NPR and PBS: propaganda wing of Democrats

‘A sandbox for leftist propagandists to frolic on the taxpayer dime!”

For a time, Blaska appeared regularly on Joy Cardin’s old Weekend in Review program here at WHA 970, Madison’s AM public radio outlet, to debate the likes of Ed Garvey and Peg Lautenschlager. Good times, both sides, but no more.

Still enjoy PBS television like Nature, American Experience, and Nova. We hope their listener and viewer fund drives reap Brinks truckloads of cash. (Can never own enough tote bags.) WERN 88.7 FM broadcasts classical music — some of the time. We hear more on our Apple Music downloads. WERN would do better by airing music 24/7. (W213CE FM 90.5 and W300BM FM 107.9 are all-music but only in Madison.) The great public television series could surely attract advertisers or prosper on any streaming platform. Both should can the news, especially now that Spectrum News is up and running.

Because this Republican Congress is about to zero out the $535 million annual subsidy of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR. They asked for it. Their news coverage makes The Nation’s socialist provocateur John Nichols sound like Walter Cronkite.

At the 03-26-25 DOGE hearing, U.S. Rep. Patrick Fallon (R-TX) put the wood to Paula Kerger, head of PBS; and Katherine Maher, boss of NPR. Excerpts:

You have become a sandbox for leftist propagandists to frolic on the taxpayer dime. … a propaganda wing of the Democratic party. … Billions have gone into both of your coffers over the last several decades. No more! — U.S. Rep. Patrick Fallon (R-TX)

 The Adam Schiff show

Rep. Fallon: When President Biden’s mental acuity was questioned, one of the reporters claimed the GOP was lying. Another reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, who’s been in the news of late, described Biden as “mentally acute.” Were you aware if there were any dissenting opinions on that program that day?

Kerger PBS: I don’t know from that day.

Rep. Fallon: No, there were not. … Ms. Maher, I’m sure you’re aware that Hunter Biden had a laptop. … In 2020, unfortunately, NPR’s managing editor for news refused to cover the story. He branded it “a waste of time,” “not a real story” and “a distraction.“

Maher NPR: We actually believe we made a mistake on the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Rep. Fallon: How many times did y’all interview Adam Schiff about the Russia collusion? … It was 25 times. You know how many times NPR interviewed the chairman of this committee, the Oversight Committee, Jamie Comer, about the Biden impeachment inquiry, the Hunter Biden tax evasion and illicit business dealings with the Biden family? …I believe that it was zero; so it’s 25 to 0.

Would it trouble you to hear that for six months, there was an analysis done on PBS’s News Hour from June to November of 2023, where they found “far-right,” that term, was used 162 times and “far left” was only used 6 times? …

Interestingly, 72% of the coverage of the GOP convention was negative. 88% of the Democratic convention was positive. It shouldn’t be surprising when you have anchors like Amna Nawaz, who described the Republican rhetoric as “outright racism,” and “echoing white supremacy.” Ms. Maher, are you aware of any registered Republicans in your newsroom? … The recent registration was 87 Democrats and 0 Republicans registered.

Maher NPR: I find that very concerning, sir.

Rep. Fallon: Yeah, I would! … But it shouldn’t be surprising when their own CEO says things like “I’m so done with late-stage capitalism,” or call the President of the United States “a deranged racist sociopath,” or that “America is addicted to white supremacy.”

Blaska’s Bottom Line: If PBS and NPR want to go all A.O.C., they can do it on their own dime — not mine.

Don’t we have enough private sector news bias?