NPR CEO Prioritizes Review of Alleged Radio Bias, Skips Hearing
The NPR CEO skipped a congressional hearing focused on investigating alleged bias, despite NPR being funded by taxpayers. Katherine Maher, newly appointed this year, refused to testify, citing scheduling conflicts. The House Energy and Commerce Committee proceeded with the hearing, emphasizing the importance of impartial investigation into political bias, even with NPR’s reliance on public funding.
The top executive at NPR failed to appear at a congressional hearing designed to examine alleged bias at the news outlet despite being funded by taxpayer dollars.
Katherine Maher, who was named CEO of NPR earlier this year, said she declined the invitation to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee due to a scheduling conflict. The committee went through with the hearing in Maher’s absence, arguing it was crucial to investigate any instances of political bias despite relying on public support from the taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“I will note for the record, we invited NPR’s CEO, Ms. Maher, to participate in today’s hearing. She has declined to do so stating that she needed more time to prepare and that she had a conflict with an NPR board meeting,” committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said in her opening statement. “The Energy and Commerce Committee will fulfill its responsibility to investigate the allegations against NPR and take appropriate action based on what we find.”
The hearing comes after a former senior editor of the network published an essay accusing NPR of allowing left-leaning politics to influence how it covers major events in recent years, including its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans’ investigation of Hunter Biden, and other stories coming out of the Biden administration.
“It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed,” wrote Uri Berliner, who worked at NPR from 1999 until April of this year. “In recent years, however, that has changed. Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.”
The allegations sparked concern among House Republicans, who argued the outlet was using money from listeners who look to NPR for objective journalism to influence their thinking.
“It is especially troubling that an organization funded with taxpayer dollars has mocked, ridiculed, and attacked the very people who fund their organization,” Rodgers said. “When an entity that was created by Congress, and that receives taxpayer funding, strays from their core mission there needs to be accountability and oversight.”
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Instead, the panel heard testimony from other witnesses such as Howard Husock, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2013 until 2018.
Other witnesses included Tim Graham, the executive editor of Newsbusters.org; James Erwin, federal affairs manager for telecommunications at Americans for Tax Reform; and Craig Aaron, co-CEO of Free Press.
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