{"id":5569,"date":"2025-03-26T19:40:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T19:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=5569"},"modified":"2025-03-26T19:41:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T19:41:00","slug":"republicans-accuse-npr-pbs-of-bias-at-house-hearing-democrats-rebuke-it-as-a-partisan-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=5569","title":{"rendered":"Republicans accuse NPR, PBS of bias at House hearing; Democrats rebuke it as a partisan attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Republicans accused public media outlets NPR and PBS of bias at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, while Democrats defended the organizations and criticized the event as a distraction from the ongoing controversy regarding the Trump administration’s use of the Signal messaging app for the communication of sensitive information.<\/p>\n

PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger and NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher rebutted allegations of bias, saying the outlets abide by journalistic standards and serve a diverse audience that includes rural viewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear, respect and understand your concerns regarding bias and whether public media is relevant in a commercial landscape,\u201d Maher said. \u201cIt is critical for NPR’s newsroom to operate with the highest journalistic standards. That means they do their jobs independently, and as CEO I have no editorial role at NPR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minutes later, Kerger added: “PBS stations are focused on the needs and interests of the viewers they serve. Especially in rural areas, PBS stations are the only outlets providing coverage for local events, for example high school sports, local history and culture content, candidate debates at every level of the election ballot and specialized agricultural news.”<\/p>\n

The hearing, titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” was held by the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, the name of which echoes the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration\u2019s cost-cutting initiative overseen by Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

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President and CEO of Public Broadcasting Service Paula Kerger testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized NPR and PBS during the hearing for what she called liberal bias, pointing to federal funding for the outlets as the target of potential cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cNPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., sharply criticized NPR\u2019s previous coverage of the origins of COVID-19 and a House investigation into the Biden family, which Comer led.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ve abused the privilege that you had with receiving federal funds,\u201d Comer said, sitting in front of placards featuring NPR headlines with which he said he took issue.<\/p>\n

In response, Maher, of NPR, said: \u201cI want to recognize your concerns,\u201d noting that she had bolstered the outlet\u2019s editorial standards since taking her position last year.<\/p>\n

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Committee chair Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia, looks on during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on public broadcasting services on Capitol Hill on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Drew Angerer\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

House Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Ma., defended the public media outlets and criticized the hearing as a distraction for more important issues often taken up by the House Oversight Committee, the larger body to which the DOGE subcommittee belongs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad to see this once proud committee — the principle investigative committee in the House of Representatives — has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after the likes of Elmo and Cookie Monster and Arthur the aardvark,\u201d Lynch said.<\/p>\n

Later in the hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Ca., said sarcastically: “Is Elmo now, or has he ever been, a member of the Communist Party?”<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans accused public media outlets NPR and PBS of bias at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, while Democrats defended the organizations and criticized the event as a distraction from the ongoing controversy regarding the Trump administration’s use of the Signal messaging app for the communication of sensitive information. PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5571,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5569\/revisions\/5571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}