Southwest
NPR CEO Katherine Maher says viewpoint diversity is critical, defiant when grilled on liberal bias claims
![NPR CEO Katherine Maher says viewpoint diversity is critical, defiant when grilled on liberal bias claims NPR CEO Katherine Maher says viewpoint diversity is critical, defiant when grilled on liberal bias claims](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/NPR-CEO-KATHERINE-MAHER-3.jpg)
AUSTIN, Texas – NPR CEO Katherine Maher was largely defiant during a rare public acknowledgment of longtime editor Uri Berliner’s claims that the government-funded organization lacks “viewpoint diversity” and caters to a liberal audience.
“I stand here to defend the integrity of the newsroom and to defend the integrity of the reporting and to say that every single day our folks get up, and they want to stand there and make sure that they are serving the American public in the best possible way from a nonpartisan perspective,” Maher said Saturday at the Texas Tribune Festival.
Berliner stunned the media industry earlier this year when he blew the whistle on liberal bias at the organization. Berliner, who was suspended and ultimately resigned over the criticism, penned a scathing takedown of NPR in the Free Press that criticized NPR’s coverage of Russiagate, the COVID lab leak theory, Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop, embrace of the theory of systemic racism, in addition to saying it downplayed antisemitism following Oct. 7.
5 THINGS VETERAN NPR EDITOR EXPOSED IN STUNNING CRITICISM OF OWN EMPLOYER’S LIBERAL BIAS
NPR CEO Katherine Maher was largely defiant during rare public acknowledgment of longtime editor Uri Berliner’s claims that the public news organization lacks “viewpoint diversity” and caters to a liberal audience. (Fox News)
Maher was asked about the situation during a lengthy on-stage Trib Fest conversation about the future of public media with former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan. Maher insisted early in the conversation that she is “not a journalist” and she relies on NPR editors and newsroom leaders to direct coverage.
“My responsibility is ensuring the big picture, and their responsibility is ensuring the integrity,” she said.
“We want to be down the line, we want to serve the American public well,” Maher continued. “We want to serve people from a range of perspectives and backgrounds. And they should feel as though that coverage is meaningful to them.”
Maher said her “strategic view” is that NPR needs to be “really thoughtful about our role as a nonpartisan media organization.”
Maher said that Berliner’s criticism was received inside NPR as an “affront to the individual journalists who work incredibly hard to report the news and report the news well and report the news with integrity … in a nonpartisan way” by his now-former colleagues.
Maher said that Berliner’s criticisms fell flat when she examined the individual stories he publicly complained about, but she recognizes that it opened the door for a larger conversation about NPR.
NPR EDITOR REBUKES OUTLET’S OWN COVERAGE OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP, COVID LAB LEAK AND RUSSIAGATE
![Uri Berliner knocks NPR CEO Katherine Maher](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1726008864_106_NPR-CEO-Katherine-Maher-says-viewpoint-diversity-is-critical-defiant.jpg)
Longtime editor Uri Berliner stunned the media industry earlier this year when he blew the whistle on liberal bias at NPR. (Fox News Digital/Getty Images)
“Whether you want to call that sort of selective review or cherry-picking or what have you – it was meant to drive a thesis, and that thesis certainly got legs. Whether or not the criticism itself had validity or not, [the] thesis got legs, which means, at least in part, it tapped into some sort of sentiment,” she said.
“What I would love to disaggregate is the difference between what I think of as, sort of, an agenda-driven critique, which may be in part around broader conversations around public media receiving federal funding. And that is a long-standing conversation that happens in this country, you know, within political discourse,” Maher continued.
Maher said Berliner’s remarks underscore that NPR must ensure that it looks inwards in the face of “perceived criticism” to make sure the company is upholding its mission and serving a broad audience. She insisted that NPR faced criticism from all sides and some listeners even think the organization is too friendly to former President Trump.
“I think it’s important for us to say, ‘If you feel as though NPR was something that was a resource for you, and you no longer feel that it’s a resource for some sort of reason, why is that the case?’ And what is it that we need to interrogate about our own practices, editorial decisions, programming decisions that that makes it feel that way? And some of the answers that we came up with were kind of worthwhile,” Maher said.
Maher said that a constructive critique she has heard is that NPR is “too repetitive” on particular stories, because headlines of the day are cut in throughout various programs and could be heard a variety of times. So, if a listener hears the same story multiple times, it could seem like NPR is “putting our thumb on the scale.”
Maher pointed out that Berliner’s bombshell came only two weeks into her tenure, and everything the longtime editor objected to predates her time running NPR. However, Maher understands that it was her mess to clean up.
“When you step into an organization, you assume the responsibility for all that comes before it. That’s appropriate. That’s fine. It’s my responsibility to do with that criticism what we need to do in order to be able to address it,” Maher said.
NPR EDITOR KNOCKS OUTLET’S ‘TROUBLING’ AVOIDANCE OF GROWING ANTISEMITISM FOLLOWING OCT. 7
![NPR CEO Katherine Maher](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1726008864_114_NPR-CEO-Katherine-Maher-says-viewpoint-diversity-is-critical-defiant.jpg)
NPR CEO Katherine Maher appeared at the Texas Tribune Festival. (Fox News)
Sullivan asked Maher about a series of her social media posts from before her time at NPR that went viral following Berliner’s remarks. Maher showed support for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden’s presidential runs while regularly sharing far-left talking points and criticizing Donald Trump on social media before landing the NPR top job.
Maher said that once she assumed the role, she stuck to the same standards that everyone at NPR must adhere to and her only priority is to uphold the organization’s mission to serve the public.
“Those are past positions,” she said.
“I wasn’t a journalist previously, and I work in a journalism organization now. I think it’s fair to have some level of critique around it,” Maher added. “The question is, ‘Was it a disproportionate level of critique?’”
She believes that criticism of her past tweets had “some degree of disproportionate treatment,” because her predecessor, John Lansing, previously oversaw the Obama-era, government-supported Broadcasting Board of Governors but never received such harsh claims of being partisan.
“I never worked for government. I never worked for a partisan organization, I was a private individual with personal beliefs,” she said.
Maher said that “every single thing” in her life was combed through, and her family was doxxed and threatened along the way. She isn’t even sure if she’ll vote in November’s presidential election because her current address would become accessible once she registers, and she’s concerned people still have a bone to pick.
NPR EDITOR’S BOMBSHELL ESSAY CAUSING ‘TURMOIL’ AT LIBERAL OUTLET: REPORT
![Katherine Mahers post on social media about looting](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1726008864_915_NPR-CEO-Katherine-Maher-says-viewpoint-diversity-is-critical-defiant.jpg)
NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher’s old tweets about looting, her support for Hillary Clinton and Biden-Harris resurfaced earlier this year. ( (Photo by Rita Franca/NurPhoto via Getty Images), Screenshot/X/KatherineMaher)
“It was really ugly,” she said. “There were security questions, I had to change the way I went to work in the morning. It was not a super fun experience.”
Once Maher and Sullivan wrapped up their one-on-one interview, Fox News Digital asked the NPR honcho to address Berliner’s claim that voter registration records in 2021 showed an astonishing disparity between Democrats and Republicans in the NPR newsroom. Berliner said he found 87 registered Democrats and zero Republicans.
Maher said the numbers need to have context, as roughly 600 people work in the newsroom and the stats provided by Berliner represent a “small fraction” of individuals who self-reported their political affiliation. She also said Washington, D.C., does not allow hiring or screening candidates based on political affiliation, so hiring managers would “never” ask if a potential staffer was a Democrat or Republican.
“I do think it’s incredibly important for us to have people of diverse viewpoints in the newsroom, and the totality of the lived experience. It’s one of the things that we also seek to do by expanding the newsroom just outside of D.C.,” she said.
Maher said NPR has been investing in “collaborative newsrooms” across the country to give a voice to staffers from places like the Appalachia region, the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, Texas and other rural areas.
“That’s a great way for us to start getting out of D.C. and bringing in people who have a variety of different lived experiences and backgrounds,” she said.
“I think it’s important for us to be hiring reporters who are reporting based on their beats and experience, as opposed to looking and screening by political ideology,” Maher added. “Then ensuring that the work that they do is engaging with diverse sourcing and making sure that we’re representing all the stories that we cover in a way that it feels very balanced.”
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Hannah Lambert contributed to this report.
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Los Angeles, Ca
How the Los Angeles Lakers plan to honor Jerry West this season
![How the Los Angeles Lakers plan to honor Jerry West this season How the Los Angeles Lakers plan to honor Jerry West this season](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/09/jerry-west-jersey-patch-bibigo-sponsor.jpg?w=720)
The Los Angeles Lakers are honoring “the Logo” with a special addition to its jerseys for the upcoming season.
The Lakers will wear a commemorative No. 44 band on the left side of their home and away jerseys for the 2024-25 season in honor of NBA Hall-of-Famer Jerry West.
West died this past June at the age of 86.
West was a one-time NBA champion and a 14-time NBA All-Star who was inducted to both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
He’s the only player in history to win the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in a losing effort, capturing the award in 1969. He would eventually reach the mountain top three years later, winning his one and only championship as a player in 1972.
But he arguably left a bigger impact on the game for his work as a longtime NBA front office executive for the Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers.
West won the NBA’s Executive of the Year award twice and was at the helm of eight NBA Championship teams, including six with the Lakers.
Even those unfamiliar with West’s career have likely been witness to his indelible legacy. The NBA’s official logo, which features a player in an upright position dribbling with his left hand, is universally believed to be modeled after West, which earned him his famous moniker.
The league, however, has never officially confirmed the connection.
In addition to the season-long celebration of his life, the Lakers will also host a Jerry West jersey giveaway night during its Oct. 22 matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers announced a bevy of fan giveaways and special celebrations taking place during home games this upcoming season. The full list is below:
Date | Opponent | Celebration | Fan Giveaway |
---|---|---|---|
Oct. 22 | Minnesota | Honoring Jerry West | West 44 jersey |
Oct. 26 | Sacramento | LGBTQ+ Pride | Pride crossbody bag |
Nov. 10 | Toronto | Veterans Night presented by Pechanga | Lakers Pechanga camo hat |
Nov. 13 | Memphis | Lakers collectable pin set | |
Nov. 21 | Orlando | City of Los Angeles | City edition inspired socks |
Dec. 8 | Portland | Greetings from Los Angeles postcard set | |
Dec. 23 | Detroit | Lakers holiday sweater | |
Jan. 3 | Atlanta | Lakers license plate frame | |
Jan. 13 | San Antonio | Michael Cooper Jersey Retirement | Cooper 21 jersey |
Jan. 21 | Washington | Dr. Jerry Buss | Lakers collectable pin set |
Feb. 8 | Indiana | Mental Health Awareness | Lakers water bottle caddy |
Feb. 11 | Utah | In the Paint Local Art Program | To be announced |
Feb. 27 | Minnesota | Girl Dad Night | To be announced |
March 4 | New Orleans | Purple and gold luggage strap | |
March 22 | Chicago | Sneakerhead sneaker bag | |
March 31 | Houston | Collectable pin set | |
April 4 | New Orleans | Sneakerhead shoelaces | |
April 11 | Houston | Fan Appreciation | Lakers tote bag |
This season, the Lakers will also honor former owner Jerry Buss and will officially retire the number of five-time NBA champion Michael Cooper.
The team will also have a new jersey sponsor this season in the form of Korean food brand Bibigo. It will be the first time in NBA history that a jersey featured Korean characters, the team says.
Southwest
Arizona's proof of citizenship law heads back to the courts amid fears of noncitizen voting
![Arizona's proof of citizenship law heads back to the courts amid fears of noncitizen voting Arizona's proof of citizenship law heads back to the courts amid fears of noncitizen voting](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Arizona-Immigrants-December-2023.jpg)
An Arizona law that requires residents to show proof of citizenship in order to be able to vote in elections is before the courts again on Tuesday after the Supreme Court allowed parts of the law to be enforced – and amid national concerns about noncitizen voting.
Arizona’s law will be before a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday for oral arguments over the law, which was initially blocked by a lower court earlier this year. The law would require those registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship.
The Supreme Court allowed the enforcement of restrictions that block people from voting in state and local elections, but those who have registered without that proof can still vote in presidential and congressional elections with a different federal form. That form requires them to swear they are citizens under penalty of perjury.
SCOTUS GIVES PARTIAL VICTORY TO GOP TRYING TO ENFORCE PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE IN ARIZONA
The United States Supreme Court (front row L-R) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, (back row L-R) Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on Oct. 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Neil Gorsuch would have granted the application in full, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the application in full. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh provided a compromise of sorts with their deciding votes. The now-stalled 2022 state law requiring proof of citizenship was challenged by civil rights groups and the Arizona Democratic Party.
It comes amid yearslong concerns by Republicans, in particular about the potential for noncitizens voting in U.S. elections. This week, the U.S. Department of Justice said an illegal immigrant reached an agreement to plead guilty to charges related to stealing a U.S. citizen’s identity to vote in multiple elections and fraudulently obtaining an American passport.
Meanwhile, in Congress, Republicans have looked to tie a bill to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote in federal elections to a spending bill extension to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the year. The Biden-Harris administration has come out in strong opposition to the SAVE Act, making clear it would not be signed by the president if passed.
“It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal elections – it is a Federal crime punishable by prison and fines,” reads a statement of administration policy last month.
Arizona residents shared their views with Fox News Digital last month about whether voters should provide proof of citizenship to vote.
“Absolutely,” one voter in Sierra Vista, Arizona, told Fox News Digital. “I have to provide proof of ID to get on a plane to go to New York. So why wouldn’t anybody else have to have an ID to vote for the people that are going to run our country?”
ARIZONA LAW REQUIRING PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE SUPPORTED BY 24 STATE AGS IN EMERGENCY STAY WITH SCOTUS
“I think that’s a decent idea,” one man told Fox in Tucson.
“I think if it’s not there, and you don’t have you don’t have a way to prove it, then you shouldn’t be counted in the voting system,” a resident in Yuma said.
“Absolutely, it’s unconstitutional otherwise,” a resident in Arivaca said.
![Arizona-Immigrants-December-2023](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1725982944_101_Arizonax27s-proof-of-citizenship-law-heads-back-to-the-courts.jpg)
Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
“Absolutely, yeah,” another resident in Tucson said.
However, another Tucson resident disagreed. “I don’t think so because I feel like there’s a lot of people here that don’t have papers but still care for this country and care for their environments and their lifestyles, so I feel like those people should have a right to at least vote, or have speech for their own rights too.”
Fox News’ Greg Wehner, Bill Mears, Shannon Bream, Matteo Cina, Julia Johnson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Los Angeles, Ca
Live updates: Airport Fire burning in Trabuco Canyon grows to 8,500 acres
![Live updates: Airport Fire burning in Trabuco Canyon grows to 8,500 acres Live updates: Airport Fire burning in Trabuco Canyon grows to 8,500 acres](https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/09/GettyImages-2171092891.jpg?w=900)
A wildfire that broke out in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon Monday afternoon exploded by several thousand acres overnight.
As of Tuesday morning, the Airport Fire had scorched more than 8,500 acres and has forced the evacuation of some homes in Trabuco Canyon and Rancho Santa Margarita.
Resources: Incident Home Page | InciWeb | OCFA on X | OC Sheriff on X
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