NPR CEO who previously called First Amendment a 'challenge' to receive 'First Amendment Award'
NPR CEO Katherine Maher will receive Harper's Magazine First Amendment Award despite once calling the amendment a "challenge" to fighting disinformation.
TL;DR
- NPR CEO Katherine Maher will receive Harper's Magazine's "First Amendment Award" on Oct. 26.
- In 2021, Maher described the First Amendment as a "challenge" in combating disinformation while CEO of Wikimedia.
- Harper's Magazine cited Maher's leadership at NPR through "scrutiny and challenge" and her efforts to "battl[e]" former President Trump's defunding efforts.
- Critics argue that NPR has faced funding cuts and has a history of questionable journalism, including not covering the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.
- Maher conceded in 2025 that NPR "made a mistake" by not covering the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively.
- Media watchdog Tim Graham criticized Harper's Magazine, stating that Maher's past comments on censorship contradict the spirit of a First Amendment award.