Posted on Tuesday, February 4, 2025
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by Outside Contributor
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THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency has been aggressively identifying and eliminating a wide swath of federal spending since President Donald Trump took office.
Now, a new subcommittee in the House bearing a similar name, Delivering on Government Efficiency, is taking a look at National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, both of which are partially funded by the federal government.
Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., accused NPR and PBS of “systematically biased content” and invited the heads of both groups to testify before Congress.
“The Subcommittee is concerned by National Public Radio’s (NPR) blatantly ideological and partisan coverage and looks forward to your participation in our upcoming hearing,” Greene wrote in a letter to NPR. “This hearing is an opportunity for you to explain to Congress and the American people why federal funds should be used for public radio—particularly the sort of content produced by NPR.”
NPR has been under fire for years for its perceived liberal bias. Greene pointed to NPR’s coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story, the Russian collusion story, and most recently its coverage of Elon Musk’s salute at a rally that many Democrats alleged was a Nazi salute.
Musk is at the helm of DOGE, which has been on a spree of federal cuts, along with Trump’s decision to wipe out entire diversity, equity, and inclusion teams and departments within the federal government.
Up next could be funding for NPR and PBS. Critics of Musk and Trump point out most of the groups’ funding does not come from the federal government.
“This sort of bias betrays the principles of objective reporting and undermines public trust. As an organization that receives federal funds channeled through its member stations, PBS should provide reporting that serves the entire public, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups,” Greene wrote in a letter to PBS.
Trump’s head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, opened up an investigation into PBS and NPR, saying they may have violated the law by airing commercials.
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher released a statement in response:
“NPR programming and underwriting messaging complies with federal regulations, including the FCC guidelines on underwriting messages for noncommercial educational broadcasters, and Member stations are expected to be in compliance as well,” she said. “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.”
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Casey Harper.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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