Both PBS and National Public Radio are cadging for change, even before President Trump’s executive order cutting taxpayer funds to PBS and NPR through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
But NPR has gone out a bit further on the ledge since then, their tone becoming increasingly aggressive, even apocalyptic, as demonstrated by three recent donation banners that have flown on NPR’s websites and social media platforms:
■ This one is self-congratulatory but not obviously offensive to the sensibilities. The full text:
Public media is under threat.
President Trump recently issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR, the latest in a series of threats to public media organizations across the country.
The NPR Network's journalism informs decisions and enriches millions of lives. Even as paywalls rise elsewhere, we offer these resources to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to creating a more informed public. Can we count on your financial support to safeguard this vital work in the future?
■ Another donation-begging NPR graphic made a dubious claim in the lead sentence (wouldn’t NPR be truly independent without being beholden to the whims of federal funding?) and got downright pushy at the end. The full text:
The independence of public media is under attack
President Trump issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR, the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the country. The order described NPR's journalism as 'biased and partisan.'
With the creation of the Public Broadcasting Act, Congress explicitly forbade 'any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting.' This independence has informed the role of public media and is core to our relentless commitment to editorial integrity in our service today.
NPR's independence is non-negotiable.
We report stories that keep you informed, every day, without fear or favor. That is the promise of a free press in a democracy. It's in the very First Amendment.
The NPR Network's journalism and programming inform decisions and enrich lives by celebrating humanity. Even as paywalls rise elsewhere, we offer these resources to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
We are proud to be here for you, and today, we need you to be here for us.
It's time to join the movement to defend public media.
It's time to give.
■ But things really went off the rails in this NPR plea, which promoted the bogus idea that clipping National Public Radio’s left-wing amounted to a dire threat against the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The full text:
Your gift is more than a donation—it's a declaration.
President Trump issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR. The order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of the American people.
We report stories and create programs that keep you informed, every day, without fear or favor. That is the promise of a free press in a democracy.
We need you to show up for public media today. Can we count on you?
The problem here is that NPR has not been a friend of free speech for quite a while. When controversial figures they don’t like exercise it, NPR calls it “hate speech” and warns their listened to cover their eras as if they’re toddlers exposed to cuss words.
As NewsBusters editor Tim Graham wrote up last year, NPR proudly refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, insisting it wasn't a real story, but a "pure distraction,” while in March 2024 NPR's On Point program aired a pro-censorship episode on "How disinformation 'sabotages America.'" Host Meghna Chakrabarty went on a tear about how the Biden administration was "cowardly" for discontinuing its "Disinformation Governance Board" and its crusading leftist chief Nina Jankowicz.
For NPR to accuse anyone else of affronting the First Amendment, but only when its own taxpayer ox is being gored, marks the height of hypocrisy.
