Wikipedia co-founder blasts successor Katherine Maher, says NPR should 'let her go right away'

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger took aim at his successor, Katherine Maher, whose past comments about free speech have resurfaced since taking over the now scandal-plagued NPR as its CEO and president.

City Journal's Christopher Rufo has been unearthing comments Maher had made during her tenure as executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. 

In one clip Rufo shared Thursday morning, Maher criticized Wikipedia's founding mission of being "free and open," something she said ended up "recapitulating" power structures and how its content was based on the "White male Westernized construct."

"For the ex-CEO of Wikipedia to say that it was somehow a mistake for Wikipedia to be ‘free and open,’ that it led to bad consequences—my jaw is on the floor," Sanger told Rufo in an interview on Thursday. "I can’t say I’m terribly surprised that she thinks it, but I am surprised that she would say it."

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Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger urged NPR to remove Katherine Maher as its CEO "right away." (Getty Images)

Sanger, who left Wikipedia in 2002 and has been an outspoken critic of the platform's left-wing bias over the years, slammed comments Maher made suggesting Wikipedia coordinated with the government to crack down on so-called "misinformation."

"When she says that she’s worked with government to shut down what they consider ‘misinformation,’ that, in itself, means that it’s no longer free and open," Sanger said. 

Maher left Wikimedia in 2021 and joined NPR last month, days before veteran editor Uri Berliner came forward with his bombshell essay accusing NPR of systemic liberal bias. 

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NPR CEO Katherine Maher raised eyebrows over resurfaced comments about free speech and "misinformation" on the internet. (Harry Murphy/Sportsfile for Web Summit Qatar via Getty Images)

Sanger told Rufo if NPR wants to commit to objectivity and free speech principles, "they would let her go right away."

"I don’t expect them to do that. They don’t listen to people like us. They don’t care what we think," Sanger said. "But nevertheless, this is an important story because it shows just how cynical it is. It is getting to the point where you can’t accuse people like Katherine Maher of hypocrisy anymore because they’re not being hypocritical. They’re actually saying it out loud: 'We don’t really believe in this freedom stuff anyway.'"

NPR did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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Longtime NPR editor Uri Berliner, who is serving a five-day suspension for blowing the whistle on liberal bias at the organization, announced his resignation.  (Getty Images)

Maher has been engulfed in controversy ever since Berliner came forward with his stunning claims about NPR's liberal groupthink in the newsroom. A trove of Maher's social media posts have displayed pro-Democrat activism and woke ideologies, something Berliner referred to in his resignation statement. 

"I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cited in my Free Press essay," Berliner said. 

Berliner had been placed on a five-day unpaid suspension for allegedly violating NPR's policies for not seeking permission before appearing on another news platform. His essay was condemned by Maher in a memo to staff. 

"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," Maher wrote last week.

Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.