They've recently (since 2016 or so) have over-corrected after constantly being called "left wing" by Fox News and other bullshit outlets. It's still relatively center, but they walk on eggshells regarding anything that might show perceived liberal bias.
I'm pretty sure he left the Guardian (or was forced out) shortly after his heel-turn... But still, couldn't help but feel burned. He was one of the two (I believe) journalists that were helping Snowden release his documents in a way that was digestible. What happened?
That, or he realized how easy and lucrative it is to grift conservatives.
He's gay too, so I think he knows that he can have Fox News and other garbage right-wing outlets parade him around as the token gay. To prove that they "hate the sin, not the sinner" (🤮)
I have no dog in this NPR fight. But I find the Reagan appointment 40 years ago line hilarious 😂. Not saying it’s not true or it wasn’t a negative. I think that hilarious.
Many OG hippies I knew would refer to NPR as "Nice Polite Republicans" and PBS as the "Petroleum Broadcast System". This was the kind of thing I was hearing around adults while I was a kid, and then later, I'd see conservatives act as if NPR and/or PBS were preaching Marx from the pulpit or something and just chuckle at that notion.
I remember one of NPR ombudsmen found that they relied on reps from right wing think tanks overly much, and that was not that long ago.