NPR claimed on Tuesday that conservative activist Christopher Rufo was "targeting" the outlet's CEO Katherine Maher because he shared her old social media posts, reflecting pro-Democrat and progressive ideals.
Rufo, a senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute, highlighted several of Maher's posts from her X account, formerly known as Twitter.
Maher, who served as the CEO for Web Summit and Wikimedia Foundation prior to taking over NPR last month, showed her support for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 while criticizing former President Trump. She also espoused progressive ideals and critical race theory language, like how she regretted using a protest sign that stated, "This is crazy" because it was "abelist."
She wrote on X 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 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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Maher's old posts came under scrutiny after veteran NPR editor Uri Berliner blew the whistle on how the news organization had "lost America's trust" because of the overt leftist bias present in its reporting and the lack of viewpoint diversity. NPR suspended Berliner for five days without pay for not getting authorization to talk to outside media, prior to publishing his thoughts.
In response to the news of his suspension, Berliner singled out Maher, telling his NPR colleague, media reporter David Folkenflik, "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."
In that same piece, the NPR media reporter also wrote Rufo was "targeting" Maher by sharing her old tweets.
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"Conservative activist Christopher Rufo is among those now targeting NPR's new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network. Among others, those posts include a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist and another that appeared to minimize rioting during social justice protests that year. Maher took the job at NPR last month — her first at a news organization," Folkenflik wrote.
Rufo commented on Folkenflik’s article on Tuesday, stating, "NPR is now claiming that I am ‘targeting’ its CEO by highlighting her own tweets. Katherine Maher is a standard-issue affluent, white female liberal, who is now discovering that her inner monologue is wildly out of touch with the public that, in part, pays her salary."
In a statement Monday defending her posts, Maher said, "In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen. What matters is NPR's work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests."
NPR did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report.
