America


Trump Axing Federal Funds for NPR, PBS


Neither present a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events, president says.


P T BY KATHRYN MCKENZIE


resident donald trump signed an executive order to cut funding to NPR and PBS.


The order instructs the Corpora-


tion for Public Broadcasting, which distributes subsidies to PBS and NPR stations, to “cease direct funding” to them, according to the White House. It labeled both news outlets as parti- san and biased. Both NPR and PBS said that Trump’s eff ort to cut their funding


COMMENTARY


‘Democrat Mouthpieces’ Should Pay for Themselves


BY MATT COOKSON


he federal government should not be funding


journalistic outlets like NPR and PBS.


Elon Musk caused a stir when he labeled NPR as a “government-af iliated” news network akin to Russia Today (RT) or People’s Daily in China. While this is an exaggeration, it is also not accurate for NPR to claim that it only gets 1% of its funding from the government. For much of its history,


NPR relied primarily on federal monies, but that changed in the 1980s as threats of defunding


14 NEWSMAX | JUNE 2025


would disrupt essential media service and have a “devastating impact” on Americans who rely on them for cred- ible local and national news, includ- ing during emergency situations. But Trump insisted “neither enti-


ty presents a fair, accurate, or unbi- ased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens,” and went on to single out NPR as “completely biased and an arm of the radical-left Demo- cratic Party.” The Trump administration has labeled multiple institutions in aca-


from Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich forced it to seek other revenue sources. Currently, NPR’s biggest


source of revenue is corporate sponsorships, at $121 million. Second is federal funding


of $90 million, which makes up about 30% of finances. Without federal funding, NPR will still be left with 70% of its $535 million- a-year budget. As a partially government- funded outlet, NPR claims to be an unbiased news source. However, in the 2020


election cycle, NPR stifled coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story, which chronicled the younger Biden’s shady business dealings and possible involvement of his father, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. More tellingly, former NPR


editor Uri Berliner revealed in an essay that registered Democrats


demia and the media industry — from Harvard and Columbia universities to NPR and PBS — as being left- ist, Marxist, biased, and “woke,” and threatened funding cuts.


Human rights advocates have raised concerns over free speech and academic freedom.


The administration also soug sought to shut down Voice of


America, Radio Free Asia, and Mid- dle East Broadcasting Networks, whose news broadcasts are funded by the government. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration in late April to halt those eff orts. The CPB was created by Congress


in 1967 and provides funding for more than 1,500 locally managed public radio and TV stations. NPR has more than 900 employ-


ees, according to its website. The exact employee count at PBS was not immediately clear, though a media report said it had over 550 staff ers at the end of 2022.


NPR is not a private outlet; it receives public money to the tune of $535 million yearly.


outnumber registered Republicans in the NPR newsroom by an astonishing 87-0 margin. If this were a private outlet,


this wouldn’t be an issue. One would expect not to find many registered Republicans at the Young Turks, nor would many Democrats expect to be found at the Daily Wire. NPR is not a private outlet;


it receives public money to the tune of $535 million yearly. If NPR and PBS are not unbiased news outlets, then they are failing at their founding mission. To expect balanced content from a newsroom employing 87 members of one party and zero from the other is


highly questionable. Much of the content


produced by PBS is not something that requires government funding to exist. While Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and Liberty’s Kids all serve a noble purpose, it is doubtful that the private sector could not support this content on its own.


The success of content like


Peppa Pig, Bluey, and many others shows there is public demand for this type of thing.


Matt Cookson is a contributor and was a Middle East history and policy fellow with Young Voices.


PBS/DCSTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY / NPR/AVISHEK DAS/SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100