House Republicans Blast NPR CEO at Hearing on Liberal Bias, Threaten Defunding

NPR “has now turned into what appears to be a progressive propaganda purveyor, using our taxpayer dollars no less,” said Oversight Chair Morgan Griffith, R-Va., as the hearing opened. House Democrats said NPR serves an important role providing local news in far-flung communities and decried the hearing as a waste of time. “We're here today solely because” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., “sees NPR as an easy punching bag as he attempts to placate the most extreme right wing of this party,” said House Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “There are so many other things that we could be focused on today that could improve the lives of the American people, and this is not one of them.” NPR didn’t comment.

The hearing was prompted by an article by longtime NPR editor Uri Berliner wrote in the April edition of the emailed newsletter The Free Press accusing the public network of an internal liberal bias, said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “When an entity that was created by Congress and that receives taxpayer funding strays from their core mission, there needs to be accountability and oversight,” she said. Rodgers and other Republican lawmakers pointed to NPR’s treatment of reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop and a recent story on whether social media platform TikTok is a security threat as examples of the organization's liberal bias. Numerous Republican lawmakers also criticized NPR over the money it charges local affiliates for its programming, which they said generally comes from CPB funding. That means that NPR relies much more on federal support than the $5 million it receives directly from CPB, said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. “When my Democratic colleagues say this is a waste of time, we shouldn't be talking about this -- yes, we should. We're funding this,” Lesko said.

House Commerce Republicans sent a letter to NPR requesting details on the registered political affiliations of its employees and management, Griffith said. Craig Aaron, CEO of public interest group Free Press -- unaffiliated with the publisher of Berliner’s article -- condemned that request during the hearing as an attempt to intimidate journalists. It isn’t the government’s role to keep track of the political affiliations of journalists, Aaron, a hearing witness, said. Pallone agreed, calling the request “a political litmus test” and comparing it to McCarthyism.

Maher didn’t attend the hearing despite House Commerce summoning her last week. Her absence drew fire from almost every Republican committee member. “I really do wish that NPR’s left-wing CEO would have had the fortitude to show up today. But no such luck, I guess,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C. “It is disappointing that no one from NPR is here to defend NPR,” Duncan added. The only reason for Maher not to appear is if the allegations of bias are true, Griffith said. The broadcaster had said a previously scheduled all-day Wednesday NPR meeting was the first time Maher would meet with the NPR board since taking the helm in March. Commerce Democrats excoriated the majority for giving Maher only a week’s notice of the hearing. “I think it's outrageous,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. “You want to have her in here so that you can rake her over the coals for your partisan issues. Shame on this committee.”

Many Republican lawmakers said NPR should be defunded. “There can be no question about what direction NPR is headed,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas. “It can be simply written off, and maybe we should look at ways to defund it.” The organizations that regularly underwrite NPR programming -- such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and others -- also fund “the radical climate agenda” and “anarchist groups,” said Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala. NPR is “a propaganda machine that supports left-wing policies and completely ignores conservative points of view,” he said. Appearing as a witness representing Americans for Tax Reform, Digital Liberty Executive Director James Erwin spoke against all state-funded media but said that if NPR must be federally funded, it should be through an checkbox on income tax forms, as with presidential campaigns.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers agreed on the value of local public radio stations, and lawmakers from both sides praised their local news coverage. “I want to be clear that local public radio stations are not what I’m talking about,” said Griffith. DeGette said just before the hearing she attended a news conference at which the sole reporter from her state was from Colorado Public Radio because CPR is the only outlet in Colorado with a Washington bureau. Legislators from both sides expressed interest in a proposal from American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Howard Husock that would channel more federal funds to local stations. Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., said he supports public media but that NPR should take seriously the public perception that it's biased. “If I were a news agency, I think I'd want to for my own credibility,” he said.