A new set of evidence shows that NPR refused to let the fake Muslim advocacy group acted out by James O'Keefe's group influence their news coverage or actually donate to the organization. The audio recordings released by O'Keefe today along with emails from NPR show that the broadcasting network refused to take the money from O'Keefe's fake group despite frequent requests to physically drop off a $5 million check. In addition, NPR officials refused to offer favorable news coverage to the fake group in exchange for the money.
For those new to the story, O'Keefe, both famous and somewhat infamous for his previous video stings, secretly recorded NPR executives in an attempt to show them being bought by a Muslim advocacy group. O'Keefe and fellow pranksters set up a meeting with NPR executive Ron Schiller to discuss a donation and secretly recorded him. In the meeting Schiller goes on to make a number of derogatory remarks about the Tea Party, at one calling them racist. Schiller has since said he was leaving NPR. In addition, the president and CEO of NPR, Vivian Schiller (no relation to Ron Schiller), was forced to resign because of the videos.
As is usually the case with an O'Keefe story, the most damning evidence is released first. That evidence gets a lot of press because of the sensationalism behind it and the promotion from conservative media. Later, more context shows that this "damning evidence" was not really as damning as once thought. In addition, later video evidence typically shows the organization behaving in an appropriate manner. This later evidence does not get the same press coverage because it is not as sensational and by this time the story is getting old.
In this case the new audio recording released by O'Keefe show NPR officials refusing to let the Muslim advocacy group influence their coverage. A prankster pretending to be a man named "Kasaam" asks the NPR official what they can expect in exchange for their $5 million donation. The NPR official repeatedly tells "Kassam" that his donation can not be accepted in exchange to change the direction fo news coverage at NPR or the amount of coverage given to issues that interest him. Again and again the NPR official makes clear that it is the news team that will make the decisions on stories, and that his donation will have no influence.
In addition, NPR has now released a set of emails in their dealing with the fake Muslim advocacy group. The emails show that NPR was unwilling to go along with the fake Muslim group's suggestion to not report the donation to the IRS. In addition, NPR requires the group to provide more information about their donors and submit the appropriate legal paperwork before moving forward with negotiations on the donation. One of the letters from NPR is quoted below:
From: Joyce Slocum
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 11:00 AM
To: 'okasaam@meactrust.org' Cc: Vivian Schiller; Betsy Liley; 'ihalemkasaam@meactrust.org'
Subject: Contributing to NPRDear Mr. Kasaam,
We are very grateful for the kind consideration being given by the Muslim Education Action Center to a generous gift to NPR. I'm sure you will understand that we need to verify certain information with respect to any organization that proposes to make a significant gift to NPR. In the case of an organization that holds itself out as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, contributions to which are tax deductible, we need in particular to satisfy ourselves that the organization is in compliance with the applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), so as to ensure against any risk of being caught up in later compliance activity. In most instances, we're able to verify this information without troubling the donor organization, by using publicly accessible information. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate the necessary information about the Muslim Education Action Center, and so we need to ask that you provide it.
The Muslim Education Action Center does not appear in IRS Publication 78, which lists all organizations which have received a 501(c)(3) determination letter from the IRS, and whose status as a tax exempt organization has not been suspended or revoked. (Only churches are exempt from the requirement of obtaining an IRS determination letter, though even many churches voluntarily do so.) Since the Muslim Education Action Center does not appear in Publication 78, we need to ask for a copy of the IRS determination letter as to its 501(c)(3) status.
Also, most tax exempt organizations are required to file an annual form 990 in order to maintain their tax exempt status. Failure to file for three consecutive years results in an automatic revocation of tax exempt status. Again, because such organizations are required to make their three most recently filed annual 990 returns and all related supporting documents available for public inspection, we are usually able to obtain copies of these from the organization's own website, or if not there, from GuideStar or the Foundation Center. We have been unable to locate the 990's for the Muslim Education Action Center through any of these sources, so need to ask that you also provide those for our review.
I would very much appreciate receiving the requested items at your earliest convenience, so that I might review them and provide appropriate guidance to my client.
Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions or I may otherwise be of assistance.
Best regards, Joyce D. Slocum
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