WASHINGTON — National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned, the organization said Wednesday, following the release of a videotape that showed one of her colleagues discussing government funding and harshly criticizing Republicans and the Tea Party.
The scandal reignited calls from conservatives and others to end federal backing for public broadcasting.
“It is with deep regret that I tell you that the NPR Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately,” NPR Board of Directors Chairman Dave Edwards said in a statement.
“I recognize the magnitude of this news — and that it comes on top of what has been a traumatic period for NPR and the larger public radio community. The Board is committed to supporting NPR through this interim period and has confidence in NPR’s leadership team,” Edwards added.
NPR came under fresh scrutiny Tuesday upon the release of a new video by conservative activist James O’Keefe, who famously posed as a pimp in 2009 and secretly recorded himself as he sought advice from ACORN workers on how to avoid police detection.
In the latest video, filmed on Feb. 22, two men posed as executives from a Muslim Brotherhood front group that was supposedly considering donating $5 million to NPR. The men met with NPR executive Ron Schiller (no relation to Vivian Schiller), who was president of the NPR Foundation and senior vice president of development, and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving.
“Frankly, it is very clear that we would be better off in the long run without federal funding,” Schiller is recorded as saying in the video, which was posted Tuesday by The Daily Caller, a conservative news website. But the executive seemed to contradict himself, adding that “the challenge right now is that if we lost it altogether, we would have a lot of stations go dark.”
Asked how NPR would benefit if government funding were withdrawn, Schiller said it would give the station “independence.”
“Number two is that our job would be a lot easier if people weren’t confused about — because we get federal funding, a lot of Americans, a lot of philanthropists actually think we get most of our money from the federal government,” he said.
Schiller added that “NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive” if federal funding were revoked.
He also took shots at the Republican Party and the Tea Party, saying the latter was “fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamentally Christian, and I wouldn’t even call it Christian — it’s this weird Evangelical kind of movement.”
“The current Republican Party is not even the Republican Party. It’s been hijacked by this group that is…”
“Radical, racist, Islamophobic, Tea Party people?” one of the supposed donors cut in.
Schiller nodded, saying: “And not just Islamophobic, but really xenophobic. Basically they are, they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America, gun-toting — I mean, it’s scary. They’re seriously racist, racist people.”
On the same day the video was released, Schiller apologized for his comments and resigned.
“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,” The New York Times quoted him as saying.
“In an effort to put this unfortunate matter behind us, NPR and I have agreed that my resignation is effective today.”
Vivian Schiller and NPR came under harsh criticism last year after the organization fired analyst Juan Williams in October over remarks he made about Muslims and political correctness.
Schiller said earlier this week that, upon reflection, “We handled the situation badly.” Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss, the executive responsible for firing Williams, resigned in January.
Some in the NPR community claim Schiller, who served as CEO for two years, was forced to resign.
“I’m told by sources that she was forced out,” NPR’s David Folkenflik said on “Morning Edition” shortly after the news broke.
Joyce Slocum, senior vice president of legal affairs and general counsel, will replace Schiller as interim CEO, while the board establishes an executive transition committee to recruit and select new leadership.