I've read an awful lot about PBS and NPR today. I'm old enough to remember covering the Mitt Romney campaign in 2012, when protesters would dress up as Big Bird and protest outside his rallies, claiming he was going to kill Big Bird. Oh, and he was going to ban tampons, too.
It's a shame that all the people in rural areas who don't have high-speed internet, for which President Joe Biden allocated $42 billion. They won't be able to log in and read Brian Stelter's column online about how important NPR is to rural America. And they don't have cable TV to hear him scare-mongering, like Sen. Chuck Schumer claiming that funding PBS and NPR is a matter of life and death."
PBS and NPR stations are on the verge of losing the federal funding that has helped keep them on the air for decades. Here's what will happen if lawmakers zero out the $$$... https://t.co/lt4iFSa1zC
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 16, 2025
If the Senate adopts the rescission bill, some big-city PBS and NPR outlets will launch fundraising campaigns immediately. Smaller stations will have a much harder time doing that. https://t.co/lt4iFSa1zC
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 16, 2025
Why? Are they out of tote bags and umbrellas?
Stelter answers the question, will "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" be canceled?
No, but stations will generally have less money to spend on programming, which will hurt the marketplace of noncommercial TV and radio.
“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” is one of a half dozen children‘s shows produced by Fred Rogers Productions, the nonprofit behind “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Fred Rogers Productions receives millions of dollars per year in grants, including those from CPB, as well as licensing revenue from local PBS stations that carry its programs. If the stations have fewer dollars to spend, then producers will eventually feel the pinch.
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns recently told CBS that “I couldn’t do any of the films I’ve done without them being on PBS.“
Oh, no! Not the same Ken Burns who recently said “the Republican Party has morphed into something incredibly dangerous" and "Abraham Lincoln is turning over in his grave." The same Ken Burns who likened Gov. Ron DeSantis' flying illegal aliens to Martha's Vineyard to the Holocaust? Burns sounds a little biased.
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And Stelter eventually gets to that. Why would Republicans want to defund NPR and PBS? "But for Trump and some of his strongest supporters, the primary objection to NPR and PBS is perceived bias," Stelter writes. "The Trump White House has portrayed public broadcasting as 'radical, woke propaganda disguised as news’' and claimed that the news operations exist to help Democrats and hurt Republicans, which the networks deny."
"Perceived bias", which the networks deny. NPR CEO Katherine Maher denies it, and has been proven wrong. She's the one who famously said, “Our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done."
Getting what done, exactly?
— JWF (@JammieWF) July 16, 2025
Got my vintage tote bags and Moody Blues Live 2008 DVDs up on eBay.
— 100 Proof 🥃 (@ChampionCapua) July 16, 2025
No low ballers.
I know what I have.
What will happen is that American taxpayers will no longer be funding our homegrown Pravda. That's all.
— Adyana (@adyanalistens) July 16, 2025
But you can donate to keep it running, Brian. Feel free.
schrodinger's NPR funding: it is both an insignificant line item and also wholly necessary for survival
— ramen 🇨🇱🇺🇲 (@mmmRamen) July 16, 2025
Sesame Street Big Bird merch sales could fund PBS alone.
— DocPyro (@Recondo886) July 16, 2025
NPR has become an anti-US propagandist network.
Robert Reich ran out and bought an Elmo puppet to shoot his creepy video … maybe PBS got a cut.
Here's what will happen if lawmakers zero out the $$$... pic.twitter.com/Yn8Bs6xySv
— Jack Bauer after dark 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JackBauerAD) July 16, 2025
90% of NPR and 85% of PBS funding is non-governmental. Any organization that can't take a 10% or 15% hit should not be operating anyway.
— Jon DiPietro (@jondipietronh) July 16, 2025
Maybe they shouldn’t be so biased 🤔
— Check One Two 🎙 (@hcasan0va) July 16, 2025
"Perceived" bias.
— Terry Larson (@H3arhim) July 16, 2025
If that gets cut off, it's Stelter posting that "only a sliver of NPR's funding comes from the government."
Is it surprising to you that NPR and PBS would rather lose funding than abandon their left wing agenda?
— Jonathan Fahey (@JonforFairfax) July 16, 2025
The thing is, they really believe that they're not biased. Rep. Jim Jordan told Maher, who testified, "I have never seen any political bias," that "In the DC area, editorial positions at NPR have 87 registered Democrats and 0 Republicans." She's even lost Bill Maher, who said, "Give me a break, lady! I mean, they’re crazy far-left."
NPR having a show called "All Things Considered" is as ironic as Stelter having a show called "Reliable Sources."
Defund.
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