NPR’s New CEO Katherine Maher Haunted by Woke, Anti-Trump Tweets

NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher was eager to push back against allegations made by long-standing reporter Uri Berliner, penning her own memo to all staff in response to his essay in The Free Press claiming the publicly funded news outlet is irreparably biased.

As she did, however, many on X dug into her social media and uncovered her leftist biases, including opposition to her own “cis white mobility privilege.”

“This person is a crazy racist!” said Elon Musk in response to Maher’s previous posts.

In a post pulled by Christopher Rufo, Maher said “Lots of jokes about leaving the US, and I get it,” in response to a potential Trump second term in the White House. “But as someone with cis white mobility privilege, I’m thinking I’m staying and investing in ridding ourselves of this spectre of tyranny.”

As the election unfolded on November 4, Maher referenced “disinfo prep calls” that she and others had in the lead-up to the election, calls that no doubt “prepped” media as to how to react to election results.

Appalling to hear a CNN election night anchor say “no one expected Trump to do this” when literally every election night disinfo prep call with media network leadership gamed this scenario out.

— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) November 4, 2020

Maher was also an unabashed Hillary supporter in 2016.

Katherine Maher—the new CEO of NPR—didn’t get the job despite of these views, she got the job precisely because of these views: pic.twitter.com/vE9K87H9Th

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) April 14, 2024

During the George Floyd riots in 2020, she sided with looters over retail store owners, saying “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.”

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 (@krmaher) May 31, 2020

These comments came as Maher was earning about half a million dollars per year as the CEO of Wikipedia and was likely insulated from the effects of looting entirely.

The new CEO of @NPR Katherine Maher excuses looting of retail stores because such stores are part of a “system of oppression.” You have to be pretty cut off from the real world to think like that. And it appears she is. Ht: @WhatsFuss ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rPGSSDynT6

— Christina Hoff Sommers (@CHSommers) April 14, 2024

Like any leader steeped in humility, Maher’s memo started with an apology for not having reached out sooner on “more substantive issues” before diving in to counter Berliner’s assessment with her own personal account of why she joined the storied institution and how offended she is by Berliner’s claims.

“Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game,” she wrote, “after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”

Berliner had said that after George Floyd’s death in May 2020, NPR staff were given a bit of an adjusted mission. He said that “the message from the top” was that America was systemically racist and that the mission of NPR “was to change it.”

This was at the behest of then-CEO John Lansing, who said in a company-wide article that “When it comes to identifying and ending systemic racism, we can be agents of change. Listening and deep reflection are necessary but not enough. They must be followed by constructive and meaningful steps forward.” Lansing said that he would hold himself accountable as well.

As such, Berliner wrote, “Race and identity became paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace. Journalists were required to ask everyone we interviewed their race, gender, and ethnicity (among other questions), and had to enter it in a centralized tracking system. We were given unconscious bias training sessions. A growing DEI staff offered regular meetings imploring us to ‘start talking about race.’ Monthly dialogues were offered for ‘women of color’ and ‘men of color.’ Nonbinary people of color were included, too.”

Berliner confirmed that all of “these initiatives, bolstered by a $1 million grant from the NPR Foundation, came from management, from the top down.”

But Maher couldn’t address Berliner’s points on their merits. Instead, she attacked him personally.

“Maher literally cannot respond to specific points in substance. Not because the claims are true (they are) but because the ideology robs one of the ability to engage in argument. The only thing she has recourse to is her feeling state,” Peter Boghossian said.

Something deeper is going on: Maher literally cannot respond to specific points in substance. Not because the claims are true (they are) but because the ideology robs one of the ability to engage in argument. The only thing she has recourse to is her feeling state. @NPR https://t.co/HoeCJcsiz0

— Peter Boghossian (@peterboghossian) April 14, 2024

Maher is better at parroting talking points of the Democrat left, saying “We fulfill our mission best when we look and sound like the country we serve,” than she is explaining exactly why this is so. She offered statements with no evidence, showing her own bias and proving Berliner’s points, rather than refuting them.