Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
The relatively new head of National Public Radio Katherine Maher could not be more wrong for the organization now that the Trump Administration is in office. She’s a left-wing political operative who got the job from Joe Biden because — and only because — she’s a life-wing political operative who bent a knee before Joe Biden.
“Unqualified” is the operative word.
She might be an OK fit if she were charged with reaching an audience of far-left college professors who still think Bernie Sanders was a better pick than Kamala Harris. But she’s charged with reaching an audience of all Americans, left and right politically.
Consider her latest act of silly defiance.
The Trump Administration has instructed federal agencies to cease and desist spending money on DEI. So, here’s NPR’s response:
“Our plan is to actually move some of that work into our operations and strategy work with the goal of continuing to think about how we reach a really diverse audience, because that is where America is going, from an intergenerational standpoint,” Maher told Max on Thursday.
Basically, she’s telling the Administration to jump off a bridge. She’ll keep her DEI personnel to “reach a really diverse audience.”
She’s the wrong person and the wrong time. But, she is correct that young Americans are moving to the right politically and culturally. If I though NPR under Maher were going to do the same, I’d say fine. Stay the course.
But I don’t believe it for a moment. In 2025, what’s the over-and-under for the number of stories NPR does on gender issues?
I’ll say 160.
Bet me.
Oscars
Once again, the Academy Awards leaves me feeling like a pair of brown shoes in a tuxedo shop. I see a fair amount of movies, but somehow I seem to miss the ones the Academy deems award-worthy. For example:
Best Picture — “Anora”
(Didn’t see it.)
Best Actress — Mickey Madison “Anora”
(Didn’t see it.)
Best Actor — Adrian Brody “The Brutallist”
(Didn’t see it.)
Oh, well. Maybe next year.
Postscript: I did see two of the winners in the shorts category. “I’m Not a Robot” and “The Only Girl In The Orchestra.” Both were excellent.
A Different Time
Some historical pictures seem more dated than others. Here’s one that didn’t age particularly well. It’s “Miss Atom Bomb” circa 1950.
As Special Agent Maxwell Smart might have said, we missed the end of the world by “this much.”
You can read more “Properly Subversive” here.
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