WASHINGTON D.C., DC — The Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) congressional subcommittee convened Wednesday morning for a hearing at which the heads of National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) testified.
The House Oversight Committee DOGE subcommittee led by Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene heard from NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher and PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger.
Rep. Greene highlighted at length the cultural and political objections conservatives have long lodged against public media, and her Republican colleagues repeatedly invoked high-profile instances of what they considered biased coverage.
Rep. Jim Jordan in particular referenced coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story, the origins of COVID-19, and the investigation into President Donald Trump and Russian influence on the 2016 election during his first term.
Democrats on the committee contended the hearing was a distraction and waste of time — with Rep. Jasmine Crockett calling it “goofy” — and at times instead invoked the revelation of a Signal group chat communicating war plans that mistakenly included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
The executives testifying defended their organizations as critical sources of community news.
“PBS stations provide something that cannot be found on commercial networks,” said Kerger, who’s been at the helm of PBS for almost two decades. “This is because PBS stations are focused on the needs and interests of the viewers they serve. Especially in rural areas, PBS stations are the only outlet providing coverage of 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.”
More on the issue
Republicans have long contended there is liberal bias in the reporting at NPR and PBS and are scrutinizing its federal funding as the Trump administration makes widespread cuts across the government. President Donald Trump said this week he would “love” to cut the organizations’ funding, calling them “very unfair.”
Liberal defenders of the public broadcasters have highlighted that the organizations routinely rank among the most trustworthy national news outlets and argue they get targeted for accurate reporting that counters preferred political narratives.
PBS said in a statement obtained by Politico ahead of the hearing that it was “grateful to have bipartisan support in Congress, and our country” and it appreciates the “opportunity to present to the committee how now, more than ever, the service PBS provides matters for our nation.”
Public funding for the broadcasters amounts to 1% of NPR’s budget and 15% of PBS’ budget, according to The New York Times. PBS CEO Kerger told The Times ahead of the hearing that portion is critical to the maintenance of the organization’s nationwide network of stations.
“Everything is at stake,” Kerger said. “The future of a number of our stations across the country will be in jeopardy if this funding is not continued.”
A DePauw University journalism professor, Jeffrey McCall, told Fox News there is “basically nothing Kerger and Maher can say that will undo the track record PBS and NPR have put together over the years” that conservatives object to.
In one high-profile episode, a longtime editor at NPR, Uri Berliner, published an essay last year accusing the organization of systemic liberal bias. At that time the broadcaster defended itself and said it was “proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories.”
A release ahead of the hearing by the DOGE subcommittee clearly illustrated the difficulty the two executives face, saying they will “be asked to explain why the demonstrably biased news coverage they produce for an increasingly narrow and elitist audience should continue to be funded by the broad taxpaying public.”
The title of the hearing is also unambiguous about the receptiveness the executives can expect to find: “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.”
Congresswoman Greene said in a statement in advance of the hearing that she wants to “hear why NPR and PBS think they should ever again receive a single cent from the American taxpayer.”
“Federal taxpayers should not be forced to pay for one-sided reporting, which attacks over half the country to protect and promote its own political interests,” Greene said.