Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NPR President Resigns Following Hidden Camera Flap
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 9, 2011
Modified Mar 9, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 9, 2011
Modified Mar 9, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday, outgoing NPR executive Ron Schiller resigned after conservative gadfly James O'Keefe released one of his hidden camera exposes, this one documenting Schiller calling the "tea party people" not "just Islamophobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people." Of course, you're not allowed to point out the obvious in certain situations, so NPR apologized and forced the guy out early. And now NPR's CEO, Vivian Schiller (no relation), has also resigned over the incident of candid truth-telling.
"The Board accepted her resignation with understanding, genuine regret, and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years," said Board of Directors Chairman Dave Edwards in a statement. The kerfuffle comes at a bad time for NPR; Republicans are trying once again to cut funding for the news organization, and the video records Schiller saying what many NPR executives have said privately, that NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding." House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said yesterday, "This disturbing video makes it clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR."
Ron Schiller did not work on the news side, but he was the head of fundraising for the NPR foundation, and the remarks were made at a meeting in which O'Keefe and an associate were posing as members of a fictitious Muslim organization that wanted to give $5 million to NPR. At the meeting, Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR senior director of institutional giving, did not indicate that they would accept O'Keefe's bogus $5 million (the impostors claimed their group had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood). But comments like "liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives" don't exactly help NPR counter its image as a biased, left-leaning news organization.
PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting received nearly $450 million in federal funding last year, but only about 2 percent, or $2.4 million, of NPR's funding comes from federally funded organizations, ABC News reports. According to the Washington Post, NPR's member stations, which pay programming fees to NPR, rely on federal funds for a much larger share of their operating budgets, about 15 percent on average.
Tagged
cpb
james o'keefe
muslims
NPR
pbs
ron schiller
vivian schiller
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .