(AFP) – The editor-in-chief of the United States’ National Public Radio (NPR) announced her resignation on Tuesday, soon after the Republican-controlled Congress voted to cut millions in funding for the public broadcaster. In an email sent to employees on Tuesday, which was seen by AFP, NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said Edith Chapin had informed her of her intention to leave before the funding cuts were formally made.
Backed by US President Donald Trump, who regularly accuses media that is critical of him of being biased, Congress last week approved $1.1 billion in cuts to funds allocated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The CPB provides a minority share of the budgets for NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network of television stations. The funding cuts would impact about 1,500 local radio and television stations across the country, from New York to Alaska, over two years.
“This isn’t an easy note to write,” Chapin said in a note included in Maher’s email to all NPR staff. “Two years with two big executive jobs has been a comprehensive assignment.” She added that she would “reset after a few months of a career break.” Maher praised Chapin’s “enormous contribution” to the company, and said details of the transition would be worked out in due course. Chapin said she would remain in her job “for a while.”
The editor-in-chief’s departure comes as Trump has sought to slash public funding for news organizations at home and abroad, seeking to shut down outlets including Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In a statement last week, rights group Reporters Without Borders said Trump’s administration was “increasingly hostile towards the press, both mimicking and inspiring authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian regimes around the world.” Trump regularly accuses news media that criticizes him, including NPR, of having a “liberal” bias.
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