Trump Prepares to Cut the Federal Purse Strings for NPR and PBS

Why should Americans fund public information services that are biased against half or more of them?

The Trump administration is making a move to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, known respectively as NPR and PBS. The plan is to achieve this through a procedural process called rescissions, which would prevent Democrats from using the filibuster to delay or even kill the clawing back of monies already allocated – in this case, about $1.1 billion – to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Republicans have long complained about anti-conservative bias and political partisanship displayed by the publicly funded radio and TV broadcast networks.

Among the many hard-to-deny instances of partisanship was the Hunter Biden laptop affair. Material recovered from the laptop was not only personally damaging to the younger Biden but also highly incriminating to the whole family – including Joe Biden. Emails, text messages, and other documents appeared to corroborate allegations that the Biden family benefited financially from Hunter’s international influence-peddling.

NPR – Is the ‘P’ for Progressive?

Democrats were attempting to discredit such claims, and 51 then-serving and former Intelligence Community officials signed a letter suggesting the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. NPR ran with this entirely unsubstantiated allegation, publishing an online article asserting, “The laptop story was discredited by US intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations.” None of that was true. At the time, not even the FBI, which obtained the laptop, had investigated its authenticity.

NPR also has a reputation for portraying “Christian nationalism” as a growing threat, taking an openly pro-abortion stance, and routinely reporting on President Trump in an indisputably negative light. Rarely does it publish an article that puts a positive shine on Trump’s policies.

The radio service invariably takes sides against those who oppose “transgender ideology” and the “transitioning” of teenagers. Second Amendment rights are not popular with NPR reporters and editors, as evidenced by a quick search of its website for related articles.

The Sept. 25, 2022, episode of the NPR show All Things Considered was published under the title, “The Constitution was built to allow for the few to hold so much power.” And, if one searches for NPR articles about free speech, one will first find a trove of them, all describing how it is under threat from – you guessed it – the Trump administration. Articles critical of Democrats are as rare as articles critical of Republicans are common.

So, despite the protestations and claims of fearless impartiality, NPR always seems to come down on the same side of every issue as Democrats and progressives. Maybe that’s just a weird coincidence. PBS practices similar bias.

PBS, NPR Biting the Hand That Feeds Them

Rescissions are a procedure of canceling or rescinding funds already allocated by congressional legislation. At the request of Republicans on Capitol Hill, the White House put together a rescission proposal that would, by a simple majority vote, cancel not only the $1.1 billion CPB funding but also claw back $8.3 billion in funds slated for USAID.

Following the Easter recess, this rescission plan will go to Congress. Both the Senate and House of Representatives will have 45 days to approve or reject it. NPR and PBS enjoy patronage via “diverse revenue streams,” as the New York Post observes, noting that “neither is likely to cease operations if they lose federal support.”

The bias, partisanship, and criticism of the current administration are not the problem. There’s plenty of that to go around in the establishment media. But a public information network funded even in part through taxpayer dollars has a moral, ethical, and perhaps even a patriotic duty to report accurately, truthfully, and objectively, eschewing political loyalties. If it fails to do so, it is surely no longer worthy of those dollars. Telling more than half of Americans that their values are wrong and that the president they elected is a “deranged racist” and a “fascist” – as NPR CEO Katherine Maher referred to Trump – while taking their money without their consent is not a good look. For too long, perhaps, NPR and PBS have been biting the hand that feeds them.