NPR boss rebukes editor's bombshell essay: Questioning our integrity is 'profoundly disrespectful'

NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher fired back at veteran editor Uri Berliner's bombshell essay, suggesting he was "profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning" for questioning NPR's integrity.

"I joined this organization because public media is essential for an informed public. At its best, our work can help shape and illuminate the very sense of what it means to have a shared public identity as fellow Americans in this sprawling and enduringly complex nation," Maher told staff in a memo Friday. "NPR's service to this aspirational mission was called in question this week, in two distinct ways. The first was a critique of the quality of our editorial process and the integrity of our journalists. The second was a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are."

Maher continued: "Asking a question about whether we're living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning."

NPR EDITOR'S BOMBSHELL ESSAY CAUSING ‘TURMOIL’ AT LIBERAL OUTLET: REPORT

She added: "It is deeply simplistic to assert that the diversity of America can be reduced to any particular set of beliefs, and faulty reasoning to infer that identity is determinative of one's thoughts or political leanings. Each of our colleagues are here because they are excellent, accomplished professionals with an intense commitment to our work: we are stronger because of the work we do together, and we owe each other our utmost respect. We fulfill our mission best when we look and sound like the country we serve."

The NPR honcho, who