Newly appointed National Public Radio (NPR) president and CEO Katherine Maher is facing public scrutiny over her past left-wing activism, confounding the outlet’s efforts to refute claims that it engages in political bias.
As Valuetainment previously reported, senior NPR business editor Uri Berliner published an open letter last week accusing the network of being overwhelmingly biased and putting leftist narratives ahead of actual facts. Berliner, himself a lifelong liberal, warned that NPR’s ideological shift had driven away conservative, moderate, and centrist viewers, leaving it with a base that no longer reflects the wider ideological spectrum of the United States.
Berliner cited NPR’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, as well as its imbalanced reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop story, the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as reasons for the drop-off in bipartisan support for the network.
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In response to Beliner’s letter, Maher said in a written statement that “our people represent America, our irreducibly complex nation,” further adding that “We succeed through our diversity.”
“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,” she continued. “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.”
While Maher’s statement admitted that “our audiences have unquestionably changed over the course of the past two decades,” she emphasized this as a positive development that has made the NPR fanbase younger and more diverse.
Following Beliner’s allegations, other outlets and social media users began digging into Maher’s own past, revealing that she has a long track record of toeing the progressive line on major issues.
First reported by The New York Post when she assumed her position as NPR’s CEO in January, Maher’s social media posts have included statements like “Donald Trump is a racist” alongside acknowledgment of her own “cis white mobility privilege.”
Lots of jokes about leaving the US, and I get it. But as someone with cis white mobility privilege, I’m thinking I’m staying and investing in ridding ourselves of this spectre of tyranny.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) July 30, 2020
Many similar posts were scrubbed prior to her becoming CEO. However, others remain visible on her X page, including a series of posts addressing the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots.
“I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property,” she wrote in May of that year.
I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) May 31, 2020
“White silence is complicity,” read another post. “If you are white, today is the day to start a conversation in your community.”
White silence is complicity. If you are white, today is the day to start a conversation in your community.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) June 2, 2020
Prior to onboarding at NPR, Maher was the CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia. She has also worked in various communication roles for HSBC, UNICEF, and the World Bank.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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