NPR does deep dive at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, finds CEO (governor's ex-flack) making editorial decisions

West Virginia Public Broadcasting's recent dismissal of a part-time reporter who angered state officials was "part of a years-long pattern of mounting pressure on the station from Gov. Jim Justice's administration and some state legislators," reports NPR media reporter David Folkenflik. "Since 2017, politicians have sought to eliminate state funding. The governor appointed partisans hostile to public broadcasting to key oversight positions. And the station's chief executive has intervened repeatedly in journalistic decisions."

CEO Carl "Butch" Antolini

WVPB Chief Executive Carl "Butch" Antolini denied "any hint of political interference in coverage," Folkenflik reports, quoting him: "A lot of the information that has been reported or disseminated is either partially or completely inaccurate." Folkenflik notes, "The statement was the only response Antolini or any West Virginia Public Broadcasting official would give NPR News for this story, despite repeated questioning." Later, Folkenflik notes that when he began inquiring, WVPB removed from its website all references to NPR.

"Allegations of serious political pressure on state-funded stations are rare," Folkenflik reports. "More than a third of West Virginia Public Broadcasting revenue comes directly from the state. Outside West Virginia, there are currently eight NPR member stations licensed to state entities, according to NPR. Many others are licensed to state universities." But WVPB "plays an outsized role in the local media landscape" in a state where "vast natural resources and wealth sit alongside abject poverty," because "the news industry has hit hard times." WVPB's 2021 annual report says it served 684,000 television viewers each month and 91,000 radio listeners each week, and other materials said its website got 1.6 million page views in 2022.

When Gov. Jim Justice took office in 2017, he tried to end all state funding of WVPB, but the legislature only cut 10 percent. The news director at the time said two senior officials "pressed the newsroom to stop covering Justice's business travails," Folkenflik reports. The officials didn't reply to his queries. After two CEOs came and went, the job went to Antolini, a former executive editor of The Register-Herald in Beckley, who had been Justice's spokesman. He was hired by a new governing board named by Justice, including "a top lobbyist for the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce" who had been a director of "a conservative think tank that has characterized state funding on West Virginia Public Broadcasting as 'wasteful' spending," and another lobbyist and "top adviser" to controversial coal operator Don Blankenship, Folkenflik reports.

When state Senate President Craig Blair questioned the dismissal of the part-timer who reported abuse of residents in state nursing homes, Antolini told his news director to get Blair on the air immediately, "saying Blair misspoke or was uninformed," and said he would review the news director's questions before the interview. Blair wouldn't cooperate. Folkenflik's story ends, "According to two people with direct knowledge of its activities, the legislature's commission on special investigations — a joint committee of the House and Senate — has launched hearings behind closed doors about the political pressures besetting the station."