NPR Exec Caught on Camera Slamming Tea Party Republicans

[Dusty]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...y-republicans/

Typical slimy lib backstabber...

An NPR executive was caught on camera lambasting the Tea Party as "seriously racist" and claiming that liberals might be, as a whole, more educated than conservatives.

The comments from Ron Schiller, a senior executive at NPR and president of the NPR Foundation, were made during a meeting with two people posing as members of a fictitious Muslim organization. The two activists, who recorded the February meeting on hidden camera, were trying to convince NPR executives of accepting a $5 million donation -- money NPR apparently refused.

Schiller has since announced he is leaving NPR to join the Aspen Institute in Colorado, though NPR said there is "no connection" between the video of his comments and his departure.

During the secretly recorded meeting, Schiller lamented how the Republican Party had been "hijacked" by the Tea Party.

"The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved with people's personal lives," he said.

Schiller described that movement as "white, middle America, gun-toting," and added: "They're seriously racist people."

Schiller went on to lament what he called an "anti-intellectual" component of the Republican Party.

"Liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives," he said.

After the video was released, NPR put out a statement condemning the comments, while noting that Schiller is leaving the company.

"We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for," the statement said.

NPR also said the "fraudulent organization" repeatedly tried to get the company to accept a $5 million check, "which we repeatedly refused to accept."

The video was released by James O'Keefe, the conservative activist best known for producing undercover videos that showed employees with the community advocacy group ACORN helping a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute.

O'Keefe and three other conservative activists were later charged with misdemeanors for allegedly trying to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in Louisiana.

The Tea Party Patriots slammed NPR for the Schiller comments Tuesday, calling on Congress to de-fund the radio network in light of the remarks.

"Mr. Schiller's latest comments provoke a larger question -- how long will we as a nation be willing to tolerate the arrogance of the self-appointed ruling elite?" Tea Party Patriots coordinator Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, who is not related to Ron Schiller, delivered a speech Monday in which she rejected claims of bias at NPR.

[Richard]

NPR's been reporting the story here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...-federal-funds

Richard

[Badger52]

Got enough popcorn?

This update greeted me this morning.

EXSUM:
Embattled NPR CEO Vivian Schiller resigned Wednesday at the request of the board after a hidden-camera video was released showing a fellow executive criticizing Republicans as "anti-intellectual" and calling the Tea Party "racist."

The resignation caps a tumultuous period for Schiller and comes just two days after she delivered a major speech in Washington outlining her vision for NPR's future. NPR Board of Directors Chairman Dave Edwards, in a statement on NPR's website, said the board accepted Schiller's resignation, which is "effective immediately," with regret. According to The Associated Press, the board asked Schiller to step down, and she complied.

[dennisw]

Ron Schiller also issued this apology:

"While the meeting I participated in turned out to be a ruse, I made statements during the course of the meeting that are counter to NPR's values and also not reflective of my own beliefs. I offer my sincere apology to those I offended. I resigned from NPR, previously effective May 6th, to accept another job. In an effort to put this unfortunate matter behind us, NPR and I have agreed that my resignation is effective today."

I find his comments to be farcical. They don't represent NPR's values or his own. Interesting. He must have puppet strings attached.

[kgoerz]

Is this any surprise.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...iller-resigns/

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by dennisw

I find his comments to be farcical. They don't represent NPR's values or his own. Interesting. He must have puppet strings attached.

Might be farcical or not. But, the whole thing is crappy.
Lying to get someone to say something to embarrass themselves?
Fruit of the poisoned tree.
Lately, I've been reading Kant, and his rejection of lying in all forms regardless of circumstances, objective and consequences is sounding better and better.

In short, a liar (trying to make a clearly illegal monatary contribution) got a guy (who refused to accept the illegal contribution, repeatedly) to honestly state his opinion
and we're chastising the latter?

ALICE! Look out for that Rabbithole!
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____

And this damning quote: ""Liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives,"
Well duh! Look at me!

[dennisw]

Might be farcical or not. But, the whole thing is crappy.
Lying to get someone to say something to embarrass themselves?
Fruit of the poisoned tree.
Lately, I've been reading Kant, and his rejection of lying in all forms regardless of circumstances, objective and consequences is sounding better and better.

In short, a liar (trying to make a clearly illegal monatary contribution) got a guy (who refused to accept the illegal contribution, repeatedly) to honestly state his opinion and we're chastising the latter?

ALICE! Look out for that Rabbithole!

I believe Ron Schiller was trying to re Kant also, but no one is buying it. You're right, it's kind of a scum bag move, but this I don't get: He honestly stated his opinion and then said it wasn't his honest opinion. You have to admit, that's pretty funny.

[JJ_BPK]

In any case,,

If this leads to the complete de-funding of the NPR,,

They did good,, I B Happy..

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

In any case,,

If this leads to the complete de-funding of the NPR,,

They did good,, I B Happy..

That would be at least two of us.
The various remarks are probably quietly supported or forgiven in NPR halls.
The following attributed to Heller, however, is absolute heresy to them:

That NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding," a position in direct conflict with the organization's official position.

[silentreader]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Might be farcical or not. But, the whole thing is crappy.
Lying to get someone to say something to embarrass themselves?
Fruit of the poisoned tree.
Lately, I've been reading Kant, and his rejection of lying in all forms regardless of circumstances, objective and consequences is sounding better and better.

In short, a liar (trying to make a clearly illegal monatary contribution) got a guy (who refused to accept the illegal contribution, repeatedly) to honestly state his opinion
and we're chastising the latter?

ALICE! Look out for that Rabbithole!
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____

And this damning quote: ""Liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives,"
Well duh! Look at me!

While I certainly don't condone the sentiments expressed by Schiller, I think you're on the money here. O'Keefe is a bottom-feeding "journalist" of the worst sorts- picking politically vulnerable targets, constructing elaborate (and generally tasteless) ruses to serve as a trap, and then editing his secret footage in a way to emphasize whatever message he wants to send. It worked against ACORN and it appears to have worked here. I lost a lot of respect for NPR because they appear to have slammed the panic button instead of aggressively attacking this guy for his dishonest journalism.

Whatever you think of ACORN and NPR, you have to acknowledge that O'Keefe's practices are counterproductive and destructive in the long run (I'd include the liberals who have made calls to Wisconsin and Palin posing as Koch and Sarkozy in my condemnation as well, along with the edited Wikileaks video that tried to hide the weapons).

Videotapes secretly recorded last summer and severely edited by O'Keefe seemed to show ACORN employees encouraging a "pimp" (O'Keefe) and his "prostitute," actually a Florida college student named Hannah Miles, in conversations involving prostitution by underage girls, human trafficking and cheating on taxes. Those videos created a media sensation.

Evidence obtained by Brown tells a somewhat different story, however, as reflected in three videotapes made at ACORN locations in California. One ACORN worker in San Diego called the cops. Another ACORN worker in San Bernardino caught on to the scheme and played along with it, claiming among other things that she had murdered her abusive husband. Her two former husbands are alive and well, the Attorney General's report noted. At the beginning and end of the Internet videos, O'Keefe was dressed as a 1970s Superfly pimp, but in his actual taped sessions with ACORN workers, he was dressed in a shirt and tie, presented himself as a law student, and said he planned to use the prostitution proceeds to run for Congress. He never claimed he was a pimp.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by silentreader

..... O'Keefe is a bottom-feeding "journalist" of the worst sorts- picking politically vulnerable targets, constructing elaborate (and generally tasteless) ruses to serve as a trap, and then editing his secret footage in a way to emphasize whatever message he wants to send.....

Geez, silentreader, talk about shooting the messenger.

But it's OK when the MSM does the same thing? Because they're the MSM it's OK.

Ah, and that would be...........

[silentreader]

Originally Posted by Pete

Geez, silentreader, talk about shooting the messenger.

But it's OK when the MSM does the same thing? Because they're the MSM it's OK.

Ah, and that would be...........

QP Pete-

If there are incidents of journalists from the MSM posing as people they're not and then using selective editing to make political statements, I will be happy to condem them (shoot the messenger) as well. I may be relatively young, but I don't recall ever reading an article in the NY Times, for example, that got its story using these methods*.

-SR


*With the caveat that all stories require editing and that this process is inherently selective. The question is whether it's deliberately misleading or not, and in the case of the ACORN scandal, it clearly was. Fool me once, shame on you...

[Pete]

Originally Posted by silentreader

QP Pete-

If there are incidents of journalists from the MSM posing as people they're not and then using selective editing to make political statements, I will be happy to condem them (shoot the messenger) as well. I may be relatively young, but I don't recall ever reading an article in the NY Times, for example, that got its story using these methods*.

-SR


*With the caveat that all stories require editing and that this process is inherently selective. The question is whether it's deliberately misleading or not, and in the case of the ACORN scandal, it clearly was. Fool me once, shame on you...

I think you need to do a lot of research before you shoot your mouth off again.

The MSM has developed Ambush journalism and traps for the unwary they don't like to a fine art - all in the name of doing good.

[JimP]

The NYT is famous for creating these situations. Look at their main reporter in the Kremlin prior to WWII and come back and spew this crap. They've been doing it for years. It's who they are.

[tonyz]

60 Minutes has a room full of Emmy's - many earned from investigative journalism - info from 60 Minutes web site.

Seems Mr. O'Keefe and 60 Minutes may share some tactics.

One, however, is big budget MSM the other is not.


Program Facts


"60 Minutes," the most successful television broadcast in history, began its 43rd season in September 2010. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast begun in 1968 is still a hit in 2010, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10. Over the 2009-'10 season, "60 Minutes" continued its dominance as the number-one news program, drawing an average of 13.2 million viewers per week - more than twice those of its network news magazine competitors and more than five million viewers ahead of the most-watched daily network evening news broadcast. The average audience for a "60 Minutes" broadcast still dwarfs the biggest audiences drawn by cable news programs.

About a million more people listen to the "60 Minutes" radio simulcast in several major cities and hundreds of thousands each week experience "60 Minutes" online. The broadcast's segments can be watched at 60Minutes.com, while a new sister site, 60MinutesOvertime.com, offers content originally produced for the Web only, including behind-the-scenes video about the production of "60 Minutes" stories and timely archival segments. The broadcast's content can also be watched on the iPad; its application is one of the most popular paid apps in Apple's App Store.

"60 Minutes" has won more Emmy Awards than any other primetime broadcast, including a special Lifetime Achievement Emmy. It has also won every major broadcast journalism award over its tenure, including 18 Peabody and 13 DuPont Columbia University awards for excellence in television broadcasting. Other distinguished awards won multiple times include the George Polk, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow, Investigative Reporters and Editors, RFK Journalism, Sigma Delta Chi and Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Reporting.

"60 Minutes" was created by the late Don Hewitt and premiered on CBS Sept. 24, 1968. Jeff Fager is the program's executive producer. The correspondents and contributors of "60 Minutes" are Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Steve Kroft, Lara Logan, Scott Pelley, Byron Pitts, Charlie Rose, Morley Safer, Bob Simon and Lesley Stahl. Andy Rooney, the broadcast's commentator, began his regular on-air segment, "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" in 1978.