In March, Eagle Forum reported on the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) intention to defund National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Now, President Donald Trump has taken action to eliminate public funds from fueling their extreme liberal agenda.
On May 1st, the President signed an executive order directing the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) — the umbrella organization that distributes federal grants — to cease funding to NPR and PBS. This is to “ensure that federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage.” The EO correctly states, “No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.”
Shortly after the announcement of this EO, the White House budget was released. The President’s budget suggests the elimination of federal funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. It is now in the hands of Congress to enact these cuts. With the reconciliation package coming together and an appropriations deadline in September, House Members have various avenues to do so.
Those who work in public broadcasting are not ignorant of the complaints of their liberal biases and knew this was coming. They created the problem themselves. NPR editor Uri Berliner penned an op-ed in The Free Press lamenting the failures of NPR. He claims that 67% of listeners are somewhat or very liberal, and that number continues to grow over time. This could be because the vast majority of NPR employees are registered Democrats. All 87 editorial positions are held by Democratic voters, and zero are Republicans. NPR CEO Katherine Maher admitted this was a problem during a Congressional hearing this month and went on to say, “I do believe we need to have journalists who represent the full breadth of American society so we report well for all Americans.” NPR has not represented Americans for a long time.
Maher has only been the CEO for a year, but there are reasons that she was hand-picked for the job. For instance, in 2020, she wrote on Twitter, “America is addicted to white supremacy.” She has called Trump a “deranged racist sociopath” and “fascist.” But, as Daniel McCarthy at the Media Research Center puts it, “she didn’t make NPR woke — just the opposite: Maher’s in charge because she perfectly represents NPR’s preexisting institutional bias.” NPR has spent decades losing the trust of the American people.
NPR has given us ample evidence of its biased reporting in recent years. In June 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, NPR published the headline, “Park Police Tear Gas Peaceful Protesters To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op.” The reality was that protestors had set fire to St. John’s Church after becoming violent with law enforcement, and police threw cans of smoke — not tear gas. Additionally, NPR published a podcast titled “How racism became a marketing tool for country music,” claimed that the terminology in the Declaration of Independence is “offensive,” apologized for using the word “illegal” when categorizing illegal immigrants, and aired audio of an abortion. These examples are just some of the long list of outrageous reporting that has been paid for by our taxpayer dollars.
PBS has followed in lockstep. PBS published a recent documentary pushing reparations, featured actions to be “woke” on their show “A Seat at the Table,” and claimed that President Trump’s Mt. Rushmore speech was really “white resentment.” Not to mention that Sesame Street has disparaged Trump since the 1980s with a puppet named Ronald Grump who wants to demolish the street. Perhaps they are the ones in need of a lesson on bullying.
For far too long, NPR and PBS have been hostile to a large swath of the taxpayers who fund them. We are thankful President Trump is defending the integrity of our pocketbooks. Eagle Forum has joined the Defund Coalition to work with like-minded organizations to eliminate federal funding from these biased outlets. You can visit their website here to thank President Trump for his efforts in defunding NPR and PBS. You can also call your Congressman and Senators to ask them to ensure the upcoming reconciliation package includes the elimination of funding to so-called “public broadcasting.”
