Fox-Phobic NPR Veep Ellen Weiss Has Husband On Obama Faith Council

Fox-Phobic NPR Veep Ellen Weiss Has Husband On Obama Faith Council

By Tim Graham (Bio | Archive)
February 17, 2009 - 09:51 ET

News broke Thursday that Ellen Weiss, senior vice president for news at National Public Radio, insisted that Juan Williams must tell Fox News that his NPR affiliation should not be mentioned or pictured on The O’Reilly Factor. (Weiss also banished a Williams interview with President Bush from the airwaves of NPR in 2007, so it just aired on Fox News.) But what about Ellen Weiss’s potential conflict of interest?

Weiss is married to Rabbi David Saperstein, the chief lobbyist of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, who was just named to the advisory board of President Obama’s faith-based initiative.

In a brief phone interview with me Friday, Weiss insisted that if news came up "that had anything to do with that advisory board, I’d recuse myself, as anybody would." She added "I have on other things, including how we were going to cover our budget crisis." NPR laid off 64 employees and canceled two programs in December. (Weiss refused to discuss her decision to tell Juan Williams that his NPR affiliation should not be raised on O’Reilly's show.)

Weiss told me that she saw her husband’s appointment as "a non-political advisory council, it’s not paid," and added: "I don’t see his participation as challenging my ability to oversee the independent news coverage of NPR."

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

But Weiss clearly knows that a White House office on faith-based initiatives is political: her husband criticized the faith initiatives of George W. Bush, and on a panel discussion for delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last summer, denounced the Bush office as "bad for the poor, bad for religion, bad public policy, and unconstitutional."

Rabbi Saperstein also gave the invocation on the night of Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field, praying especially for "that mighty guardian of the contemporary American conscience, Edward Kennedy." Last March, he officiated at the funeral of ultraliberal legend Sen. Howard Metzenbaum. On January 21, he spoke at the Obama inaugural committee's National Prayer Service. The last word you might use for him is "non-political."

Perhaps the next time Rabbi Saperstein accepts an interview with Fox News, they'll do the viewers a favor and note he's married to an executive at NPR that doesn't like Fox News.

[Photo from Rabbi Saperstein's blog at the Newsweek-Washington Post site On Faith]

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.

Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Ms. Weiss is correct.

February 17, 2009 - 10:01 ET by Karma

"I don’t see his participation as challenging my ability to oversee the independent news coverage of NPR."

Her challenge is to first aquire the ability she speaks of.

Bias doesn't see itself

February 17, 2009 - 10:06 ET by KC Mulville

In every discussion with the people who peddle bias the most, they always have the same defense: they don't see any bias. But that's the point. If you are biased, you're not going to see it. So the fact that you don't see it is hardly a proof that you're not biased.

Reform Judaism

February 17, 2009 - 10:19 ET by Jersey Girl

The censorship cabal on the left is akin to the fascist regimes around the world.

I am waiting to hear Juan Williams comments on this outrage.

"I don’t see his participation as challenging my ability...."

February 17, 2009 - 10:27 ET by ckbennetttn

"I don’t see his participation as challenging my ability to oversee the independent news coverage of NPR." Of course she doesn't. But Juan Williams, can't be trusted with that. Can you believe the arrogance?

Obama: 'I screwed up'--We're going to be seeing this a lot.

"Obama: 'I screwed

February 17, 2009 - 10:42 ET by celator

"Obama: 'I screwed up'--We're going to be seeing this a lot."

At the rate his screw-ups, miscalculations, laughable vetting process, and misteps are taking place, Obama should just hang a sign around his neck that says, "I'm sorry. I don't know what I am doing."

Here's your Sign

February 17, 2009 - 11:26 ET by boomercon

Jeff Foxworthy had it right...a sign. Clarifies it all for everyone. Obama's new deputy will be the guy who follows him around and monitors him, always ready with..."Here's your sign!"

While Jeff Foxworthy is one

February 17, 2009 - 17:12 ET by Pete Wilson

While Jeff Foxworthy is one of the funniest comedians around, it is Bill Engvald that has the sign bit. Foxworthy declares himself to be a "Redneck". Both will make you wreck your car if you listen to them in it!

Why?

February 17, 2009 - 12:10 ET by klchadwick

"Weiss told me that she saw her husband’s appointment as "a non-political advisory council, it’s not paid," and added: "I don’t see his participation as challenging my ability to oversee the independent news coverage of NPR."

Then why prevent an NPR personailty from declaring so while on Fox News?

Juan Williams, the only liberal I'd have a beer with...

February 17, 2009 - 15:59 ET by ckbennetttn

His boss just can't understand why he would lower himself to go on Fox News. Uhhh, because it's the most watched news channe, by far.

Obama: 'I screwed up'--We're going to be seeing this a lot.

Let us take her at her

February 17, 2009 - 17:15 ET by Pete Wilson

Let us take her at her word: that "his participation as challenging my ability to oversee the independent news coverage of NPR". It may, however, challenge her ability to cover the news in an unbiased way, particularly as it relates to the Obama administration.