Why are we giving taxpayer money to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS)? Not only are these organizations playgrounds for the wackadoodle left, not only are they constantly begging their listeners/viewers for money, but they have 1) outlived their usefulness and 2) are not constitutionally justified.
I know, I know - there I go, bringing up the Constitution again, as though it was the highest law in the land or something.
NPR first went on the air in 1971. PBS went on the air in 1970. In those days, there were only the three major networks, and those, along with the nation's newspapers (these were in the days when the internet was on paper), were the American people's only source of information, so one may have been able to argue that some alternatives were needed.
That argument no longer applies. Now the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is calling NPR's and PBS's leadership to testify on why those outlets are, as noted, playgrounds for the wackadoodle left.
🚨NPR & PBS CALLED TO TESTIFY🚨
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 3, 2025
DOGE Subcommittee Chair Majorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) is calling on the Chief Executive Officers of NPR and PBS to testify at a hearing concerning the systemically biased news coverage produced on behalf of federally funded radio and TV… pic.twitter.com/5dqOVS8Mb1
The X post from the Committee states in full:
DOGE Subcommittee Chair Majorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) is calling on the Chief Executive Officers of NPR and PBS to testify at a hearing concerning the systemically biased news coverage produced on behalf of federally funded radio and TV stations.
NPR and PBS have repeatedly undermined public trust by ignoring stories that were damaging to the Biden Administration, dismissing genuine calls for balanced reporting, and pushing partisan coverage.
As stewards of tax dollars, NPR and PBS must provide objective and accurate coverage that serves all Americans.
Rep. Greene makes a good point: NPR and PBS make no pretense of impartial reporting. Were they to exhume Nikita Khrushchev and put him on NPR as a program host, he would probably be on the right-hand side of the NPR spectrum. And we are all familiar - maybe too much so - with PBS's "Sesame Street" and some rather odd decisions that were made in character development.
This isn't the kind of thing American taxpayers should be subsidizing. This is, however, precisely the kind of thing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was formed to deal with - and stamp out.
See Related: WINNING: Less Than Two Weeks In, DOGE Has Canceled Over a Billion in DEI Contracts
USAID Officials Lock DOGE Out of the Building, Trump Delivers the 'Find Out' Response
NPR gets a little over 10 percent of its direct and indirect funding from the federal government. PBS, about 16 percent. Now proponents of those networks (leftists) will claim that this isn't all that much of a much; that in the larger scheme of federal spending, the amount spent on NPR and PBS is a rounding error.
That completely misses the point. It's not about the amount of money given to these loony far-left outlets. It's partly the fact that in this amazing modern era of endless alternative media outlets (like the one you're reading at the moment), there is no longer any good argument to be made that the media is so centralized that we need to prop up alternatives with taxpayer dollars. It's partly the fact that this government money is being used to promote propaganda mouthpieces that are to the left of Che Guevara. It's partly the fact that the nation is in debt to the tune of $36 trillion and we can't afford stupid horse squeeze like this anymore.
Mostly, though, it's the fact that the Constitution not only doesn't allow this - it actually prohibits it. The DOGE, if they aren't already, would be well-advised to use the 10th Amendment as a major guideline in their recommendations to eliminate big fat dripping chunks of the federal bureaucracy.
There will be a lot of pushback from the left. That's nothing new. The DOGE and the Congressional committees supporting it are shining some bright lights in a lot of dark corners. They are tearing apart a deeply entrenched corrupt, vast, and corrupt bureaucracy. The bureaucracy is going to fight back, but I think that in Elon Musk and President Trump, they will have met their match.
PBS and NPR are a small part of this effort - but that doesn't mean that they should be overlooked. Wipe their budget. Let them step up their periodic begging for donations. Like the rest of us in the media, let them sink, swim, or drown on their own - and save the taxpayers a few bucks.
