Published at Open the Books Substack

About a month ago, a sideshow unfolded on Capitol Hill, as members of Congress sarcastically demanded to know whether Elmo had become a dirty Commie and National Public Radio CEO Katherine Maher was pressed on whether she believed the United States was “addicted to white supremacy.”

 

Maher and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) CEO Paula Kerger had been called before a hearing of the House DOGE Subcommittee to defend their receipt of public tax dollars. The hearing, "Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” was a venue for DOGE critics to rail against cuts to the arts, while conservatives went through a litany of claims of liberal bias at both institutions.

 

 

In prepared testimony, Heritage Foundation fellow Angeles T. Arredondo said, “NPR and PBS have violated the public trust, and have therefore forsaken their claim on the public money … There is also the fact that the funding is a regressive tax. It is an obnoxious forced wealth transfer from working families to the most affluent pockets of society, which constitute the lion’s share of NPR’s and PBS’s audience.”

 

While NPR has pointed out they receive a relatively tiny portion of funding from the feds, perhaps negating the need for such drama, the truth is a bit more complicated.

 

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