NPR President Skips Congressional Hearing Amid Political Bias Accusations

National Public Radio (NPR) president Katherine Maher missed a congressional hearing on alleged political bias within the organization, sparking further scrutiny and threats to funding.

Controversial National Public Radio (NPR) president Katherine Maher met with Republican Senator Kevin Cramer and the organization rolled out new layers of editorial review in an attempt to quell growing concerns about political bias within the broadcast company.

Last month, Cramer led a letter signed by six other Republican senators expressing deep concerns about the direction of NPR and its leadership following scathing allegations of bias made by former senior editor Uri Berliner.

Berliner claimed to have found 87 Democrats and zero Republicans in editorial positions at the NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. He also criticized editorial decisions regarding coverage of various events, including former President Trump's alleged collusion with Russia, Hunter Biden's laptop, and the lab-leak theory of COVID-19's origin.

Following the allegations, Maher acknowledged the problem and expressed commitment to providing more balanced and fair journalism. NPR's acting chief content officer, SVP, and editor-in-chief, Edith Chapin, revealed a new editorial review layer to content division staff, which involves a group of senior-level editors who are not involved in the inception or development of a particular piece of work to provide final editorial review before air/publication.

However, Cramer expressed concerns about the implementation of the new layer, stating that "Three editors that are homogeneous, that are left-wing Democrats — that doesn't increase oversight," he said. "It just validates bias."

In addition to the editorial review changes, Maher has faced scrutiny for her own views, with old social media posts demonstrating support for President Biden and policies associated with Democrats being brought to light.

Cramer emphasized that defunding NPR remains an option despite the organization's attempts to address concerns. "I was more interested in going forward, how she's going to improve the newsroom," he said.

The congressional hearing on NPR's alleged political bias proceeded without Maher's attendance, adding to the controversy surrounding the organization's handling of the allegations.