NPR has suspended a whistleblower editor who exposed the network's liberal bias, as its chief grapples with old tweets revealing her hatred of Donald Trump.
Editor Uri Berliner sparked a storm last week as he penned an open essay for The Free Press, where he slammed the outlet for being made up almost entirely of Democrats which he argued 'lost America's trust.'
In response to the 25-year NPR veteran's article, the network suspended him for five days for violating its policy of working for reporting for another outlet without permission, starting Friday.
NPR's chief executive Katherine Maher insisted in a statement that the company remains committed to 'serving all of the American public', however Berliner added in an interview that the emergence of Maher's old tweets undercuts her message.
The tweets in question included a veiled shot at Trump branding him a 'deranged racist sociopath', and sharing her support for President Biden by sharing selfies wearing his campaign hats.
NPR business editor Uri Berliner has been suspended after he sparked a storm last week, penning an open essay slamming the outlet's liberal bias
Berlinger argued in his article that NPR has 'lost America's trust' because it was filled almost entirely by Democrats
Berliner confirmed his suspension as he sat down for a follow-up interview with NPR, and the network said he would be fired if he overstepped again.
But the business editor didn't pull any punches as he spoke of Maher's resurfaced tweets, which he argued make her unable to steer the taxpayer-funded company in a moderate and fair way.
'We're looking for a leader right now who's going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about,' he said.
'And this seems to be the opposite of that.'
The tweets also included Maher saying: 'I do wish Hillary wouldn't use the language of "boy and girl" - it's erasing language for non-binary people.'
In November 2020, she tweeted: '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.'
Amid the BLM riots, Maher also contended: '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 is pictured on day one of the Web Summit Qatar 2024
I do wish Hillary wouldn't use the language of "boy and girl" - it's erasing language for non-binary people.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) October 10, 2016
The new CEO of NPR @krmaher is fully infected by the woke mind virus.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 14, 2024
Not a single taxpayer dollar should go to pay this activist’s salary.
NPR needs to be defunded on day one of Trump’s presidency in 2025.
📷 @njhochman pic.twitter.com/6DbAPzWIxp
Before publishing his scathing essay on the state of NPR, Berliner said he tried on numerous occasions to raise his concerns about its liberal tilt.
In particular, he said coverage of issues dominating the last few years had been tainted by NPR's liberal bias, including the Israel-Hamas war, transgenderism and Covid-19.
Berliner added that, in his opinion, other outlets have similar issues, but feels that NPR's public funding and insistence that it is moderate mean it has an obligation to remain impartial.
'I love NPR and feel it's a national trust,' he said. 'We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they're capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners.'
In his article for The Free Press, a popular Substack site, Berliner said the rise of 'advocacy' in journalism especially surged at the same time Donald Trump's political career did.
'As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair,' he wrote.
Berliner argued that the rise of 'advocacy' in journalism especially surged at the same time Donald Trump's political career did, and claimed his election to the presidency was met inside NPR's newsroom with 'a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair'
Berliner also uncovered how NPR knowingly kept information from its audience during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
He says NPR editors were quick to jump on claims that Donald Trump was a Russian asset - but far more reticent to cover their subsequent debunking.
Berliner has since been slapped with what NPR dubbed a 'final warning', suspending him for five days but cautioning him that if he worked for another outlet without permission, he would be out of the job.
He wrote that when he probed the staffers' voting registrations, he shockingly found that not a single Republican was in a leadership position.
'Concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity, I looked at voter registration for our newsroom,' he wrote.
'In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.'