NPR’s top executive is rejecting criticism from conservatives over her social media posts that she shared before becoming the head of the public broadcaster.
“Honestly, all of this is a bit distracting from the changes our organization needs to make to better fulfill our purpose,” Katherine Maher told The Wall Street Journal in an interview this week. an interview this week.
Maher, the former head of Wikimedia who took over as the outlet’s CEO this spring, has faced strong criticism from the right following an opinion piece written by a former top editor at NPR accusing the outlet of liberal bias.
Conservatives used Uri Berliner’s essay to point out, in some cases, old social media posts from Maher where she praised Democrats and supported progressive ideas.
Maher, who has also faced pressure internally from NPR staff to more strongly reject Berliner’s claims about the outlet, said she has had “robust” discussions “across our newsroom” on a variety of topics related to editorial strategy, including Berliner’s opinion piece.
Berliner eventually resigned, after being briefly suspended, citing what he described as Maher’s hostility toward him and his claims about the outlet.
The incident has led to renewed calls from many Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits to withdraw funding from NPR, which receives some funding from the federal government.
Maher told the Journal that such attacks are politically motivated, and she insisted that her personal political views do not impact the way she does her job.
“There are many professions in which you set aside your own personal viewpoints in order to
lead in public service,” she said. ” … And that is exactly how I have always led organizations and will continue to lead NPR.”
