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.
