NPR, PBS chiefs set to clash with GOP lawmakers during DOGE subcommittee hearing
Fireworks are expected to fly on Capitol Hill as the chiefs of NPR and PBS are set to testify Wednesday in front of the House of Representatives' newly-formed Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee.
DOGE Subcommittee Chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., sent letters to NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS Paula Kerger last month inviting them to testify about what Greene called their "blatantly ideological and partisan coverage" and have them defend the federal funding they receive.
"Everything is at stake," Kerger told The New York Times ahead of the hearing. "The future of a number of our stations across the country will be in jeopardy if this funding is not continued."
President Donald Trump expressed his desire to pull funding from NPR and PBS when asked about the hearing by a reporter.
"I would love to do that," Trump said Tuesday. "I think it's very unfair. It's been very biased- the whole group, the whole group of them."
Trump insisted that the taxpayer money being allocated to NPR and PBS is "being wasted," adding he'd be "honored" to cut the funding.
DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall suggested Maher and Kerger face an uphill battle at the Greene-lead hearing.
"There is basically nothing Kerger and Maher can say that will undo the track record PBS and NPR have put together over the years," McCall told Fox News Digital. "If the public broadcasting executives try to claim they are centrist, they will lose all credibility. If they admit to being left-leaning, they also lose. And they could hardly promise to be more professional in order to save their funding, because such promises would sound hollow."
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In the letters sent to Kerger and Maher, Greene cited examples of what she called partisan coverage, from NPR's dismissal of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in 2020, the bombshell tell-all essay from former NPR editor Uri Berliner about the outlet's far-left newsroom to PBS' reporting in January that said billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency co-founder Elon Musk "gave what appeared to be a fascist salute."
"This sort of bias betrays the principles of objective reporting and undermines public trust. As an organization that receives federal funds, both directly and indirectly through its member stations, PBS should provide reporting that serves the entire public, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups," Greene told Kerger, mirroring a sentiment also made to NPR's Maher.
"This hearing is an opportunity for you to explain to Congress and the American people why federal funds should be used for public television—particularly the sort of content produced by PBS," Greene continued, echoing a similar statement to Maher regarding public radio.
Berliner, now a contributing editor for The Free Press, outlined pointed questions he would ask his former boss at the hearing, including whether there was any regret about NPR's past coverage of things like the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, whether NPR has taken steps to expand viewpoint diversity in the newsroom and whether it would consider undergoing a financial restructuring to empower local stations.
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McCall, who served as a news director for an NPR affiliate in the 1980s, said NPR and PBS were founded in a "quite different" media landscape where they served a stronger purpose but now "appeal to a rather narrow audience these days" and that taxpayer funds are no longer necessary.
"I think there are good reasons to have left-leaning news outlets in the journalism sphere. The issue in today's landscape is who should pay for it. And any government that provides taxpayer dollars for presenting approved points of view, right or left, is leaning in towards propaganda," McCall told Fox News Digital.
According to NPR, 38% of revenue comes from corporate sponsorships, 31% comes from "core and other programming fees," 13% comes from "contributions of cash and financial assets," 7% comes from "other revenues," 5% comes from "PRSS contract, satellite interconnection and distribution," another 5% comes from endowments and NPR foundation board-designed support and 1% comes from net return on investments.
NPR’s own site goes on to admit that "station programming fees comprise a significant portion of NPR's largest source of revenue. The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations' ability to pay NPR for programming, thereby weakening the institution."
NPR’s finance page also insists the elimination of federal funding would result in less journalism.
So, while NPR publicly downplays its government funding, smaller stations that are funded by the government give cash to NPR. All of this occurs as NPR claims "federal funding is essential" while also pushing back on the notion that it is funded by the government.
PBS' 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."
"The News Hour receives about 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. The remaining 65% is generated from individual donations, foundation grants and corporate sponsorships," PBS states.
PBS also receives money through the PBS Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a 509(a)(3) supporting organization that seeks "philanthropic gifts and grants" to fund the outlet.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.