MSNBC’s Ali Velshi gave an ode to public broadcasting on his Sunday show, where he tried to claim that the existence of public media is correlated with democratic health. In order to make such a claim, Velshi had to ignore one major detail from the study he cited.
Velshi, who is also an NPR contributor, gushed, “During the most important stories of the last half century, PBS and NPR were there. PBS broadcast the Watergate Committee's hearings in full and brought us some of the most acclaimed documentaries of our time from Ken Burns. NPR's voice has brought us moment-to-moment updates from the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Gulf War.”
One of the strangest things about President Trump’s executive order forbidding tax dollars from going to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is that it has caused PBS and NPR’s competitors to sing their praises for doing things they also do. In 2025, any network can broadcast a Congressional hearing, provide news updates, or have reporters in war zones.
Nevertheless, Velshi rolled on, “And every day, these broadcasters bring us essential coverage of the things that matter most on a global, national, and on a hyperlocal level. Let me just remind you, most democratic nations, places like the U.K., Canada, Germany, and over 60 other nations globally, have editorially-independent, government-funded media outlets.”
Yes, and those outlets have problems too. Still, Velshi tried to bring in some more evidence to bolster his claim, “A 2021 study published in the International Journal of Press and Politics found that countries with well-funded public media tend to have healthier democracies. It's very normal. These publicly funded journalism institutions are not government mouthpieces. Public broadcasters like NPR and PBS are often less partisan than most private or cable media outlets. But of course, that doesn't matter to Donald Trump. In a culture war mindset, everything that's not in lockstep with you is a target.”
What Velshi did not mention was that on page five of a 27-page study full of academic technobabble is the admission, “We also acknowledge that our comparative analysis of public media systems and democracies cannot show clear causal relationships.”
Additionally, being less biased than MSNBC isn't the standard although, if it were, PBS and NPR certainly try their best to meet it.
Later, Velshi welcomed former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, who was compelled to resign in scandal, and wondered, “Why is there this sense that it's either a government mouthpiece? And let's just clear that up, because I think people associate that sort of stuff all over the world, or that it's weirdly partisan and left-wing. Where does that come from and what was—what has your answer been to people who say that?”
Schiller tried to paint public broadcasting as centrist, “Well. Why do people attack it for being, first of all, people attack it for being too right-wing people attack it for being too left-wing. This is just part of the culture wars that we're in right now. There is, as we know, the—as you have well reported and many others have, people have separated or divided into camps.”
As for conservative critics, “And they—only many people, unfortunately, only want to listen or read media that agrees with the point of view they already came in with. So, if you were someone that has a specific point of view that, say, everything Trump is doing is right and legal, you may not like challenges to that whether it's coming from your show, Ali, or whether it's coming from NPR or whether it's coming from PBS News Hour. So this is just, unfortunately, part and parcel of the times that we live in.”
Criticism of Trump is everywhere and despite Schiller's culture war lamentations and praise for him, Velshi himself is an active progressive culture warrior. The people truly opposed to breaking out of their intellectual bubbles would be the people Schiller referred to who think PBS and NPR are right-wing. Their advertised right-wingers aren’t even right-wing.
Here is a transcript for the May 4 show:
MSNBC Velshi
5/4/2025
12:26 PM ET
ALI VELSHI: During the most important stories of the last half century, PBS and NPR were there. PBS broadcast the Watergate Committee's hearings in full and brought us some of the most acclaimed documentaries of our time from Ken Burns. NPR's voice has brought us moment-to-moment updates from the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Gulf War.
And every day, these broadcasters bring us essential coverage of the things that matter most on a global, national, and on a hyperlocal level. Let me just remind you, most democratic nations, places like the U.K., Canada, Germany, and over 60 other nations globally, have editorially-independent, government-funded media outlets.
A 2021 study published in the International Journal of Press and Politics found that countries with well-funded public media tend to have healthier democracies. It's very normal. These publicly funded journalism institutions are not government mouthpieces. Public broadcasters like NPR and PBS are often less partisan than most private or cable media outlets. But of course, that doesn't matter to Donald Trump. In a culture war mindset, everything that's not in lockstep with you is a target.
…
Why is there this sense that it's either a government mouthpiece? And let's just clear that up, because I think people associate that sort of stuff all over the world, or that it's weirdly partisan and left-wing. Where does that come from and what was—what has your answer been to people who say that?
VIVIAN SCHILLER: Well. Why do people attack it for being, first of all, people attack it for being too right-wing people attack it for being too left-wing. This is just part of the culture wars that we're in right now. There is, as we know, the—as you have well reported and many others have, people have separated or divided into camps.
And they—only many people, unfortunately, only want to listen or read media that agrees with the point of view they already came in with. So, if you were someone that has a specific point of view that, say, everything Trump is doing is right and legal, you may not like challenges to that whether it's coming from your show, Ali, or whether it's coming from NPR or whether it's coming from PBS News Hour. So this is, just unfortunately, part and parcel of the times that we live in.
