Summary:


President Trump on Thursday renewed a call to defund NPR and PBS a day after top executives from the public broadcasters faced an intense grilling from GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms (Networks!), should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote late Wednesday on Truth Social. “Republicans, don’t miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM, both being arms of the Radical Left Democrat Party. JUST SAY NO AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform’s Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee peppered NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS President Paula Kerger on Wednesday with accusations of bias against conservatives and questions about their funding.

NPR took in just over $11 million in federal funding last year, money Maher said is crucial to bringing public broadcasting to local communities, particularly in rural swaths of the country.


  • Darth Pub @lemm.ee
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    5 days ago

    Anything that doesn’t spew hate is on the chopping block. PBS? Really? Sesame Street!?! Mr. Rodger’s neighborhood!?! Reading Rainbow!?! These are the threats to this weak, thin skinned regime?

    • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Yeah. Those programs teach kids basic life skills, kindness, and so on. They cultivate a love for learning.

      This is fascist bullshit 101.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      We helped pay for Sesame Street in the middle east because it’s super effective pro-Western-Culture propaganda. Seriously can’t have a better investment than we had there.

      Oh the other children’s programming is funded by generous support from…the Taliban…soooo, good job giving them a monopoly on kids minds? How you think that’ll play out in 5-10 years when they are old enough for war?

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      5 days ago

      These people view empathy as a threat to their existence (because it is). So anything that teaches children to empathize is bad in their minds.

  • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 days ago

    Honestly… NPR and PBS have already been starved of public funding for so long (talking single digit % of total operating costs), that I’m starting to think we’d be better off with it being entirely listener/viewer-funded. Is the table scraps they throw them worth this kind of headache? Especially with a president who will 100% attempt to interfere with their reporting.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Then they would cease to be public media and would just be another non-profit news organization/content producer

      Also, federal funding is a tiny chunk of NPR and PBS, but the individual member stations that actually broadcast the stuff NPR and PBS produce tend to get a lot bigger chunk of their budgets through the feds (this is what they’re talking about when they say the funding is “crucial to bringing public broadcasting to local communities”)

      • waddle_dee@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        This right here. My local station, radio and television, rely heavily on federal funding, because nobody in the south cares about it. I donate every month, but not everybody does.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 days ago

        Not necessarily. They could continue to be nonprofit and operate almost exactly how they currently are, just without interference from the government. Could even set up independent ethics boards and shit to keep them honest if people think it’s needed.

        I don’t know enough about how member stations are funded I guess… So maybe I’m wrong.