NPR, PBS honchos face tense grilling by GOP lawmakers over biased coverage, taxpayer funding

Yahoo

27-03-2025

The heads of NPR and PBS sat for a high-intensity grilling on Capitol Hill Wednesday as they tried to defend their taxpayer-funded liberal news outlets from the wrath of Republicans.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger testified before the DOGE subcommittee on Wednesday about alleged biased content that's put their platforms in GOP crosshairs. DOGE Subcommittee Chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., invited Maher and Kerger to testify about what Greene called their "blatantly ideological and partisan coverage" and have them defend the federal funding they receive in a fiery, partisan hearing.
Maher conceded that NPR botched coverage of Hunter Biden's infamous laptop, expressed regret about remarks she made about President Donald Trump before she ran the outlet, and was grilled on bias at her organization, while Kerger's PBS was accused of being "one of the founders of the trans child abuse industry."
Both PBS and NPR have been heavily criticized for political bias and for advancing leftist ideologies like gender ideology, such as a PBS movie called "Real Boy," which, according to PBS, follows a transgender-identifying teen as he "navigates adolescence, sobriety, and physical and emotional ramifications of his changing gender identity."
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In her opening remarks, Maher said NPR plays an essential role in "delivering unbiased, nonpartisan, fact-based reporting" to Americans. She said NPR is the only "non-paywalled" news outlet with a reporter dedicated to covering veterans' issues, and she believes local public journalism "has never been more important to American families."
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At one point, she claimed she had "never seen any instance of political bias determining editorial decisions," drawing scorn from conservatives online.
Maher said NPR's newsroom should operate with the highest standards and said it was their responsibility to serve Americans across the political spectrum. She told the subcommittee that NPR last year launched an initiative to improve its editorial review process to ensure all content is "fair and comprehensive," and that new editors and analysts have been hired to ensure different voices and issues are heard.
"I believe Americans voted for a transformative administration, and it is our responsibility to cover that transformation fairly with integrity and tenacity," Maher said.
Kerger used her opening statement to insist that PBS is vital to Americans who rely on it for specific news, ranging from coverage of high school sports and local elections to specialized agricultural stories.
"There's nothing more American than PBS. It's a membership organization. Our local service is at the heart of our work. Our job at PBS is to support our stations so that local stations can serve their communities. We've been proudly fulfilling our mission for nearly 60 years, using the public airwaves and other technologies to help educate, engage, and inspire the American people," Kerger said.
"PBS stations provide something that cannot be found on commercial networks. This is because PBS stations are focused on the needs and interests of the viewers they serve," Kerger continued. "Especially in rural areas, PBS stations are the only outlet providing coverage of local events."
Democrats on the DOGE subcommittee invoked characters from Sesame Street and The Muppets to attack Republican efforts to cut funding to public broadcasting.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, a member of the "Squad," attempted to take shots at Trump and DOGE chief Elon Musk, asking, "Has Miss Piggy ever been caught trying to funnel billions of dollars in government contracts to herself and to her companies?"
Casar suggested that Republicans are using PBS and NPR as a "scapegoat" to "try to distract from the fact that Trump and Musk are robbing working people," while Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., asked Kerger, "Is Elmo now or has he ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?"
Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., blasted the committee for even holding the hearing, accusing the subcommittee of going after "Bird Bird" and sarcastically saying PBS has committed the "sin" of teaching the alphabet to children.
"If shame was still a thing, this hearing would be shameful," Lynch said.
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The Democrat's talking points were in sharp contrast to rhetoric from Republicans.
Greene put a spotlight on former longtime NPR editor Uri Berliner's reporting after he penned a 2024 Free Press bombshell that detailed NPR's "absence of viewpoint diversity," criticizing its slanted coverage on significant topics like the origins of COVID-19 and the Hunter Biden laptop, and also revealing voter registration records in 2021 showed an astonishing disparity in the Washington NPR newsroom that featured 87 Democrats and zero Republicans.
Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., each pressed Maher on social media posts she made before running NPR and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said he doesn't even "recognize" NPR anymore.
"I feel like it's propaganda. I feel like there's disinformation every time I listen to NPR," Comer said.
The stakes of the hearing were high, given Trump himself has signaled willingness to cut off the money spigot to the outlets if given the opportunity.
A current NPR employee told Fox News Digital that the hearing failed to land any real body blows.
"Some members enjoy taking a whack at NPR ... I thought they scored some hits, almost all about Maher personally," the NPR employee told Fox News Digital, noting that subcommittee members came off as "pretty reasonable people" aside from personal attacks on Maher.
"People who hate NPR will have plenty of grounds to go after NPR after this," the employee said. "But they could find that before today. I don't think it moves the needle; I think this was a hole that they needed to punch."
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The Heritage Foundation's Michael Gonzalez, a stanch critic of public media, also testified about the "unforgivable political bias" that he feels comes from PBS and NPR, while Alaska Public Media CEO Ed Ulman served as a pro-public media witness.
"We are essential," Ulman said.
Many of the personal attacks came when Greene blasted Maher for her previous job of overseeing Wikipedia, saying it's a "platform that doesn't tell the truth." Greene then read personal statements that Maher previously made on social media so the "public can understand" her views.
Greene noted Maher had called Trump a "deranged, racist sociopath," has said America is "addicted to White supremacy" – which Greene called "appalling" – and found the terms "boy and girl" to be "erasing language" for non-binary people.
"The federal funding that your outlet receives comes from all American taxpayer dollars. Not just from your viewers who support such statements as these. Let me inform you that your federal funding is also paid for by the other half of the country. The 77 million Americans who voted for President Trump. Someone you called a deranged, racist sociopath," Greene said.
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Maher was criticized by conservatives in 2024 when she took over NPR and her old social media posts expressing progressive views were unearthed. But Greene said that many find Maher's "pro-censorship and anti-free speech views more concerning" than her politics.
"The only speech you like seems to be speech that you agree with," Greene said.
"In 2021, you called the First Amendment the No. 1 challenge in American journalism because it makes it hard to crack down on bad information," Greene said, later adding, "Who do you think should be charged with cracking down on so-called bad information? Is it NPR? Is it the government? Is it you?"
Maher then attempted to thank Greene for the opportunity to speak but was quickly cut off.
"Is it up to you and NPR to crack down on bad information or decide the truth? Answer the question," Greene said.
Maher shot back, "Absolutely not. I am a very strong believer in free speech."
Later, Maher conceded that NPR missed the mark in its lack of serious coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election. At the time, NPR representatives publicly called the story unserious and a distraction.
The laptop, which shed light on Hunter Biden's overseas business practices, his father's possible involvement and contained shocking videos and photos of drug use and lewd acts, was ultimately confirmed to be authentic.
"I do want to say that NPR acknowledges we were mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively and sooner," Maher told Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas.
She later reiterated "we made a mistake" about not covering the laptop in a separate exchange with Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga. Maher was named CEO of NPR in 2024, so she wasn't with the taxpayer-backed outlet at the time the story first broke.
The NPR employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was fascinated to hear Maher concede NPR should have done things more aggressively pertaining to the laptop.
"I was struck by that," they said.
The NPR staffer told Fox News Digital that a group internally referred to as "the backstop" has been added to help NPR's editorial review.
Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., told Maher she was a "radical progressive," wondering if her past liberal views had come up in her job interview for the CEO position. She said no.
"I do believe that we need to have journalists who represent the full breadth of the American society so that we can report well for all Americans," she said.
The hearing came after Trump said on Tuesday he would be "honored" to defund NPR, saying, "It's been very biased. The whole group, I mean, a whole group of them."
Greene echoed that notion during her closing remarks.
"We believe that you can hate us on your own dime," Greene said to conclude the hearing.
Fox News Digital's Peter Pinedo contributed to this report. Original article source: NPR, PBS honchos face tense grilling by GOP lawmakers over biased coverage, taxpayer funding