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Npr Ceo Vivian Schiller

March 7, 2012 by · Comments Off on Npr Ceo Vivian Schiller 

Npr Ceo Vivian Schiller, NPR’s embattled chief executive resigned today after the top fundraiser for NPR said offensive things about Republicans and the Tea Party during an undercover sting orchestrated by conservative activist James O’Keefe.

Vivian Schiller, the ousted CEO, had also come under fire in recent months for NPR’s firing of conservative commentator Juan Williams last October.

But the controversial comments made by Ron Schiller, former president of the NPR Foundation, during what he thought was a lunch with potential donors from a Muslim-affiliated trust, cost Vivian Schiller her job.

Vivian and Ron Schiller are not related.

Another public broadcasting operation was targeted by the same sting. PBS today said that its senior vice president for development, Brian Reddington, responded to invitations by the same group but after an initial meeting, had “profound concerns” about the group.

“PBS’s practice is to vet potential donors when there is an appearance of a conflict of interest and to ensure they meet requirements of transparency and openness,” spokeswoman Anne Bentley said in a statement. “Attempts to confirm the credentials of the organization proved unsatisfactory and communication was halted by PBS.”

PBS and NPR are not affiliated with each other, though both receive money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is funded by Congress.

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