President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and relevant agencies to terminate federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.

While Trump's top reason for cutting off NPR and PBS was their unmistakable political bias, he also noted that government's funding of news media is "not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence."

NPR chief executive Katherine Maher apparently decided that the best way to respond to the threat of losing federal funding was to continue gaslighting the American people, characterizing Trump's executive order as an "affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR" and suggesting that her newsroom is politically neutral.

Maher — who wrote in a December 2010 NDI blog post, "Control over the flow of information in a closed society can be tantamount to control over the state" — vowed in a statement Friday to "challenge this executive order using all means available."

Less than 1% of NPR's annual operating budget comes in the form of grants directly from the CPB and other federal sources; however, numerous CPB-funded public radio stations in NPR's syndication network pay for its programming. Consolidated financial statements show that the organization secured over $96.1 million in "core and other programming fees" in 2023, $93.2 million in 2022, $90.4 million in 2021, and $92.5 million in 2020.

Despite acknowledging that "significant financial support" comes from private sources, Maher suggested the loss of federal funding would be calamitous, equating it with an attack on constitutionally protected speech rights.

'An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR.'

"This is not about balancing the federal budget. The appropriation for public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS, represents less than 0.0001% of the federal budget," wrote Maher. "The president's order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR and locally owned and operated stations throughout America to produce and air programming that meets the needs of their communities. It is also an affront to the First Amendment rights of station listeners and donors who support independent news and information."

Maher noted further that Trump's "action jeopardizes the national airing of beloved programming and essential news such as NPR's iconic hourly 'Newscast,' 'Morning Edition,' and 'Tiny Desk Radio.'"

On Thursday, the White House highlighted past reports that cast doubt on whether at least one of the shows Maher singled out as "essential news" deserves that label or federal funding.

"Morning Edition" noted in a piece ahead of Independence Day in 2021 that the Declaration of Independence "is a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies." Two years earlier, the same show issued an editor's note warning that the Declaration of Independence "contains offensive language."

Maher concluded her statement by asserting that NPR has "high standards," that her colleagues seek to "present issues fairly and without bias," and that NPR "will continue to tell the stories of our country and the world with accuracy, objectivity, and fairness."

Maher continued pushing the neutrality claim Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation," telling talking head Margaret Brennan that the NPR newsroom "would really take issue" with its characterization by Trump as politically biased.

Trump is far from the only person to call out NPR's heavy political skew.

After working for 25 years at NPR, Peabody Award-winning business editor Uri Berliner noted last year that "an open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR."

'Our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground.'

"That wouldn't be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience," continued Berliner. "But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model."

Maher stressed to Brennan that she doesn't make editorial decisions at NPR and added, "We have an extraordinary Washington desk. And our people report straight down the line."

Berliner revealed that 87% of the Washington, D.C., editors and reporters at NPR were registered Democrats and none were registered Republicans.

While Maher appears to be strategically downplaying her team's bias, she might be unable to recognize their bias on account of her own. The NPR CEO revealed her remoteness from the political center when she previously:

• rejected the idea of "radical openness," which she associated with a "white male Westernized construct";
• stated "our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done";
• claimed "America is addicted to white supremacy";
• tweeted during the Black Lives Matter riots, "I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it's hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people's ancestors as private property"; and
• writing in September 2020, "Let's be clear here too: I am a white woman. I already got the leg up. ... My race is consistently an advantage."

'No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies.'

"If we were to see a claw-back of these funds, which we know is part of the conversation from a rescission standpoint, or if we were to see that the stations were no longer able to participate in their membership dues, that would be damaging," Maher told Brennan.

In his executive order, Trump emphasized that "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."

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