Jonathan Turley: NPR whistleblower confirmed what all of us knew
Constitutional attorney Jonathan Turley reacts to NPR suspending the veteran editor who blew the whistle on liberal bias at the outlet on 'The Story with Martha MacCallum.'
NPR is under fire again, this time for punishing the veteran editor who took his concerns public about the liberal takeover of its newsroom.
The organization's in-house media correspondent David Folkenflik reported Tuesday that Uri Berliner, NPR's senior business editor who wrote the bombshell essay about his employer's bias, was placed on a five-day suspension without pay that began Friday.
"It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump," Folkenflik wrote.
NPR SUSPENDS VETERAN EDITOR WHO BLEW WHISTLE ON LIBERAL BIAS AT ORGANIZATION
NPR has been plagued with scandal ever since a veteran editor went public with the newsroom invasion of liberal groupthink. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The news quickly went viral on social media.
"NBC was unwilling to tolerate a *single* Republican. NPR is unwilling to tolerate a *single* journalist," Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway reacted.
"This is shameful yet predictable. We don’t need state-backed media in the U.S.," former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote.
"NPR has become a hard left propaganda machine that tolerates no dissent," X owner Elon Musk declared.
Veteran NPR editor Uri Berliner was placed on a five-day suspension for allegedly violating his employer's policies and given a "final warning." (JP Yim/WireImage)
The suspension, which was handed down on Thursday, was reportedly based on Berliner violating NPR's policy of seeking approval before "outside work" for other news platforms. Berliner was apparently given a "final warning" that would result in his firing if he violated such policies again.
Folkenflik also reported that "several" NPR journalists told him they refuse to work with Berliner going forward "as they no longer have confidence that he will keep private their internal musings about stories as they work through coverage."
A former NPR colleague of Berliner's told Fox News Digital that his essay will prompt a "long overdue corrective" for the organization to be more "intellectually open and generous" to conservatives, pointing to the new monthly meetings that are being implemented, according to a memo to staff by NPR CEO Katherine Maher.
However, the former colleague added that "it's going to be difficult for Uri to stay there" based on the hostility he is up against, telling Fox News Digital: "Uri may find it more uncomfortable than he expected."
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Berliner, a self-described anti-Trump liberal, called for a change in leadership after a trove of old posts Maher had written on X, formerly Twitter, had surfaced, displaying liberal activism and woke ideologies, two things Berliner wrote had already plagued NPR.
"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," Berliner told Folkenflik. "And this seems to be the opposite of that."
In a statement given to Folkenflik, Maher defended her posts, saying, "In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen."
NPR did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher is facing intense scrutiny over a trove of old social media posts displaying liberal activism and woke ideologies. (Harry Murphy/Sportsfile for Web Summit Qatar via Getty Images)
Maher, who just joined NPR as its president and CEO last month, has faced scrutiny from critics for her social media rhetoric. She showed her support for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 while regularly sharing far-left talking points and criticizing Donald Trump.
In a 2020 post, Maher is seen donning a "Biden for president" hat and said it was the "best part" of her efforts to get out the vote.
"I can’t stop crying with relief," she wrote after Biden won.
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She wrote in May 2020 that while "looting is counterproductive," it was "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." In another post on the thread, Maher said that property damage was "not the thing" Americans should be upset over.
Berliner's essay has reportedly sparked "turmoil" within the halls of NPR, and conservative critics, including former President Trump, have called for stripping the federal funding the liberal organization receives.
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