
NPR and PBS bigwigs were dragged before Congress this week, and boy, was it a doozy! The heads of these taxpayer-funded media organizations squirmed in their seats as they tried to explain why hardworking Americans should keep bankrolling their increasingly left-wing programming.
The House DOGE Subcommittee hearing turned into a full-blown roast when NPR’s Katherine Maher was forced to admit her organization completely botched the Hunter Biden laptop story. Meanwhile, PBS chief Paula Kerger struggled to defend programming that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bluntly called part of “the trans child abuse industry.” Your tax dollars at work, Americans!
Following this disastrous hearing, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) isn’t wasting any time. He’s introducing legislation to completely defund these “chronically biased” outlets, which have been “pushing Democrat talking points under the fake banner of ‘public media.'” It’s about time somebody stood up for the taxpayers who are footing the bill for content that regularly mocks their values.
From ‘Fox News’:
“They spend more money than any other network of its type ever conceived, so the kind of money that’s being wasted, and it’s a very biased view, you know that better than anybody,” said Trump. “And I’d be honored to see it end.”
The bill, cleverly titled the “No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services Act,” would force NPR and PBS to compete in the marketplace instead of being propped up by government handouts. What a concept – media organizations having to earn their keep rather than living off the taxpayer dime!
Busted: NPR’s Own CEO Admits the Bias
The most jaw-dropping moment of the hearing came when NPR CEO Katherine Maher had to confess that her organization completely mishandled the Hunter Biden laptop story. “We made a mistake,” she admitted, acknowledging that NPR representatives publicly dismissed the story as unserious and a distraction at the time.
She also expressed regret about her own past remarks calling President Donald Trump “a fascist and a deranged racist sociopath.” Nothing says “unbiased journalism” quite like your CEO calling a sitting president deranged, right?
DOGE Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t hold back, declaring after the testimonies that these outlets are “out of touch with everyday Americans” and that “the American people will not continue to allow such propaganda to be funded through the federal government with their hard-earned tax dollars.”
Your Tax Dollars at Woke: PBS Under Fire
PBS didn’t fare any better during the grilling. The public broadcaster came under intense scrutiny for programs like “Real Boy,” which follows a transgender character exploring sexuality – the kind of content many parents don’t want their tax dollars funding.
Rep. Greene didn’t mince words, bashing PBS as “one of the founders of the trans child abuse industry.” Democrats tried to distract from the substantive criticisms by invoking children’s shows in their bizarre defense, with some even using the slogan “Fire Elon, Save Elmo” – as if Sesame Street is all PBS produces.
What the Democrats conveniently ignore is that while NPR receives about 1% of its budget from direct federal funding and PBS around 16%, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which funds both) receives billions in taxpayer dollars. These figures mask the true impact of government funding, as the CPB directs over 70% of its money to local public media stations nationwide.
Freedom from Funding: The Conservative Solution
President Trump has already expressed openness to defunding these organizations, saying he’d be “honored to see it end.” Elon Musk, who heads up the Department of Government Efficiency, has likewise called to defund NPR, posting a 2022 video of Maher saying, “Our reverence for the truth might have become a bit of a distraction.”
A distraction from what, exactly? Pushing a political agenda? When the head of a news organization suggests truth is getting in the way, taxpayers have every right to question why they’re funding it.
As Rep. Jackson told Fox News Digital, though NPR and PBS were originally founded to produce non-biased, informational and educational content, they’ve since “turned into taxpayer-funded propaganda machines for the radical left.”
The solution is simple: make them earn their keep in the marketplace of ideas. If their programming is as valuable and popular as they claim, surely PBS and NPR can survive on voluntary donations and corporate sponsorships rather than forcibly extracted tax dollars.
Key Takeaways:
- NPR’s CEO admitted bias in Hunter Biden coverage and regrets calling Trump “a fascist.”
- Rep. Jackson’s new bill would completely defund both networks.
- Trump and Musk support ending taxpayer funding for these biased media outlets.
Sources: Fox News, The Guardian