‘Time For Accountability’: Ted Cruz Rattles Off List Of Times Taxpayer-Funded NPR Was Biased Against Conservatives
'NPR churned out content precisely mirroring its donors’ agendas'
Trump tosses NPR and PBS in the trash where they belong
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order defunding PBS and NPR. The move comes after the confirmation that several private media outlets were paid with government funds during the Biden administration and put out misinformation against President Donald Trump during his campaign.
Sara Gonzales says, “It couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of people.”
Leftists, of course, are pearl clutching, calling it “dictatorial” and “tyranny.” But their case falls flat when you consider that NPR “had a feature on a gay anteater couple for Valentine's Day” and argued that “being healthy is a form of discrimination.”
Or how about the fact that PBS argued that Joe Biden was cognitively “quite acute” even while he was misspeaking at every event and stumbling around cluelessly.
“Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen,” sighs Sara.
However, one of the most egregious examples of bias happened in 2020, when “NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal,” claiming there were too many “red flags.” NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik even pushed the “it’s probably Russia” narrative.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher, despite admitting to Congress that the network failed to adequately cover the Hunter Biden laptop and COVID-19 origin stories, is now declaring war on the executive order.
“We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public. We will challenge this Executive Order using all means available,” she said in a statement.
Maher’s claim to value free speech rights, however, is undermined by the fact that NPR suspended veteran editor Uri Berliner for publishing an article in which he argued that the network had “lost America’s trust” with its left-wing bias and lack of balanced reporting.
“They punished him for telling the truth at a media organization that is supposed to just be telling the truth,” says Sara, noting that Berliner also revealed that NPR’s Washington, D.C., newsroom had 87 registered Democrats and zero Republicans in editorial positions.
“If you didn't realize it before, you should by now. NPR and PBS, so long, sayonara, good luck getting the money somewhere else, because taxpayers don't need to pay for your left-wing bias and your leftwing agenda.”
To hear more of Sara’s commentary, watch the episode above.
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Katherine Maher gaslights about NPR's bias, claims cutting off federal funds undermines free speech
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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Here Are 12 Reasons Why NPR And PBS Deserved To Be Defunded
'No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.'Trump orders Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end funding for NPR and PBS: 'Outdated and unnecessary'
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 — not exactly the news that socialists may have wanted to hear on May Day.
"The CPB Board shall cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration's policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage," wrote Trump. "The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding."
Trump also targeted the liberal outfits' indirect federal funding, directing the CPB — which has an operating budget of over $535 million for fiscal year 2025 — to ensure that "licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS."
The loss of this indirect funding will be the more devastating.
While NPR claims that less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes in the form of grants directly from the CPB and other federal sources, multitudes of CPB-funded public radio stations in NPR's massive syndication network pay for its programming.
Blaze News previously reported that 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.
"These station programming fees are one of NPR's primary sources of revenue," noted the media outfit. "The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations' ability to pay NPR for programming, thereby weakening the institution."
PBS similarly receives taxpayer dollars indirectly from CPB-funded public TV stations that pay for its programming.
According to PBS, its flagship "News Hour" program, for instance, receives roughly 35% of its "annual funding/budget from CPB and PBS via national programming funds — a combination of CPB appropriation funds and annual programming dues paid to PBS by stations re-allocated to programs like ours."
A spokesman for PBS, which has over 330 member television stations, indicated earlier this year that the organization receives 16% of its funding directly from the federal government each year.
"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," Trump noted in his order, titled "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media."
That is certainly not the case with NPR and PBS.
The Media Research Center conducted a study from June 1, 2023, to Nov. 30, 2024, analyzing political labels used by anchors, reporters, and contributors on PBS' "News Hour." PBS staff threw around the term "far right" or some variation thereof 162 times but used the term "far left" only six times.
PBS reporters and guests routinely deemed social conservatives and Trump-adjacent Republicans as "extreme" or "extremists," and liberally applied the "fascist" label to Trump or his policies.
Meanwhile, the organization clamped down on unfavorable characterizations of failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris and other Democrats, writing the "Marxist" and "communist" labels off as "slurs."
Another MRC study published last year tallied every comment made by PBS journalists during the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Of the 191 minutes of PBS commentary on the Republican National Convention, 72% of opinionated comments were reportedly negative, and only 28% were positive. The PBS' DNC coverage was alternatively sycophantic.
NPR's bias is similarly so substantial that Peabody Award-winning business editor Uri Berliner was willing to throw away 25 years at the outfit just to call it out.
Berliner, a liberal who characterized himself as something akin to the stereotypical NPR listener — "an EV-driving, Wordle-playing, tote bag-carrying coastal elite" — noted in an April 2024 op-ed that NPR had effectively transformed into a Democratic propaganda machine, working strenuously to "damage or topple Trump's presidency," in part by "hitch[ing] our wagon to Trump's most visible antagonist, [then-]Representative Adam Schiff," and amplifying the Russia collusion hoax.
'Neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.'
In addition to boosting "Russiagate" propaganda, Berliner noted that NPR — where 87% of the Washington, D.C., editors and reporters were registered Democrats and none were registered Republicans — evidenced its unmistakable bias with its coverage of the COVID-19 lab leak theory and the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, both of which the network downplayed.
The White House highlighted other examples indicating an ideological bent at NPR, noting for instance that it:
- declared the Declaration of Independence to be a document with "flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies";
- apologized for calling illegal immigrants "illegal";
- concern-mongered about the choice of young men to abstain from masturbating to pornography;
- "routinely promotes the chemical and surgical mutilation of children as so-called 'gender-affirming care' without mentioning the irreversible damage caused by these procedures"; and
- "suggested doorway sizes are based on 'latent fatphobia.'"
The White House similarly blasted PBS for its bias, noting that it produced a documentary making the case for reparations and produced a movie celebrating a transvestic teen's "changing gender identity."
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Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who has long written about the need to defund public broadcasting, previously told Blaze News that NPR and PBS "gave up any attempt at appearing impartial or objective in any way," adding that in the case of NPR, the choice of Katherine Maher as CEO was a crystal-clear message that things won't soon change for the better.
"Maher, on the record, is calling Trump racist. She was an enthusiastic supporter of Kamala Harris," said Gonzalez. "She's on the record as saying the First Amendment and our obsession with truth is getting in the way of consensus. Well, gee — that's the CEO of NPR. Anything else you need to know?"
Trump noted that "no media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize."
"The CPB's governing statute reflects principles of impartiality: the CPB may not 'contribute to or otherwise support any political party,'" continued the president. "The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS. Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens."
In addition to emphasizing the biased nature of NPR and PBS, Trump noted that the ubiquity of media alternatives precludes any need for taxpayers to continue the liberal outfits.
'Trump is working to ensure taxpayer dollars are no longer wasted on progressive pet projects.'
"Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence," added the president.
Trump further directed the heads of all federal agencies to "identify and terminate, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, any direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS," and tasked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate the liberal outfits for possible employment discrimination.
Trump gave the CPB board until June 30 to effectuate his order.
When NPR learned of a draft for the order, it stated earlier this month, "Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts, and public safety information."
"We serve the public interest. It's not just in our name — it's our mission. Across the country, locally owned public media stations represent a proud American tradition of public-private partnership for our shared common good," added the liberal outfit.
PBS CEO Paula Kerger reportedly said last month than an order to defund her organization would "disrupt the essential service PBS and local member stations provide to the American people."
The CPB, which is not a federal agency, has already filed suit against Trump because the White House attempted to fire three of its board members.
"Because CPB is not a federal agency subject to the President's authority, but rather a private corporation, we have filed a lawsuit to block these firings," the corporation said in a statement obtained by CNN.
The CPB is likely to seek to block this effort as well.
The White House noted that "President Trump is working to ensure taxpayer dollars are no longer wasted on progressive pet projects, but rather used to benefit hardworking Americans."
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Trump admin moves to end taxpayer funding for PBS, NPR
The Trump administration is moving forward with its plans to cut all taxpayer funding for public broadcasting.
The New York Post reported Monday that the director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, sent a memo to Congress requesting the elimination of the funding. He is also pushing to codify other budget cuts identified by the Department of Government Efficiency.
'Since day one, the Trump Administration has targeted waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending through executive action, DOGE review, and other efforts by departments and agencies.'
The "rescissions" plan would cut off $1.1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Additionally, it would axe $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Vought's memo accuses CPB of a "lengthy history of anti-conservative bias" and USAID of "waste, fraud, and abuse," the Post reported.
CBP has argued, "Public media in the United States is a highly efficient public-private partnership that delivers a strong return on the taxpayers' investment. For every public dollar provided, stations raise nearly seven dollars from donors, underscoring their value to the communities they serve."
Vought noted that NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher called Trump a "deranged racist" and a "fascist." He also highlighted two PBS programs that included trans-identifying characters.
"Since day one, the Trump Administration has targeted waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending through executive action, DOGE review, and other efforts by departments and agencies. Congress has expressed strong interest in supporting those efforts, and requested the Administration transmit rescissions to the Hill for swift approval," Vought wrote.
"OMB recommends the Administration respond with two proposals to cut $9.3 billion," he continued. "The first includes a rescission of $8.3 billion in wasteful foreign aid spending (out of $22 billion) that does not expire in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The second is a separate rescission of all Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — which funds the politically biased public radio and public television system."
Lawmakers have 45 days to adopt or reject the rescission plan. The White House is reportedly optimistic it will pass.
Vought stated that without the rescissions, taxpayer funds would continue to be spent on many wasteful programs, including $9.4 million for "Championing Transformative Changes in Gender Norms," $6 million for Palestinian media and civic society support, and $3 million for Iraqi "Sesame Street," to name a few.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) proposed legislation in March that, if passed, would prevent NPR and PBS from receiving taxpayer funds.
Jackson introduced the bill, No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Service Act, after a heated House Oversight subcommittee hearing with Maher and PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger, where lawmakers pressed them about their outlets' political bias. Both Maher and Kerger insisted their outlets were unbiased.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the subcommittee's chairwoman, asserted that the hearing proved NPR and PBS are "taxpayer-funded PR arms of the Democrat Party" and therefore "don't deserve the American people's hard-earned money."
"NPR and PBS hate President Trump, his supporters, and the majority of Americans who sent us a mandate in 2024. They can hate us on their own dime," Greene declared.
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Racial Grievance Theater Is About Humiliation, Not History
Americans should be wary of all historical and political narratives that leverage racial grievance and victimhood.The disturbing history of NPR CEO Katherine Maher
Congress is actively debating defunding PBS and NPR — and thank goodness. The networks are leftist propaganda mills.
On Wednesday, the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), held a contentious hearing, during which the panel grilled NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger over bias and federal funding.
Maher’s hearing was particularly heated, as various committee members skewered her for the network’s failure to cover certain topics and Maher’s past tweets.
Glenn Beck and co-host of “The Glenn Beck Program” Stu Burguiere were glad to see Maher finally being forced to reckon with her troubling past.
To say Maher has an “interesting work history” is an understatement. Before she was the CEO of NPR, Maher worked for the U.S. State Department and the National Democratic Institute, “one of the main branches of the National Endowment for Democracy.”
Maher was specifically employed at the NDI “during the Arab Spring” when the agency was actively “promoting” the movement.
From 2014 to 2021, she served as the chief communications officer and then the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia. During her stint at the company, Wikipedia “changed” and “started controlling information.”
Journalist Christopher Rufo “all but called her a CIA agent,” says Glenn, adding that he’s long known “she's part of this whole deep state revolutionary thing.”
The fact that Maher is “currently on the board of [the Signal Foundation]” — the organization that oversees Signal, an encrypted communication platform — is further evidence that she’s a deep stater, he says.
“What she has done is not just work in these places and not just have influence in these stories that keep coming up over and over again,” says Stu. Maher has “explicitly [stated] her crazy positions over and over and over and over again on Twitter.”
During the hearing, she was questioned about these tweets by Texas Rep. Bandon Gill (R).
In January 2020, Maher, quoting Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article “The Case for Reparations,” tweeted: “‘America begins in black plunder and white democracy.’ I appreciate the day off today to finally fully read The Case for Reparations.”
When Gill read this tweet, Maher said she didn’t recall ever posting the statement and claimed she never read “The Case for Reparations.”
Even if that’s true, then “she was just being a shill to promote this point of view,” says Glenn.
Gill also referred to a tweet Maher posted in May 2020: “So! America is addicted to white supremacy and that’s the real issue.”
Her response was to claim that her position has “evolved” since then.
To hear more about Maher’s history, watch the clip above.
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