According to Sen. Chuck Schumer and some other Democrats, if PBS and NPR are defunded people will die. Well, the ones who didn't already succumb to the repeal of net neutrality, Trump's first round of tax cuts, pulling out of the Paris Accords, the DOGE cuts or the Big Beautiful Bill that is.
Meanwhile, Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, is making this argument for why her media outlet should still get taxpayer money:
NPR CEO Katherine Maher argues rural America often has no other possible source of news or connection to the outside world EXCEPT through PBS and NPR: "Large rural communities, large tribal communities" don't have "a lot of other options. Broadband service is not universal, and… pic.twitter.com/OFWuQTCa2E
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 16, 2025
Here's the full quote, via @CurtisHouck:
"Large rural communities, large tribal communities" don't have "a lot of other options. Broadband service is not universal, and heck, even cell phone service is not universal. There's a real understanding of the need there as well as for emergency alerting, in which public media plays an extraordinarily important role."
When there's a really bad storm, who says "somebody turn on NPR!"
If that's true, why is all their programming targeted at upscale urban elites? 🤔
— Its A Dry Heat (@Its_a_dryheat) July 16, 2025
Good question.
Maher also asked somebody to show her any examples of her outlet leaning Left.
Senator John Kennedy saw Maher's "find any examples of NPR bias" challenge and ran with it:
NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher on CNN this morning: “As far as the accusations that we’re biased, I’d stand up and say, ‘Please show me a story that concerns you.’”
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) July 16, 2025
I’ve got a few:
🧵 (1/5) pic.twitter.com/kC1hHmPfHQ
And away we go...
(2/5) NPR reported that country music and birds are racist, told American people to stop eating beef, and promoted the Russia-gate conspiracy.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) July 16, 2025
No person with a brain above a single-celled organism would call these articles fair and balanced. pic.twitter.com/vpCl2Y74TI
(3/5) NPR claimed President Biden’s presidential debate performance didn’t change the election, days before he dropped out of the race.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) July 16, 2025
If you believe that headline, you believe in the tooth fairy. But that’s what NPR reported with your tax dollars. pic.twitter.com/LZJs4J2rb4
(4/5) NPR reported that there is no evidence that biological men have an unfair advantage over biological women in sports.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) July 16, 2025
NPR also called America’s interstate highways racist.
I did not know our highways were racist. I thought they were concrete, but not according to NPR. pic.twitter.com/O1vCqlc4JY
(5/5) NPR referred to rural Americans as “Christian nationalists” and heaped praise on Biden administration official Rachel Levine.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) July 16, 2025
I could go all day.
American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund this opinion journalism. pic.twitter.com/0nXXZLxcZY
Then of course there was this "journalism" doozy just before the 2020 election:
I know you could’ve gone on and on however, you missed a dandy which Senator Eric Schmidt posted: pic.twitter.com/6PXPALraC1
— Sofa King Right (@wdygtfu) July 16, 2025
Also nobody's arguing that NPR or PBS can't be on the air, just that taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for their propaganda.
And how in the world could anybody ever believe that this person would run a biased "news" operation?
The best part of AZ GOTV is my Biden grandpa hat. pic.twitter.com/EvoJax9h2b
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) November 2, 2020
Now they're actually using the "but we're valuable for weather updates in rural America" excuse to try and save their taxpayer funding? Please.
*****