without pay for failure “to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists.”
Folkenflik said Berliner provided him a copy of “the formal rebuke” to review and noted the letter outlining the suspension billed itself as a “final warning.” Berliner, who Folkenflik calls “a dues-paying member of NPR’s newsroom union,” will reportedly not appeal the punishment.
The suspension notice apparently does not make specific mention of The Free Press article, Berliner’s interview on Honestly with Bari Weiss, his appearance on Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation program last Tuesday, or his remarks to The New York Times in an article that ran Thursday – though Berliner told Folkenflik he only received formal clearance for the sit-down with Cuomo.
Instead, Folkenflik said NPR alleged Berliner “publicly released proprietary information about audience demographics, which it considers confidential.”
CEO’s Tweets Exposed
The news of Berliner’s suspension comes amid increased scrutiny on NRP and its leadership. Over the weekend, Christopher Rufo started digging up and re-tweeting posts from NPR’s newly minted CEO that are anti-Trump, anti-white, and anti-carnivore to name a few.
Maher joined NPR as president and CEO in January, which marked the first ‘news’ role for the Wilton, Connecticut, native, who was head of the nonprofit that supports Wikipedia at the time she posted many of her controversial tweets.
In 2016, for instance, she was all but certain Hillary Clinton would win the election but was not a fan of her ‘gendered’ language.
She also took issue with the fact that white men travel by plane.
The following year, she served a vegetarian Thanksgiving and saved turkeys from her “racist uncles.”
During Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate about Brett Kavanaugh, Maher found herself really, really angry.
And that was the same year she bluntly declared then-President Donald Trump is “racist.” Flash forward to early 2020, and Maher was examining her whiteness and love of mass transit.
She teased about leaving the United States in the summer of 2020 but ultimately stayed and was very relieved when Joe Biden won the election.
In a statement on Monday, Maher seemingly found no issue with her past remarks. “In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen,” she said. “What matters is NPR’s work and my commitment as its CEO: 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.”
The State of Media Bias
Ashbrook noted that the tweets, in many ways, sound “made up,” and Megyn joked that they read “like an AI version of what you think would be running NPR.” Regardless, she doesn’t think Berliner will likely last under such leadership. “This person is now running NPR and I do not think I am out on a limb when I say Uri Berliner’s days over there are numbered,” she added.
Given the public funding given to both NPR and Maher’s prior employer, Comfortably Smug said the blatant activism is alarming. “How broken and deranged are these individuals,” he asked. “The thing is, she’s coming from Wikipedia. This used to be an arbiter of truth and is now going to be given taxpayer dollars to have their message spread. It is unbelievable.”
The lack of self-awareness from those who work in news, like Maher, is what Duncan believes has led to the mistrust of media. “If we could at the very least get an acknowledgment from people in journalism that they carry these biases… I would respect that a lot more than this pretend idea that these people at NPR reflect the fabric of America,” he explained. “How many of them own a Ford F-150 and have gone hunting before? I bet zero. And that’s fine, but at least acknowledge it and try to reflect the opinions of all Americans [rather than] cloister yourself in an environment and declare yourself America.”
Ultimately, he believes hypocrisy is alive and well at NPR. “That’s the funniest thing – NPR can have, you know, support groups for BIPOC, gender-neutral basket weavers and all that sort of stuff,” Duncan quipped. “But heaven forbid there are Republicans on staff. That would be offensive.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ruthless by tuning in to episode 767 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.