Trump says he'd love to yank funding for NPR, PBS: 'I'd be honored to see it end'
President Donald Trump said he "would love to" remove federal funding for mainstream news outlets NPR and PBS during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
"Well, I would love to do that," Trump said in response to a reporter who asked him about the DOGE Subcommittee hearing entitled "Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable," where NPR and PBS leaders will testify.
"I think it's very unfair," Trump added. "It's been very biased. The whole group, I mean, a whole group of them. And frankly, there's plenty of -- look at all the media you have right now. There's plenty of coverage."
Katherine Maher, chief executive officer and president of NPR (National Public Radio), and Paula Kerger, chief executive officer and president of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), are slated to testify on why "the demonstrably biased news coverage they produce for an increasingly narrow and elitist audience should continue to be funded by the broad taxpaying public," according to a press release from the DOGE Subcommittee.
Maher and Kerger are expected to push back and justify their news organizations and why they merit receiving public funding. Less than 1% of NPR's funding comes directly from the federal government, though other funding comes indirectly from grants and dollars allocated to local member stations who then pay fees back to NPR.
PBS reportedly receives 16 percent of their funding from the government. Its website states it receives funding in part from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which receives roughly $500 million a year approved by Congress, saying "CPB allocates the appropriation mostly to public television and radio stations, with some assigned to NPR and PBS to support national programming."
Trump believes the federal money received by the mainstream outlets is not being put to good use.
"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," Trump said. "And I'd be honored to see it end. We're well covered. Look at all the people that we have here today. We're well covered, and we don't need it, and it's a waste of money especially. I don't even know what DOGE's recommendation is. I assume their recommendation is to close them up."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who chairs the DOGE Subcommittee, said she believes Maher and Kerger should justify their need for federal funds.
"I want to hear why NPR and PBS think they should ever again receive a single cent from the American taxpayer," Greene said.
"These partisan, so-called 'media' stations dropped the ball on Hunter Biden's laptop, down-played COVID-19 origins, and failed to properly report the Russian collusion hoax," she added. "Now, it is time for their CEOs to publicly explain this biased coverage. Federal taxpayers should not be forced to pay for one-sided reporting, which attacks over half the country to protect and promote its own political interests. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to stop allowing the blatant misuse of taxpayer funds for partisan ends."
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