“Defund NPR. It should survive on its own,” is the call from Tesla CEO and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk as the House Subcommittee on DOGE requests the presence of NPR CEO Katherine Maher on Capitol Hill over claims of biased news coverage.
Musk made the statement in an X post on Tuesday, the day after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced she will conduct a hearing in March to examine claims that NPR and PBS ignored stories unfavorable to the Biden administration and promote partisan narratives.
Greene argues that as recipients of taxpayer funding, both organizations must provide objective reporting. The inquiry follows criticism from former NPR senior editor Uri Berliner, who accused the network of catering solely to liberal audiences.
An NPR statement on the DOGE letter reads, “We welcome the opportunity to discuss the critical role of public media in delivering impartial, fact-based news and reporting to the American public.”
“Since its inception, NPR has collaborated with local nonprofit public media organizations to fill critical needs for news and information in America’s communities. We constantly strive to hold ourselves to the highest standards of journalism, as evidenced by our publicly available standards and ethics guidelines, the presence of a Public Editor – a position relinquished by all other major news organizations – that allows the public to inquire directly about NPR’s journalism, and strong editorial processes that provide oversight of the entire newsgathering process, including a final review of the nearly 2,000 pieces of journalism aired or published by our newsroom every month.”
This isn’t the first question into public radio’s funding since the beginning of the year.
Last week, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called for an Enforcement Bureau investigation into NPR and PBS, questioning whether their underwriting acknowledgments have crossed the line into prohibited commercial advertising. Under federal law, public broadcasters can acknowledge financial contributions but cannot promote a company’s products, services, or business through comparative claims, pricing details, or calls to action.
Chairman Carr went on to say, “I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.”
In response, Maher was insistent that NPR and its Member stations adhere to FCC regulations on underwriting for noncommercial broadcasters. “We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules. We have worked for decades with the FCC in support of noncommercial educational broadcasters who provide essential information, educational programming, and emergency alerts to local communities across the United States,” she added.
Earlier that same week, the White House Office of Management and Budget rescinded a memo that would have paused some federal funding for public radio grants after a federal judge signaled plans to block similar future actions. The grants affected would have included the Next Generation Warning System grant from FEMA and the Ready to Learn grant from the Department of Education.
I listen to npr every day, not because I agree with their content, but rather because ithe content is usually interesting and it reinforces my opinion that they are biased in their political and social coverage. If they lost their government funding and had to run their business as a business, I would still listen, but would have the added benefit of knowing where not to spend my money, based on who they had to sell their commercials to.
We support public broadcasting at about a rate of 1/20th of what other developed countries do (a whopping $1.60 per citizen!) and then get mad that they have to get support from other companies? We claim to support the First Amendment but then demand public media treat our favored party better, like some state-run media of some autocratic ruler, or risk being defunded? Boy, no wonder the Guardian this week said President Trump is becoming America’s assignment editor. It won’t be long before pro-Trump media will be the only thing you’ll be allowed to watch.
…Said the guy who has plugged his brain into the Guardian. The USA spoke, Frank. It was a clean sweep of all swing states.
Biden-Harris had 4 years to “sell their plan” and America said No Thanks! It’s beyond time to stop playing hot potato with our tax money, including paying for agenda-driven radio messaging.
It’s long past time for NPR and PBS have its taxpayer funding pulled. They should, IMO, be allowed to stand on their own and broadcast ads to cover their budgets. Wait! Haven’t they already been doing that for years?