Left Decries PBS, NPR Overdue Propaganda Defunding

The left's tendency to "project" is evident once more. There was a time when Democrats and the radical left had to be subtle about their abusive intentions. However, as the right consistently yielded to their demands, this subversiveness transformed into arrogance, leading to an increasingly self-righteous attitude.

Now, more often than not, the left attacks even when they know they’re wrong. They have adopted the “A good offense is the best defense” approach, no matter how damaging the outcome is. If it jeopardizes their agendas, they don’t care.

On Thursday evening, President Trump signed an executive order to defund both the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) because both organizations had mutated into far-left mouthpieces.

NPR used to be known for shows like “A Prairie Home Companion,” which was hosted by Garrison Keillor for 40 years, from 1974 to 2016, and was broadcast on 700 public radio stations across the US. Sadly, things have changed a lot.

Last year, an enlightening article published by the Free Press shed light on a troubling reality. Written by Uri Berliner, a former NPR employee with 25 years of experience, the piece describes a publicly funded news network that has shifted from having a liberal bias to one so extreme it would make Pravda seem even-handed. NPR now recycles the same tired narratives repeatedly, serving an extremely narrow audience with little interest in introducing even a hint of ideological balance.

National Public Radio is not truly national, nor does it effectively serve the public. It acts as a platform for left-wing views, benefiting from federal funds and aligning itself primarily with the interests of the Democratic Party.

Berliner, who described himself as the “stereotype of the NPR listener: an EV-driving, Wordle-playing, tote bag-carrying coastal elite,” shared insights about what it's currently like inside NPR.

He explained how the network eagerly promoted stories favored by Democratic Party leaders, such as the Russia collusion allegations against President Trump, which were dropped entirely once the story fell apart. Berliner emphasized that the network is fixated on identity issues, often to the detriment of covering other important topics.

“Race and identity became paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace. Journalists were required to ask everyone we interviewed their race, gender, and ethnicity (among other questions), and had to enter it in a centralized tracking system.”

Berliner wrote that employees were given “unconscious-bias training sessions” and that a growing DEI staff hectors other employees to “start talking about race.” He noted that NPR now has a “burgeoning number of employee resource (or affinity) groups based on identity.”

Berliner highlighted several affinity groups and programs, including the “MGIPOC (Marginalized Genders and Intersex People of Color) mentorship program” and the “Women, Gender-Expansive, and Transgender People in Technology in Public Media,” among others. Some of these groups may seem quite niche.

Berliner explained that these identity groups are a priority for NPR’s union, which ensures that:

“Advocacy groups are given a seat at the table when determining the terms and vocabulary of our news coverage.”

A fact sheet released by the White House clarified why subsidies for these extreme left organizations should no longer burden American taxpayers.

It Reads:

ENDING TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZATION OF BIASED MEDIA:

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ending the taxpayer subsidization of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

• NPR and PBS receive tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year, primarily from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
• The Order ceases federal funding to NPR and PBS to the maximum extent allowed by law.
• It also ceases indirect funding to PBS and NPR by prohibiting local public radio and television stations and any other recipients of CPB funds from using taxpayer dollars to support these organizations.
• The Order mandates that the CPB revise its 2025 General Provisions to explicitly prohibit direct or indirect funding to NPR and PBS.
• It directs all federal agencies to terminate any direct or indirect funding to NPR and PBS and to review existing grants and contracts for compliance.
• The Order instructs the FCC and relevant agencies to investigate whether NPR and PBS have engaged in unlawful discrimination.

EXPOSING BIAS IN PUBLIC BROADCASTING:

NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers’ money, as President Trump has stated.

• Unlike in 1967, when CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options, making government funding of news media outdated, unnecessary, and corrosive to journalistic independence.
• Moreover, while the CPB is legally mandated to be “nonpolitical [in] nature” and not “contribute to or otherwise support any political party,” both NPR and PBS make significant in-kind contributions to the Democrat party and its political causes.
• An NPR editor found that registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans 87 to zero in the newsroom’s editorial positions.
• NPR’s President and CEO admitted that she regards “truth” as a harmful “distraction” from NPR’s objectives.
• To illustrate its partisan capture, NPR management asked its editors to avoid the term “biological sex” when discussing transgender issues.
• NPR has run stories defending looting and suggesting that crime fears are racist and has described its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices as “inseparable” from its content.
• NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story, calling it a waste of time and a distraction, despite that it was highly relevant to the presidential election.
• NPR repeatedly insisted COVID-19 did not originate in a lab and refused to explore the theory.
• The FBI, CIA, and Department of Energy have all since deemed the lab-leak theory the likely cause.
• NPR ran a Valentine’s Day feature around “queer animals,” in which it suggested the make-believe clownfish in “Finding Nemo” would’ve been better off as a female, that “banana slugs are hermaphrodites,” and that “some deer are nonbinary.”
• Research shows that “congressional Republicans faced 85% negative coverage, compared to 54% positive coverage of congressional Democrats,” on PBS’s flagship news program.
• Over a six-month period, PBS News Hour used versions of the term “far-right” 162 times, but “far-left” only 6 times.
• A PBS station featured drag queen Lil Miss Hot Mess on a program meant for kids ages 3-8.
• PBS produced a movie titled “Real Boy” which celebrates a transgender teen’s transition.
• PBS show Sesame Street partnered with CNN for a town hall aimed at presenting children with a one-sided narrative to “address racism” amid the Black Lives Matter riots.
• PBS’s coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention was 72% negative, while its coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention was 88% positive.
• No media outlet has a Constitutional right to taxpayer-subsidized operations, and it’s highly inappropriate for taxpayers to be forced to subsidize biased, partisan content.

SAFEGUARDING TAXPAYER DOLLARS:

President Trump is working to ensure taxpayer dollars are no longer wasted on progressive pet projects, but rather used to benefit hardworking Americans.

• President Trump established the “Department of Government Efficiency” to examine how to streamline the federal government, eliminate unnecessary programs, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiency.
• President Trump launched a 10-to-1 deregulation initiative, ensuring every new rule is justified by clear benefits.
• President Trump terminated DEI discrimination in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.
• The Trump Administration is aggressively investigating Biden-era programs that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on inefficient and politically driven projects, including canceling unnecessary government contracts and grants that do not serve the national interest.

Trump's order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and other federal agencies to stop federal funding for NPR and PBS and eliminate indirect sources of public financing for these news organizations. The CPB has been instructed not to provide direct funding to either outlet and to halt any indirect funding through grants to local stations.

Due to the expected legal challenges arising from Trump's executive order, the impact of his actions on NPR and PBS remains uncertain for the time being. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is funded two years in advance, which helps to mitigate immediate political interference.

"Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence," Trump's order states. "At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage. No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize."

Uri Berliner and others have proposed that NPR and PBS simply abandon federal funding to address concerns that taxpayer money supports outlets with ideological bias.

This is a fair and logical solution, which means the left will never go for it. They’ll fight like hell not to lose a platform we help to pay for. We just have to fight harder than they do.

Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.