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Former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller was more optimistic about the outlet’s future without federal funding on Saturday, adding that she’s long felt that mixing journalism and federal funding was a “recipe for disaster.”
“Those of us that care about local journalism are going to help them,” Schiller said on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.” “The fact is this is done. The money is gone. The rescission has happened. So my perspective now is let’s move on.”
Congress successfully passed a $9 billion “rescissions package” which included approximately $1 billion in spending cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – which funds PBS and NPR – for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Vice President and Executive Director of Aspen Digital Vivian Schiller speaks at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs on March 28, 2024, in New York City. (Photo by Shahar Azran/Getty Images)
Though many liberal commentators and journalists have attacked the package as an infringement on the free press, Schiller argued that it could be seen as an opportunity.
“Look, in many cases, I have long believed that mixing journalism and federal funding is just a recipe for disaster,” Schiller said. “So in many ways, I think this is an opportunity for a reset. I think the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was a very bureaucratic organization that was, still is today, doling out that money, will go away. Let’s reset. Let’s come up with a new governance structure. Let’s get support for those rural stations from the communities, from philanthropies and find other ways to support them.”
She added, “I tend to look at the bright side of life and say let’s just find a better way forward, because there were problems with the former system.”
Fox News Digital reached out to NPR for comment.
NPR WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS EMBRACE OF ‘FRINGE PROGRESSIVISM’ LED TO DEFUNDING
Congressional Republicans passed a rescission package that cut federal funding for NPR. (Getty Images)
Current NPR CEO Katherine Maher warned staff members on Thursday, before the package was officially passed by Congress, that the outlet would expect to see significant change with the loss of funding.
“We are going to go through a tremendous amount of change,” Maher said, adding that they would “continue pushing” until the end of the process.
NPR has come under fire over the last few years by Republicans and conservative critics for pushing what they have argued was liberal bias in its reporting. Maher has repeatedly denied this.
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