Republicans demand NPR, PBS explain why they should exist

Republicans accused publicly funded media outlets NPR and PBS of being “communist” and peddling anti-conservative reports, saying so in a hearing dedicated to why they should still receive taxpayer dollars.

Republicans on the Delivering on Government Efficiency Oversight Subcommittee accused Katherine Maher, the CEO of National Public Radio, and Paula Kerger, CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, of having a left-leaning bias that abandoned the outlets’ original purpose of providing news and information to what’s now an increasingly conservative, rural audience.

Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, opened Wednesday’s hearing, dubbed “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” with the demand that the CEOs explain why they deserve to continue receiving taxpayer money and contended that “for too long, taxpayers have been asked to fund biased news.” 

“NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, White urban liberals and progressives who generally look down on and judge rural America,” Ms. Greene said. 

Republicans’ push to defund NPR and PBS is not new but has regained momentum since President Trump began his second term in the White House. 

A day before Ms. Greene’s hearing, Mr. Trump said during a press conference in the Cabinet Room that he would “love” to defund the public broadcasting outlets, adding that funding for NPR and PBS was a “waste of money” considering the amount of media that Americans can access.

“It’s been very biased by the whole group, I mean, the whole group of them. And frankly, there’s plenty of — look at all the media you have right now,” he said. “There’s plenty of coverage.”

The outlets receive money in part from Congress through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That funding, which is reupped in two-year increments, was extended until 2027 with Congress’ latest funding bill signed by Mr. Trump. 

Lawmakers appropriated $535 million to the CPB this fiscal year. The CEOs of NPR and PBS said that most of the money, about 70%, of their respective outlets received went to more than 1,500 local radio and TV stations.

Ms. Maher and Ms. Kerger rebuked accusations that their outlets were biased, arguing they hold their respective organizations and journalists to the highest journalistic standards. 

NPR, in particular, was targeted by Republicans who pointed to a 2023 letter from its former reporter Yuri Berliner that contended the outlet had deep liberal biases and that its editorial team was composed entirely of registered Democrats. 

Ms. Maher, who became CEO after Mr. Berliner’s letter, said she was brought on board to help “revive and reorient” the decades-old organization. She noted that since taking the helm, she has hired new editors and analysts, with regular meetings with newsrooms across the country to provide better coverage at a local level. 

“It is essential that we deliver on this commitment, and we have work to do, and we are doing it,” Ms. Maher said.

Ms. Greene turned her animus to PBS, accusing the outlet of sexualizing and grooming young children by featuring a drag queen on a children’s TV show and producing documentaries about transgender youth. 

Ms. Kerger argued that PBS is consistently ranked as one of the best ways the government spends money and that the outlet’s programming provides a crucial lifeline of local news and educational programming in rural areas. 

“Our educational programming for children is one of the most important aspects of our service to the American people. I strongly believe that the programming that we offer to prepare children for the future is the most essential work that we do,” she said. 

Democrats on the panel countered that Republicans were merely using the hearing to engage in partisan theater, trying to silence news outlets they didn’t agree with. 

Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch, one of the top Democrats on the panel, said lawmakers should instead turn the focus of a House oversight subcommittee toward other issues, like the Signal group chat where top White House officials inadvertently included a journalist in planning discussions for strikes against Houthi terrorists.

“I’m sad to see that this once proud committee, the principal investigative committee in the House of Representatives, has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after Elmo, Cookie Monster and Arthur the aardvark all for the unforgivable sin of teaching the alphabet to low-income families’ children and providing accessible local news and programming,” he said.