NBC News to Hire Embattled Former NPR Chief Vivian Schiller
By Lachlan Markay | June 01, 2011 | 18:00
Former National Public Radio president Vivian Schiller, who was at the center of a pair of controversies that roiled NPR in recent months, has reportedly taken a position with NBC News.
Schiller resigned from her post at NPR after footage surfaced showing two of NPR's senior fundraising executives making offensive comments towards conservatives. Though Schiller was not in the video, she accepted responsibility as president of the organization. Schiller also came under fire for her handling of the firing of Juan Williams late last year. She was forced to apologize for suggesting that Williams should seek psychiatric care.
AllThingsD reported Wednesday that Schiller will oversee "digital projects" at NBC News:
People familiar with the company say Schiller, who once ran the New York Times’ Web site, will report to NBC News chief Steve Capus. Both Schiller and NBC declined to comment.
Schiller resigned from NPR in March, following a series of political flare-ups: The final straw was the release of a gotcha video that showed one of her lieutenants criticizing Republicans and the Tea Party.
If she shows up at NBC, I wouldn’t be shocked to see yelps from partisans who will argue that her hiring proves that the network is biased toward the left, etc.
That article seems to dismiss those concerns, but they are legitimate. If Schiller were the first employee with demonstrably liberal views, it would be a different story, but even her direct superior has a history of bias of his own - having dubbed Keith Olbermann's "fascism" accusations against Donald Rumsfeld "speaking truth to power." MSNBC hasn't spoken so much truth to President Obama's power, but then that doesn't seem to be NBC's gameplan.
Point being: this is a trend at NBC, and Schiller will fit right in.
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Comments
Can you just see all of the
Submitted by USA4freedom on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 6:33pm.
Can you just see all of the people that are working their way up the ladder at NBC, scratching their heads and thinking: WTF??
Rush is right, any type of failure for a liberal is an résumé enhancer.
Ronald Reagan, 1962: I did not leave the Democratic party, the party left me.
Insert: your name, 2008, the Republican party.
Great!
Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 7:12pm.
She has the right credentials to corral the entire news commentary staff!
im sure she,ll be right at home
Submitted by scarletandgold on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 8:01pm.
shes a master propagandist....she will be welcomed there with open arms...hell has layed her eggs and its hatched at nbc and msnbc..
The MSM is no more concerned about appearances . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 8:14pm.
. . . then they are about facts and accuracy.
Easing Perceptions
Submitted by libertarian71 on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 8:40pm.
Nobody is more qualified to repair NBC's bias problem like someone who fired and insulted Juan Williams for his comments about Muslims and being forced to resign because of the NPR scandal for employees trying to take money from a fake organization with dubious ties. Also, the NPR employee was espousing typical progressive talking points. I can't think of anyone more qualified to put on the NBC payroll.
I'm not suprised
Submitted by djwolf12 on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 8:41pm.
M.S.S.R. is striving to be the worst of cable news.
Makes perfect sense
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 9:51pm.
Given their sister station's (MSNBC) racist position of avoiding Black commentators, Schiller fits in perfectly.
Once again, Juan Williams can have a good laugh.
NBC
Submitted by batcat on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 10:09pm.
NBC= Nothing But Crap
Birds of a Feather, Flock Together...
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 10:43pm.
what else is expected from NBC?
Smart catch.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 11:07pm.
Hire a nationally known racist. She did fire Juan Williams... demo logic dictates what that means.
She Fits
Submitted by bmac32 on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 11:21pm.
What's her going to be, head nut case? NBC is failing in the ratings so she might add a few head cases and ten viewers would be a boost for them.
I'm up to 636 days without turning to ANY NBC/Universal channel
Submitted by Deskpilot on Thu, 06/02/2011 - 12:59am.
I refuse to watch ANYTHING on their family of outlets. I dont see their advertisers, so I don't even know who NOT to spend money with. (I have to presume it's the same advertisers as on all the other channels on TV)
I don't miss ANYTHING about NBC, CBS or NPR. Since ABC owns ESPN, I can't safely say that I've excluded them.
Schillers addition to their stable of cows will just suck down their bottome line a few pennies, because their advertisers don't get my money. Good Riddence.
Is this a comic joke?
Submitted by Less1leg on Thu, 06/02/2011 - 2:00am.
How can any MSM outlet have the stupidity to hire a motor mouth fool that got such bad press as this dufus, Vivian Schiller!
She brought so much bad management to a company that editorials cannot fill the copy lines with the endless stories of stupidity from that woman's office. I'm pretty sure that staff at NPR had to sign a letter not to release the dumb stuff that Vivian Schiller instructed the staff to do while she was head management. I think Juan Williams only touched upon the crazy stuff that Vivian instructed and stabbed people in the back.
Now, how can a place like NBC hire a sucked up old seahag like that within its precarious position within a competitive market like Television. If she couldn't handle management in a small market radion position how can she be any more effective in MSM Television. You know the NBC network doesn't have the greatest rating now for News broadcasting. Do you honestly believe that bringing in an elitest twit like Vivian Schiller is going to make up ratings to the other networks. I don't think so.
So much for my hope that
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 06/02/2011 - 10:18am.
So much for my hope that Comcast was going to clean house. Seems like they want to take NBC/MSNBC to even deeper liberal depths.