A longtime editor for a well-known American non-profit media organization resigned Wednesday after his employer disciplined him for saying the outlet has a left-wing bias.
Uri Berliner resigned as the senior editor of National Public Radio (NPR) one day after his employer announced they had suspended him for five days without pay. The suspension was a response to his article in The Free Press, in which he argued that NPR is dominated by Leftist views.
“I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years. I don’t support calls to defund NPR. I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism. But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cited in my Free Press essay,” Berliner posted on X.
Berliner’s article in the Free Press criticized NPR’s coverage of “Russiagate,” the Hunter Biden laptop story, and COVID-19.
“In DC, where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans,” he wrote in The Free Press.
Katherine Maher, the president and CEO of NPR, initially responded to Berliner’s article with a letter to her employees last week that described the piece as “hurtful” and “demeaning,” as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
This public feud sparked media outlets to resurface Maher’s history of leftwing posts on X, which included tweets in favor of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. She once tweeted, “Donald Trump is a racist,” as reported by The New York Post.
Additional social media posts included a defense of the George Floyd protests in 2020.
“I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive,” she posted on X in March 2020, per the NYP. “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.”
“White silence is complicity,” Maher posted in June 2020. “If you are white, today is the day to start a conversation in your community.”
Maher issued a statement in response to the most recent criticism per NPR:
“In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen. 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.”
