National Public Radio has named a new CEO, Jarl Mohn, aka Lee Masters. Mr. Mohn (his first name is promounced “Yarl”) was formerly known as Lee Masters when he was a radio DJ, and an executive at MTV, CNET, and E! Entertainment.  Needless to say, he is a hard core leftist, having “contributed $217,000, most of it going to Democratic candidates and political committees,” according to NPR itself. Since 1990.  Among other candidates, he has backed far left candidate Robert Reich, for whom Barack Obama is too conservative, in his failed attempt to win the Democrat nomination for Massachusetts governor, according to the Washington Post.

Mohn has a reputation as a turnaround artist, and he will need to exercise those talents at NPR, which has a chronic tendency to spend more than it takes in, despite government support and a handsome endowment, much of it courtesy of a huge bequest from the widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. The WaPo explains:

It is projecting a deficit of $6.1 million in its current fiscal year, or a little more than 3 percent of its projected revenue of $178 million. The gap between revenue and expenses led NPR to offer buyouts to its 840 employees in September, in an effort to pare about 10 percent of its staff.

It is an ongoing scandal that public money finances this left wing news outlet.

Having fired a previous president and chief fundraiser over a scandal involving extreme prejudice toward the tea party (calling them racist and xenophobic), it is an outrage that NPR appoints another leftist as CEO.

Photo credit: Jim Tuttle, NPR