There is virtually nothing unique about public broadcasters anymore. The only thing that now differentiates NPR and PBS from their private sector competition is that they get about $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies annually (half via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and half from federal and state discretionary grants).
In a desperate race to save their Congressionally-appropriated earmark, NPR and PBS have scrambled to come up with reasons why they alone are entitled to this corporate welfare. Their evolving justifications are as false as their “news” propaganda.
False Premise #1: Farmers need NPR for weather reports
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Fact: This claim is so ridiculous it is actually offensive. Because NPR and PBS think so little of our nation’s growers and ranchers, they can’t imagine that farmers have cell phones, computers and weather apps. Farmers also listen to talk radio, not NPR!
False Premise #2: People will die if Congress defunds CPB since NPR/PBS operate the “Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS)”
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Fact: HR 4 does NOT touch IPAWS. This warning system is funded by a discretionary grant from FEMA, not the CPB.
False Premise #3: NPR/PBS have an additional unique role in the emergency alert system
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Fact: Every broadcaster in America (radio and TV) is required by the Federal Communications Commission to provide the same emergency alert.
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Fact: In addition, every cell phone in America can receive this alert. And since more Americans own cellphones (98%) than can even receive the NPR signal, the public broadcasters have been rendered obsolete.
False Premise #4: Local NPR affiliates provide high quality local news coverage
- Fact: “Local news” is rare news on NPR. The Media Research Center estimates that the bulk of programming (ranging from 90-100%) aired by local affiliates across the country is supplied by the flagship stations in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
- Fact: In the top 20 rural states, only 5.7% of daily programming is locally produced news. Even still, these “local” programs, often primarily air national news.
False Premise #5: There are “local news” deserts that only NPR can fill
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Fact: 96% of Americans report using the internet regularly, providing far more access to news than ever before. In addition, Starlink can reach people in remote areas far more cheaply than broadcasters can.
False Premise #6: NPR/PBS provide unbiased, quality news coverage.
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Fact: While the broadcasters are required to ensure “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature” (47 U.S.C. § 396(g)(1)(D)), they have never complied with the law. The Media Research Center has been documenting this bias for years. Recent examples include:
PBS:
42 references to “far right” vs only 1 reference to “far left”
6 times as many liberal political guests as conservative guests
88% positive coverage of the DNC vs 72% negative coverage of the RNC
NPR:
Banned coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story, claiming it was a “mere diversion”
Bans diversity of thought on climate-change issues
Consistently sites Hamas propaganda and demonizes Israel
False Premise #7: Less than 1% of their operating funds come directly from taxpayers
- Fact: NPR/PBS refuse to provide data showing how much they collect in tax revenues (federal and state). However, they operate a legalized “kick-back” scheme, taking federal and state tax dollars from local affiliates for programming.
False Premise #8: NPR/PBS have annual audited financial statements
- Fact: While technically true, these statements have never revealed the proportion of funds that originate from US taxpayers.
False Premise #9: Republicans are about to kill Big Bird and Sesame Street
- Fact: HBO bought the rights to Sesame Street in 2019. HBO recently relinquished these rights, but Netflix acquired the exclusive rights to run original programming for the next three years
False Premise #10: Children's educational development is dependent upon PBS shows
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Fact: There is no definitive data studying an equal number of same-aged children who do and do not watch PBS, showing that those who do have more accelerated or above-average development in basic reading, writing, and comprehension skills. Furthermore, YouTube provides a library of hundreds of thousands of hours of content for kids of all ages, with new content added daily. It also empowers parents to avoid concerns about their kids encountering content such as Drag Queen Story Hour.
To contact your Senator, you can turn to our site DefundPBSNPR.org for more.
