The current NPR CEO used to lead US government propaganda agency, https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/management-team/john-lansin.... But yeah, go ahead, maintain they are not controlled by the state xD
He's not some super mastermind. NPR allows their journalists pretty free reign. Having petty little point scoring things to be deliberately mean over doesn't convince me. I don't mistake it as actual evidence of anything.