The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued an invitation on Tuesday to NPR CEO Katherine Maher, summoning her to address allegations of biased news coverage by the outlet.
The invitation came less than one month after NPR’s former senior editor, Uri Berliner, alleged that the outlet operates with a left-wing bias.
Resist The Mainstream reported last month that Berliner’s allegations have sent shockwaves through the news organization, sparking what insiders describe as “turmoil.”
ABC News reports that the committee will conduct a hearing, scheduled for May 8, to scrutinize NPR’s trajectory under Maher’s leadership, following her assumption of the role in March.
“As a taxpayer funded, public radio organization, NPR should focus on fair and objective news reporting that both considers and reflects the views of the larger U.S. population and not just a niche audience,” the committee wrote.
The committee, emphasizing NPR’s status as the nation’s leading public radio network with a sizable weekly audience of 42 million listeners, voiced concerns over Berliner’s assertion.
“It is unsettling to note that ‘an open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR’ and that the news station is promoting strident left-wing views to the exclusion of alternative viewpoints,” the committee stated.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) echoed criticisms, characterizing NPR’s audience as elitist. “I think they’ve gone too far. They’ve established a listener base. That listener base is not going to change,” the congressman said.
“It tends to be the educated elites. The educated elites are a left-wing group in this country,” he added.
Harris also emphasized the importance of balance in NPR’s reporting and leadership, criticizing the apparent lack of political diversity within the organization’s leadership structure.
The committee pointed to these concerns as a contributing factor to what they perceive as a lack of objectivity within the outlet.
“If they’re going to be a news-type outlet or they’re going to do documentaries, they have to say, ‘How do we put balance in here?’” Harris said.
“You don’t put balance in there by having 87 registered Democrats and no registered Republicans in your leadership. On it’s face, it’s obvious that this is a biased organization,” he continued.
The committee raised significant concerns regarding NPR’s perceived bias in its coverage, particularly regarding key issues such as the Mueller report, Hunter Biden’s laptop saga, and the origins of COVID-19, per The National Desk.
NPR allegedly downplayed coverage of the Mueller report’s findings that debunked claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, as well as dismissing discussions around Hunter Biden’s laptop and the origins of COVID-19, according to the committee.
The committee criticized NPR’s handling of the lab leak theory concerning COVID-19 in a statement, quoting NPR’s justification for limiting discussion on the topic by likening it to the Bush administration’s search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
The committee referenced a specific NPR radio segment from June 3, 2021, where journalist David Folkenflik expressed concerns that the lab leak theory might be cited without substantial evidence, drawing parallels to the situation in Iraq, ABC News reports.
Maher has been in hot water as of late for her response following Berliner’s allegations. She has been dinged by critics for past leftist comments, and just recently entered the spotlight again after a new video shows her saying “the number one challenge” in her fight against disinformation is “the First Amendment in the United States.”
The video, posted on X by Christopher F. Rufo, shows Maher saying the First Amendment makes it “a little bit tricky” to censor “bad information” and “the influence peddlers” who spread it.
The post Woke NPR CEO Katherine Maher Invited To Testify By House Committee For Alleged Biased Coverage appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: Jordyn M.
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