Just minutes ago, National Public Radio reported that NPR CEO and President Vivian Schiller has resigned.
This follows yesterday’s news that then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was videotaped slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding during a lunch with men posing as members of a Muslim organization (they were working with political activist James O’Keefe on a “sting.”)
NPR
As part of that “sting” video, an NPR executive compares those who doubt Barack Obama’s birthplace to those who believe “the world is flat.”
NPR said that Ron Schiller’s remarks (which have been described as fitting the Conservative stereotype of an NPR executive) “could not have come at a worse time” as federal funding for public broadcasting has come under fire by conservatives in Congress.
NPR receives about 2% of its budget directly from federal funds, but local stations benefit significantly from grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Member station fees for programming are the largest source of NPR funding.
Dr. Conspiracy has been a member of the ETV Endowment of South Carolina for over 20 years.
Would that “Conservative seterotype of an NPR executive” be that he part of the reality based community?
There are times when I’m embarrassed to be a Republican.
And now….a press release from Ron Schiller’s former next gig:
Ron Schiller has informed us that, in light of the controversy surrounding his recent statements, he does not feel that it’s in the best interests of the Aspen Institute for him to come work here.
Nelson Rockefeller is weeping.
My family was Republican for generations, to the point that I actually felt guilty when I registered as a Democrat in the late 1980s. It used to be an honorable party.
Sad.
The impression I get after attempting to piece together the news reports is that the NPR board is dominated by representatives of those member stations that depend heavily on Federal funding. And that their overriding concern is to never have anybody mad at them, so the Federal funding will not become politically controversial.
I’d say that if this is the kind of crappy governance NPR has, maybe they should go out of the news business. How can you run a news organization when the board just wants them to avoid offending anyone?
I think James O’Keefe is a grotesque individual.
(Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest)
I’m in agreement he’s a scumbag. He comes from a well to do family and goes about trying to destroy any and all support systems the poor have.
On the subject of O’Keefe, there’s nothing more distasteful than rich kids’ sense of entitlement toward their parents’ wealth.
I saw the same thing in college. The wealthy students were snobbish and disdainful of those who got financial aid. The YAF – Young Americans for Freedom, Buckley’s bunch – actually circulated a petition to expel students receiving financial assistance, other than loans which had to be paid back.
It was the sort of ‘welfare queen’ libel.
I worked for someone like that in NY. He wanted his son to go to optometry school, but the kid had a ‘C’ average. He told me he made a substantial contribution to a school’s endowment, and they admitted his son. The kid failed out the first semester. He then went to work at the shop, and was miserable to the employees.
A first class snob.
i’ve posted this here before and it bears repeating, and not just because it’s one of my favorite anecdotes:
[rimshot]
How did Jonah Goldberg get his gig at National Review? His mother, Lucianne, got it for him.
He’s a first class snob. What he writes drips with contempt.