WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump campaign issued a broadside Monday against National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, accusing the outlets of spreading “radical, woke propaganda” and calling for an end to their public funding.
“For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” the campaign’s press release stated. The statement echoed President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to eliminate federal funding for the media organizations.
Key Points
- Trump campaign demands defunding NPR and PBS, calling their reporting biased
- Cites programming on LGBTQ topics, race, and Hunter Biden coverage as examples
- Press release targets leadership and editorial practices as partisan
The statement, sent Monday by the Trump campaign’s Office of Communications, detailed more than a dozen examples of NPR and PBS content that it characterized as “trash,” ranging from coverage of transgender issues to the origins of COVID-19. Among the highlighted programs was a 2024 Valentine’s Day feature on “queer animals,” PBS documentaries discussing reparations, and multiple children’s programs involving drag performers or LGBTQ topics.
The release also targeted the political affiliations and public statements of NPR leadership. It alleged that CEO Katherine Maher once called Trump “racist,” wore campaign gear for Joe Biden, and served on the board of a Soros-funded group.
The document further referenced internal concerns raised by a former NPR editor, who found that 87 of his newsroom colleagues were registered Democrats and zero were Republicans. It criticized the outlet’s editorial decision to downplay the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election and highlighted alleged inconsistencies in the reporting on the COVID-19 lab-leak theory.
Campaign points to imbalance in political coverage
A 2024 study cited by the campaign found that PBS used the term “far-right” more than 160 times in coverage, compared to just six uses of “far-left.” The campaign also pointed to a Media Research Center analysis of PBS coverage of national conventions, which reported 72% negative coverage of Republicans and 88% positive coverage of Democrats.
“The NPR, PBS grift has ripped us off for too long,” the statement declared, referencing the organizations’ funding structure, which includes support from the federal government through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Neither NPR nor PBS has publicly responded to the allegations as of Monday.
Trump campaign escalates attack on public media, accusing NPR and PBS of political bias and misuse of taxpayer dollars.