{"id":2229722,"date":"2024-04-25T03:06:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T07:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/npr-will-never-face-its-intellectual-rot-until-taxpayer-funds-stop-flowing\/"},"modified":"2024-04-25T03:09:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T07:09:13","slug":"npr-will-never-face-its-intellectual-rot-until-taxpayer-funds-stop-flowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/npr-will-never-face-its-intellectual-rot-until-taxpayer-funds-stop-flowing\/","title":{"rendered":"NPR needs to address intellectual decline without taxpayer funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnpr-will-never-face-its-intellectual-rot-until-taxpayer-funds-stop-flowing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2229722&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article\u200d highlights NPR&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/snopes-posts-bogus-pro-aoc-fact-check-ends-up-exposing-its-left-wing-bias\/\" title=\"Snopes Posts Bogus Pro-AOC \u2018Fact Check,\u2019 Ends Up Exposing Its Left-Wing Bias\">left-wing bias<\/a>, revealed by\u200c former NPR \u200bBusiness Editor Uri Berliner.\u2062 It discusses \u2064the response from \u2064NPR CEO Katherine Maher, \u200cemphasizing ideological narrowness. Maher&#8217;s views on\u200d diversity and political \u2063opinions are\u2062 critiqued, reflecting\u2063 a problematic elite mindset within NPR. The\u200c call for defunding \u2062NPR amplifies concerns over\u200d bias and ideological \u200dconformity in media institutions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>NPR is biased in favor of leftists and the Democrat Party. Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock, this is not exactly news. Even former NPR Business Editor Uri Berliner, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust\">April 9 op-ed in The Free Press<\/a> shed new light on the incredibly disproportionate left-wing bias of the outlet, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/ombudsman\/2011\/04\/28\/135775694\/views-of-nprs-credibility-tend-to-be-partisan-based\">had to admit<\/a> that in 2011, liberals accounted for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israel-releases-footage-of-large-number-of-tanks-entering-operating-inside-gaza\/\" title=\"Israel shares video of tanks entering and operating in Gaza.\">significantly larger amount<\/a> of audience share.<\/p>\n<p>A 2010 study by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press in turn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2010\/10\/defunding-npr-its-not-that-easy-044056\">reported<\/a> that 61 percent of NPR listeners described themselves as progressive, while a piece in the not-exactly-conservative publication The Nation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/npr-berliner\/\">described<\/a> NPR as promoting a \u201clifestyle smugness\u201d of \u201cconfident dispatches from the East Coast citadels of cultural consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-231073381\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-771b80ba58145226c971f77fa5f2d24f fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-771b80ba58145226c971f77fa5f2d24f\"><\/div>\n<p>No, what\u2019s interesting about the NPR scandal is not Berliner\u2019s expos\u00e9 \u2014 which in short order led to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/media\/npr-editor-suspension-uri-berliner-d5dda39c\">resignation<\/a> following disciplinary action from his employer \u2014 but the response from NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who represents what is wrong with the technocratic class governing our elite institutions. In her milquetoast response to Berliner\u2019s missive attacking NPR \u2014 which has <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/newsroom\/calls-to-defund-npr-grow-after-ceo-tweets-resurface\/\">renewed calls<\/a> for defunding a media outlet that is partially funded by taxpayer dollars \u2014 Maher exposes the ideological narrowness and intellectual rot of our elite class.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Epitome of the Self-Serving Woke Technocrat<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/npr-extra\/2024\/04\/12\/1244456600\/from-npr-president-and-ceo-katherine-maher-thoughts-on-our-mission-and-our-work\">April 12 open letter Maher sent to NPR staff<\/a>, she declared that \u201cpublic media is essential for an informed public\u201d and that \u201cwe succeed through our diversity.\u201d She celebrated having \u201cearned new trust from younger, more diverse audiences.\u201d In other words, she parroted the language of the quintessential <a href=\"https:\/\/thelampmagazine.com\/issues\/issue-21\/against-human-resources\">schoolmarmish and therapeutic HR commissar<\/a> who relies on the empty platitudes of the proceduralist woke workplace to obscure what is, in fact, a patently intolerant, un-diverse professional environment that coerces employees into ideological conformity. Those who resist that leftist project risk disciplinary action or termination.<\/p>\n<p>Maher\u2019s talk of diversity and professional decorum is subverted by her own divisive, radical political opinions. In May 2020 on her X (formerly Twitter) page, she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/new-npr-ceos-social-media-posts-show-progressive-views-support-clinton-biden\">acknowledged<\/a> that while \u201clooting is counterproductive,\u201d it was \u201chard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people\u2019s ancestors as private property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In June 2020, she declared: \u201cWhite silence is complicity,\u201d and, \u201cIf you are White, today is the day to start a conversation in your community.\u201d She described herself \u201cas someone with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/npr-suspends-senior-editor-who-blew-whistle-on-networks-liberal-bias\/\" title=\"NPR Suspends Senior Editor for Exposing Network's Liberal Bias\">cis white mobility privilege<\/a>.\u201d Unsurprisingly, she <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/krmaher\/status\/1219380413837316102\">supports racial reparations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-69d28422b2e91d7f800a2d3a2e5a9da4 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-69d28422b2e91d7f800a2d3a2e5a9da4\"><\/div>\n<p>In sum, Maher is a caricature of the successful white female professional who employs an endless supply of woke racialist rhetoric to cynically distract from the obvious fact that she herself is a product of the very same \u201coppressive power structures\u201d she so vehemently condemns. That self-serving play-acting of \u201crules for thee but not for me\u201d is perhaps required given she is, after all, the <a href=\"https:\/\/hoytfuneralhome.com\/tribute\/details\/1435\/Gordon-Maher\/obituary.html\">daughter of a Goldman Sachs executive and Connecticut state senator<\/a>, graduated from New York University, and worked for HSBC. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s a \u2018Portlandia\u2019 character,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/bill-maher-pans-npr-portlandia-character-katherine-maher-following-newsroom-turmoil.amp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">observed Bill Maher<\/a>. \u201cI mean it\u2019s [a] kind of White woman who says she\u2019s Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s spirit animal.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Problem Is Leftists Don\u2019t See a Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The bigger problem, however, is that Katherine Maher \u2014 and so many others in her cohort \u2014 don\u2019t even <em>see <\/em>the problem of the ideological conformity their institutions have coercively created. Whether explicitly or implicitly, the form of self-reflection and contrition they\u2019ve learned is a performative self-critical rhetoric manifested in such admissions as Maher\u2019s \u201ccis white mobility privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is encapsulated in the suburban and gentrified urban displays of BLM and \u201cIn This House We Believe\u201d flags that serve as mechanisms of both self-congratulation and self-preservation: \u201cDon\u2019t blame <em>us <\/em>upper-middle white people, blame those <em>other <\/em>bigoted, backward white people.\u201d It reaches its apotheosis in such people as Robin DiAngelo, the snake oil saleswoman who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-9749517\/An-anti-racist-author-Robin-DiAngelo-makes-728K-year-speaking-engagements.html\">makes millions<\/a> off helping the gullible (or, in many cases, the shrewd) shed their \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/culture\/the-wages-of-woke-2\/\">white fragility<\/a>\u201d by offering the perfunctory statements of self-hatred while keeping their jobs and bank accounts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-af6c6c85ae580b742cbff83e85d68c3d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-af6c6c85ae580b742cbff83e85d68c3d\"><\/div>\n<p>Schooled to believe that opinions that don\u2019t conform to leftist ideology are unworthy of consideration \u2014 and may even be \u201charmful\u201d and \u201cviolent\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s near impossible for woke technocrats to concede that the institutions <em>most <\/em>intended to ensure freedom of speech are as narrow-minded and intolerant as the ideologies they were created to combat.<\/p>\n<p>Consider Washington Post Columnist Perry Bacon, who in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2024\/04\/08\/liberal-defense-republican-college-university\/\">April 8 op-ed<\/a> argued, \u201cDemocratic officials and the broader left generally support America\u2019s long-standing system of universities that operate largely independently from partisan politics.\u201d He continued: \u201cThe overwhelming majority of American students attend public colleges that don\u2019t have intense left- or right-wing activism.\u201d Who, in the face of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-68873825\">antisemitic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/education\/columbia-students-arent-protesting-theyre-having-a-temper-tantrum\/\">pro-terrorism rallies<\/a> across American campuses could claim with a straight face that academia operates independently of partisan politics?<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Defunding NPR Might Send a Message<\/h2>\n<p>In the face of Berliner\u2019s devastating essay slamming NPR for its blatant leftist bias, calls have <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/newsroom\/calls-to-defund-npr-grow-after-ceo-tweets-resurface\/\">once again arisen<\/a> \u2014 as they have <a href=\"https:\/\/lamborn.house.gov\/media\/in-the-news\/washington-examiner-gop-gears-again-strip-npr-federal-funds\">since the 1990s<\/a> \u2014 to defund NPR. Doing so would make little difference to the federal budget; only about $126 million in taxpayer funds is doled out to public radio stations, effectively a rounding error. And given that\u2019s only a fraction of public radio\u2019s budget, it\u2019s likely the organization would carry on, perhaps, as an act of protest, shored up or even expanded via the largesse of eager, wealthy lefty donors.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, defunding NPR would certainly send a message: that there remain a few ways for representative government to push back against the smug authoritarianism of our unelected ruling class. Perhaps, as <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/newsroom\/calls-to-defund-npr-grow-after-ceo-tweets-resurface\/\">some writers have opined<\/a>, the fact that NPR\u2019s failures are featured so promptly in the news will give sufficient momentum to this pet Republican cause. But given Congress\u2019s continued <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/19\/speaker-johnson-is-willingly-funding-the-biden-regimes-authoritarianism\/\">anemic efforts<\/a> on everything from <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/22\/congressional-republicans-need-to-stop-hiding-and-start-fighting-on-abortion\/\">abortion<\/a> to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/07\/mike-johnson-proves-republicans-arent-serious-about-stopping-democrats-border-invasion\/\">border crisis<\/a>, I wouldn\u2019t put too much faith in that effort.<\/p>\n<p>As many conservatives have already learned, it will be largely up to individual Americans in their families, communities, and support networks to take effective action to build and support the kind of America that NPR CEO Katherine Maher so vocally detests.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0d9c475ce8a7af7c3c1b531f2cfe584e fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0d9c475ce8a7af7c3c1b531f2cfe584e\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NPR&#8217;s leftist bias is no secret, even acknowledged by former NPR Business Editor Uri Berliner. In his recent op-ed, he highlighted the outlet&#8217;s disproportionately left-wing slant, shedding light on the issue. The inherent bias towards Democrats is evident, and this revelation is not surprising to many<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2229723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/53351734514_297fa24e8a_o.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2229722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/53351734514_297fa24e8a_o.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2229722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2229723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2229722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2229722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2229722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}