Hmmm... I'm 'Distoibed': New NPR CEO is RW Think Tank Guy w. Mucho Ties to ...

[Smarmie Doofus]

...GOP Pols and Mutual Fund industry.

I thought NPR was ... y'know... somewhat reliable; i.e. somewhat objective.


>>>>Last month NPR CEO Gary Knell left to take a job at National Geographic, making him the latest in a string of CEOs who left after a short stint running the public radio outlet. On September 13, NPR named a new acting president and CEO: board member Paul G. Haaga.
The NPR press release (9/13/13) states that Haaga's "accomplished career" included a stint as "chairman of the Investment Company Institute"–the powerful lobbying group of the mutual fund industry. As the Los Angeles Times (11/29/03) once reported, "Mutual funds have been mostly shielded from the reforms forced on the financial world–thanks in large part to the efforts of the Investment Company Institute."
NPR also adds that Haaga has ties to right-wing think tanks–he is "a member of the National Council of the American Enterprise Institute" and he sits on "the Board of Overseers of Hoover Institution at Stanford University."

Paul Haaga
Haaga is also a fairly regular contributor to Republican politicians. >>>>>

more at link: http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/09/17/nprs-new-boss-financial-industry-lobbyist-gop-donor-right-wing-think-tank-booster/


So... what does it all mean? I thought the "public" part was to take all the $$$ bias out of the content. No?

[madrchsod]

1. i stick to my local npr station

local news,bbc overnight ,and locally produced music programing. for everything else the internet and my local progressive radio station

[dorkzilla]

2. Same here...WNYC is all kinds of awesome

But this news is disturbing, nonetheless.

[Jefferson23]

3. It will be telling what is not covered and the depth or lack there of, going forward.n/t

[MADem]

4. NPR was poisoned by Bush. It is seeded with wingnuts that he tossed in there over his eight year

reign of terror.

That whole "Waaah, waaah, waaah, We Must DEFUND NPR!!!!" line of GOP horseshit is just a canard to get progressives upset about the wrong things. Congress gives NPR next to nothing.

If NPR was forced to rely on donations alone, it would probably become much more liberal.

[Ron Green]

5. I knew NPR was no longer reliable in 2004 when,

in the final days before the general election, they were running long stories in which they interviewed "undecided voters" between Bush and Kerry.??! In other words, they were giving large chunks of airtime to MORONS, in their efforts to prop up a false equivalency.

Since that time I've listened more carefully, and it soon became apparent they're just all about their corporate sponsors.

At least with Fox News, people know the agenda.