NPR’s top editor will leave the news nonprofit later this year, marking another setback for an organization already reeling over Congress’s vote to cut its federal funding.
Edith Chapin, who serves as editor in chief and acting chief content officer, will leave NPR in October, she told colleagues on Tuesday. “I have had two big executive jobs for two years and I want to take a break,” said Chapin, whose duties included overseeing NPR’s news content and the production of flagship shows like Up First and All Things Considered.
Chapin, who earned more than $300,000 in salary and benefits in 2023, said she informed NPR chief executive Katherine Maher of her plans earlier this month, before Congress voted to strip NPR of $500 million in federal funding. President Donald Trump and Republicans have questioned why taxpayer funds were going to NPR given what they said is the outlet’s strong liberal bias.
The two open positions vacated by Chapin’s departure present a key test for Maher: whether she will fill the positions with liberal editors after so recently denying that the media organization has a left-wing bias. “As far as the accusations that we’re biased, I would stand up and say, ‘Please show me a story that concerns you,’ because we want to know and we want to bring that conversation back to our newsroom,” Maher said last week, ahead of a Senate vote to cancel NPR’s funding.
NPR did not immediately announce a replacement for Chapin, who joined the outlet from CNN in 2012. NPR did not respond to a request for comment.
“Edith has been an indispensable partner during my first year at NPR, a steady leader for a large part of this organization, and a fantastic collaborator as a member of the executive team,” Maher said in a statement to NPR employees.
Maher has provided a ripe target for conservatives’ concerns about NPR bias. After taking over NPR last year, Maher faced scrutiny over social media posts promoting Democrats, demonizing Republicans, and touting far-left rhetoric about police and “white supremacy.”
Maher posted photos wearing a Kamala Harris hat and has called Trump a “deranged, racist, sociopath,” a statement she now says she regrets. Maher has embraced several left-wing causes, maintaining that the United States is “addicted to white supremacy.” Maher defended looting and riots after the death of George Floyd, stating it was “hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property.”
Weeks into her tenure, longtime NPR editor Uri Berliner published an essay at the Free Press lamenting NPR’s sharp leftward political shift.
“It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed,” Berliner wrote in an April 9, 2024, essay. “In recent years, however, that has changed. Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.”
Maher slapped Berliner with a five-day suspension over the essay. He resigned on April 17, 2024.
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