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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNPR's New Boss: Financial Industry Lobbyist, GOP Donor, Right-Wing Think Tank Booster
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/09/17/nprs-new-boss-financial-industry-lobbyist-gop-donor-right-wing-think-tank-booster/
Posted by Peter Hart
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 worldthanks in large part to the efforts of the Investment Company Institute."
NPR also adds that Haaga has ties to right-wing think tankshe 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."
Haaga is also a fairly regular contributor to Republican politicians. According to OpenSecrets.org, this year he made a $32,400 donation to the Republican National Committee; in the previous two years, he made contributions of around $30,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He's also given four-figure checks to a large number of mostly Republican candidates, including Rep. Paul Ryan, George Allen and Mitch McConnell.
So the new bossfor nowat NPR is a former financial industry lobbyist who is a regular donor to Republican politicians, with ties to two prominent conservative think tanks. When NPR finds a new boss, he'll continue to be a member of NPR's board.
According to right-wing mythology, NPR is a decidedly left-wing media outlet, living off government subsidies and pushing a liberal agenda. That's not at all true when it comes to what's on the airor who's on the board.
Posted by Peter Hart
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 worldthanks in large part to the efforts of the Investment Company Institute."
NPR also adds that Haaga has ties to right-wing think tankshe 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."
Haaga is also a fairly regular contributor to Republican politicians. According to OpenSecrets.org, this year he made a $32,400 donation to the Republican National Committee; in the previous two years, he made contributions of around $30,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He's also given four-figure checks to a large number of mostly Republican candidates, including Rep. Paul Ryan, George Allen and Mitch McConnell.
So the new bossfor nowat NPR is a former financial industry lobbyist who is a regular donor to Republican politicians, with ties to two prominent conservative think tanks. When NPR finds a new boss, he'll continue to be a member of NPR's board.
According to right-wing mythology, NPR is a decidedly left-wing media outlet, living off government subsidies and pushing a liberal agenda. That's not at all true when it comes to what's on the airor who's on the board.
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NPR's New Boss: Financial Industry Lobbyist, GOP Donor, Right-Wing Think Tank Booster (Original Post)
G_j
Sep 2013
OP
Why has the corporate/conservative takeover of our "public" radio been corrected?
PassingFair
Sep 2013
#2
Kick. I remember that it was John Rendon/The Rendon Group that perception managed the debut of then
bobthedrummer
Sep 2013
#6
Octafish
(55,745 posts)1. The boss certainly plays a role in shaping the coverage.
Ask Roger Ailes, toad of Rupert Murdoch and Richard Nixon.
PassingFair
(22,434 posts)2. Why has the corporate/conservative takeover of our "public" radio been corrected?
What's the hold up here?
WCLinolVir
(951 posts)3. This is why our local independent station opted out of NPR.
We still have DN, but they now use other media sources. I still occasionally listen to DR and To The Point. But some of the comments, not to mention the whitewashing, are just horrific.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)4. yay, more quiz shows!!
a kennedy
(29,721 posts)5. Love wait wait don't tell me......
bobthedrummer
(26,083 posts)6. Kick. I remember that it was John Rendon/The Rendon Group that perception managed the debut of then
Senator Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention too. Hope that others make the simple connections back to Joseph Goebbels and what was once called "conspiracy theory".
The Rendon Group (The Center for Media and Democracy/SourceWatch)
http://sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rendon_Group
Paul G. Haaga Jr and Heather Sturt Haaga also have ties /donated to the Salzburg Seminar
http://sourcewatch.org/index.php/Salzburg_Seminar