Thread: NPR ‘appalled’ by former exec’s comments

By Michael Calderone – Tue Mar 8, 11:32 am ET

Outgoing NPR executive Ron Schiller slams Republicans and the tea party movement and suggests that NPR would be better off without any federal funding in a hidden-camera video released Tuesday by conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe.

Schiller, president of the NPR Foundation and a senior vice president for development until just last week, appears on the tape at Georgetown's Café Milano with NPR director of institutional giving Betsy Liley and two men--Shaughn Adeleye and Simon Templar--posing as executives from a fake Islamic organization considering a $5 million donation to the network. (See update: Schiller, expected to depart in May, is now on administrative leave).

The Daily Caller posted the 11-minute video Tuesday, as did O'Keefe's Project *******—a site that also includes hidden-camera investigations of other conservative targets, including teacher's unions and ACORN.

In the video, Schiller said that the current Republican Party has been "hijacked" by a group that's "not just Islamophobic, but really xenophobic" and suggests the tea party movement is comprised of some "seriously racist, racist people." You can watch the footage below:



Schiller said that he's proud of NPR's firing of Juan Williams for expressing fear of flying with people in "Muslim garb," because it showed that "NPR stood for is a non-racist, non-bigoted, straightforward telling of the news." (Just yesterday, NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller--no relation--talked publicly about how the network "badly" handled the Williams situation).

Also, Ron Schiller doesn't appear to interject when the two men make outlandish comments about Jews controlling the media and laughs when they jokingly refer to NPR as "National Palestinian Radio."

"We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for," said NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm in a statement. "Mr. Schiller announced last week that he is leaving NPR for another job."

On the set-up, Rehm said: "The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept."

O'Keefe did not immediately respond to a request for comment about NPR's statement on refusing the check.

The conservative filmmaker first drew media attention for his undercover "pimp and prostitute" videos in Sept. 2009. But O'Keefe has also attracted criticism over how the ACORN videos were edited. For instance, the edited videos suggest that O'Keefe pretended to be a young woman's "pimp" inside and wore the outlandish costume he donned outside ACORN's offices in the videos (and on Fox News after their release). However, O'Keefe actually told ACORN staffers he was the "prostitute's" boyfriend or friend inside and didn't wear the pimp garb.

Since then, O'Keefe has been involved in other headline-grabbing stunts, including entering the Louisiana office of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu under false pretenses and allegedly trying to seduce a CNN correspondent on camera.

Once again, O'Keefe targeted an issue near and dear to conservatives, who have long talked of "defunding" NPR, arguing that federal dollars shouldn't go to stations they claim expresses a liberal viewpoint. Several Republican lawmakers stepped up that effort following the Williams firing.

Contrary to the perception that NPR is primarily funded by the government, the network only receives about 1 to 2 percent of its funds from federal grants. Individual NPR member stations, located around the country, rely on state and federal sources for about 10 percent of their funding.

Schiller, on tape, points out "that very little of our funding comes from the government" despite claims to the contrary. He adds that "in the long run we would be better off without federal funding."

The video has already been making the rounds on conservative sites this morning. And even though Schiller is no longer with NPR, the video is sure to give ammunition to NPR critics who already claim the network is too liberal and doesn't deserve federal funds.

Update: NPR put out an additional statement around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

"The comments contained in the video released today are contrary to everything we stand for, and we completely disavow the views expressed. NPR is fair and open minded about the people we cover. Our reporting reflects those values every single day — in the civility of our programming, the range of opinions we reflect and the diversity of stories we tell."

"The assertion that NPR and public radio stations would be better off without federal funding does not reflect reality. The elimination of federal funding would significantly damage public broadcasting as a whole."

"Prior to the lunch meeting presented in the edited video, Ron Schiller had informed NPR that he was resigning from his position to take a new job. His resignation was announced publicly last week, and he was expected to depart in May. While we review this situation, he has been placed on administrative leave."
..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecut...execs-comments

Why were they appalled? He spoke what he and all NPR employees feel. As for that, he spoke what all liberal Democrats feel. That the rest of us are idiots, and that they are the only ones really smart enough to exist. The biggest racist in the world are liberals. The actually believe minorities, especially blacks, are so inferior to whites that they need special treatment, special accomodations, special placement to compete. Glad some one is exposing the hypocrites for what they really are!

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Ever notice ... the more liberal a "person" is the more he (or she ) results to name calling, character assassination, or just plain ignorance to get their stilted points across. Rather than allowing themselves to look for facts they'll only see what others of their kind tell them to see.... can't use their own mind ... more of a hive mentality.

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First O'Keefe exposes Acorn and now NPR. The libs respond by saying conservatives lie. Well, we sure as hell cannot rely on the mainstream media to expose the left wing bias in the news.

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Simon Templar as a member of the muslim brotherhood?
If this Schiller idiot had any sense, or EDUCATION, that name alone should have been a dead giveaway. I bet they could have gotten away with it if one of them called himself James Bond. Or Sam Fransisco. Maybe even Rudyard Kipling.

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NPR has been and always is, along with PBS, awash in a warm bath of naive liberal presumptions about the world is blatantly biased leftist and obviously so. Only true believers in the pseudo, ersatz religion of moral relativism are willfully blind to it. They have NO CREDIBILITY. Listening to these lowlifes give William Ayers a platform to whine and complain about Republicans- UNQUESTIONED- while he played the victim- was the last straw for me. He is a murder and terrorist who founded Weather Underground in the 70's, and as guilty as Charles Manson, and was unrepentant and playing the victim card for having Republicans using his OWN WORDS against him. NPR fawned all over this vermin. NPR is not news it is leftwing propaganda. And when the FEDs withdraw funding, they will get it from SUPER RICH leftist endowments, because without subsidy, they cannot compete in the market of ideas.

NPR exec blasts tea party in hidden-camera video
By Ben Nuckols, Associated Press – 2 hrs 26 mins ago[/i]

WASHINGTON – A National Public Radio executive was captured on hidden camera calling the tea party movement racist and xenophobic and said NPR would be better off without federal funding, in an embarrassment likely to fuel the latest round of conservative attacks on public broadcasting.

The video was posted Tuesday by James O'Keefe, the same activist whose undercover videos have targeted other groups opposed by conservatives, like the community organizing group ACORN and Planned Parenthood.

It drew swift reaction from Republicans in Congress, who are renewing efforts to cut funding to public broadcasters. NPR and PBS have long been targets of conservatives who claim their programming has a left-wing bias. Similar efforts in the 1990s and 2005 were not successful, although public broadcasters take the threat seriously.

National Public Radio said in a statement that it was "appalled" by the comments from Ron Schiller, the president of NPR's fundraising arm and a senior vice president for development.

Schiller informed NPR that he was resigning from his position before the video was shot, NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm said Tuesday. He was expected to depart in May, but has now been placed on administrative leave.

O'Keefe, best known for hidden-camera videos that embarrassed the community-organizing group ACORN, posted the video Tuesday on his website, Project *******. The group said the video was shot on Feb. 22.

"We've just exposed the true hearts and minds of NPR and their executives," O'Keefe said in a letter posted on the site. He asked supporters to sign a petition urging Congress to review NPR's funding.

"This disturbing video makes it clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said in a statement. He added that executives have "finally admitted that they do not need taxpayer dollars to survive."

The budget bill passed by the House last month would end funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports programs distributed on NPR and PBS. CPB is getting $430 million in the current fiscal year.

Attacks by conservatives on NPR gained momentum last year when analyst Juan Williams was fired for saying on Fox News that he feels uncomfortable when he sees people in "Muslim garb" on airplanes. Schiller defends the Williams firing in the video.

The heavily edited video shows Schiller and another NPR executive, Betsy Liley, meeting at a pricey restaurant in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood with two men claiming to be part of a Muslim organization. The men offer NPR a $5 million donation. NPR said Tuesday it was "repeatedly pressured" to accept a $5 million check, which the organization "repeatedly refused."

"The current Republican Party is not really the Republican Party. It's been hijacked by this group that is ... not just Islamophobic but, really, xenophobic," Schiller said in the video, referring to the tea party movement. "They believe in sort of white, middle America, gun-toting — it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."

NPR receives about 2 percent of its revenue from federal grants, while its member stations get about 10 percent of their funding from federal and state governments.

"It is very clear that we would be better off in the long run without federal funding," Schiller said, saying it would allow the organization to become an independent voice and clear up the misconception that it is largely government-funded.

Schiller conceded that if the funding were lost, "we would have a lot of stations go dark."

NPR disavowed his statements.

"The assertion that NPR and public radio stations would be better off without federal funding does not reflect reality," Davis Rehm said.

Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., introduced a separate bill Friday to cut off funding for CPB.

"There's two issues at stake here in regards to taxpayer funding for public broadcasting: We can't afford it, and they don't need it," DeMint said in a statement Tuesday.

Schiller did not respond to a message left at his Aspen, Colo., home. His resignation from NPR was announced publicly last week and he has accepted a job as director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program. He is not related to NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller.

A national coordinator for the group Tea Party Patriots, Mark Meckler, wrote an e-mail to supporters about the video.

"At a time when the country is upside down by more than a trillion dollars, can we really afford to provide huge subsidies to entities that openly state that they don't need the money?" he wrote. "Let's take his advice and pass legislation that would defund the clearly biased news organization that is out of touch with Americans across the country."

Through a publicist, O'Keefe agreed to respond to e-mailed questions but did not immediately reply.

Project ******* identified the men who met with Schiller and Liley as Shaughn Adeleye and Simon Templar. Their assumed names were "Ibrahim Kasaam" and "Amir Malik," and they claimed to represent the Muslim Education Action Center, a group they said had ties to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.

About the Williams firing, Schiller said, "What NPR did, I'm very proud of, and what NPR stood for is non-racist, non-bigoted, straightforward telling of the news."

Liley says little in the video, although she can be heard laughing when one of the men says his group referred to NPR as "National Palestinian Radio." NPR would not say whether any action was taken to address Liley's comments or appearance in the video.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110309/...arty_criticism


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Online: Project *******: http://www.theproject*******.org/

NPR Press Room: http://www.npr.org/about/press/

Reason #863 Why NPR Should Be Defunded
March, 21, 2011

Actually, it’s reason # infinity, because there’s no end to the reasons why NPR should be defunded. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Defund-NPR/241098276068

But NPR’s airing of a lame left-wing comedy skit (complete with laugh-track), that chooses to attack a conservative pundit with dishonest smears at a time when she’s experiencing hellish heartache in her personal life… just adds fuel to the DEFUND fire.

Michelle Malkin: Hey, NPR: Fund your own lame liberal humor — and leave my family alone:
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/03/21...-family-alone/

If the obscure and has-been comedians who appear on National Public Radio want to mock conservatives and spread left-wing propaganda, they should do it on their own damned dime.

The government-sponsored radio conglomerate broadcasts a weekend show called “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” It leans heavily on laugh tracks to prop up the lame punchlines of the likes of liberal humorist Paula Poundstone and describes its purpose thusly: “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is NPR’s weekly hour-long quiz program. Each week on the radio you can test your knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what’s real news and what’s made up.”

The “best and brightest” include a Muslim comedian named Maz Jabrani, whom NPR has been promoting as “the face of Middle Eastern humor in America today.” http://www.npr.org/2011/03/10/134428...rani-Goes-Solo

Keep reading.

The latest on Marizela’s case here.

See also:

Hot Air: Juan Williams: Defund NPR: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/2...ms-defund-npr/

[quote]After being fired from NPR for expressing a controversial opinion on Fox News — along with a suggestion that he had mental problems — Juan Williams remained supportive of federal funding for public broadcasting. What Vivian Schiller couldn’t do, apparently House Democrats could. After the DCCC sent out a fundraising letter based on Democratic support for NPR lauding its ability to get out the progressive message, Williams now says enough is enough. http://thehill.com/opinion/columnist...-to-defund-npr

Read what Williams has to say about the fund-raising letter that changed his mind at Hot Air.


The proposal to defund NPR passed the House on March 17, 228-to-192, with one Republican voting present.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...0Uqk_blog.html

All but seven Republicans voted for the measure, and all Democrats present voted against it.

The measure is unlikely to be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House on Thursday issued a statement “strongly opposing” the bill but stopping short of a veto threat.



http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2011/03...d-be-defunded/

Comments

As for defunding NPR, even liberal Juan Williams has come around to the necessity:

But last week my line of defense for NPR ran into harsh political realities. Rep. Steve Israel (D- N.Y.) chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a fundraising letter with the following argument for maintaining public funding of NPR:

“They [Republicans] know NPR plays a vital role in providing quality news programming – from rural radio stations to in-depth coverage of foreign affairs. If the Republicans had their way, we’d only be left with the likes of Glenn Beck, Limbaugh and Sarah Palin to dominate the airwaves.”

With that statement Congressman Israel made the case better than any Republican critic that NPR is radio by and for liberal Democrats. He is openly asking liberal Democrats to give money to liberal Democrats in Congress so they can funnel federal dollars into news radio programs designed to counter and defeat conservative Republican voices.

Rep. Israel has unintentionally endorsed every conservative complaint about NPR as a liberal mouthpiece.

Shorter Juan: Why should taxpayers be funding the liberal counterpart to conservative talk radio. Let it stand on its own.

It’s not even about the money with me. It’s the principle of the thing.

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But how do you really feel Michael…

I understand the where you come from Deb. I understand the liberal vs. Conservative view and how Conservative radio (which, lets face it, dominates the airwaves) is private and so too should NPR in your view. I respect that and it makes sense. To me, I think this should be played with a bit. To start, lets not cut funding completely but still do some cutting. Then see if it can receive the necessary donations to survive. If it can, then it can be cut a little bit more. Cutting it fully could have dire consequences. I have a feeling though, that NPR could easily survive merely on donations because of its large fan base. Even the BBC has survived here despite cuts simply because of its listener/viewer base.

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From a common sense aspect, the Corporation for Public Broacasting (NPR & PBS) should have been defunded the year that cable and satellite was available to the majority of the nation. With penetration now at 100% for any American that wishes to have it, let NPR & PBS compete in the free marketplace for views and advertisers.

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I failed to see the logic in any argument, one way or the other, whether or not a show is successful or not, when questioning whether or not taxpayers should foot the bill… even partially. If they’re so successful and funny then it shouldn’t be a problem for them to compete in the free market. They can fill stadiums with like-minded dimwits and rake in lots of money. I don’t want money taken from me so someone can put on a show on my dime that represents things I’m against. If I want to see a show I’ll pay for it myself and not expect someone to pick up my tab.