As NewsBusters has documented, the liberal media has been circling the wagons round PBS and NPR, flacking for continued taxpayer funding of these fellow liberal shops.
Morning Joe did its half on Thursday, bringing on PBS CEO Paula Kerger, teeing her as much as make the case to maintain the pipeline of taxpayer {dollars} open.
In a second of unintentional hilarity, Katty Kay, an worker of the government-funded BBC, instructed Kerger:
“In an period of rising misinformation, we want dependable information sources much more than we ever have.”
Reliably liberal, Katty absolutely meant to say!
Because the Each day Sign has famous:
“OpenSecrets stories that 100% of political donations from PBS staff went to Democrats in the course of the 2024 political cycle.”
And as revealed within the White Home truth sheet asserting President Trump’s govt order ending taxpayer subsidization of NPR and PBS:
- An NPR editor discovered that registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans 87 to zero within the newsroom’s editorial positions.
- NPR’s President and CEO admitted that she regards “reality” as a dangerous “distraction” from NPR’s targets.
Kerger claimed that it’s critical for PBS to proceed receiving taxpayer funds to subsidize radio stations in areas that will in any other case change into native “information deserts.”
That’s palpably false. Citing that very same White Home truth sheet:
“In contrast to in 1967, when CPB [The Corporation for Public Broadcasting] was established, at this time the media panorama is crammed with ample, various, and modern information choices, making authorities funding of stories media outdated, pointless, and corrosive to journalistic independence.”
Kerger claimed that the position of PBS is “educating” the general public. Substitute “indoctrinating” in liberal ideology, and Kerger would have been proper on the right track!
Here is the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/8/25
7:42 am EDTMIKA BRZEZINSKI: The CEOs of PBS and NPR say they’re getting ready to mount a authorized problem towards President Trump’s govt order chopping their funding.
Becoming a member of us now, the CEO of PBS, Paula Kerger. She just lately co-authored a piece with filmmaker Ken Burns for The Hill entitled “America at 250, why we want public media now greater than ever.”
It is nice so that you can come on the present. I would like to get a way of the authorized pushback right here, in the event you might. Some would possibly say, particularly these within the Trump administration would possibly say, if one thing is actually impartial, why does it want authorities funding?
. . .
KATTY KAY: Paula, we talked about that PBS will get about 15% of its funding from the federal authorities. However after all, it is not 15% all over the place. There are some communities, some stations, that rely way more closely on federal cash.
What does it imply for audiences, for voters, for Democrats and Republicans, for Individuals in these communities in the event that they lose their PBS station?
PAULA KERGER: So what it’s important to keep in mind is the federal appropriation is basically supposed for our stations. It was envisioned when LBJ signed the Public Broadcasting Act that each group on this nation ought to be entitled to a public broadcasting station, and there could be some communities that would wish some federal help to allow these stations to exist.
And so the 15% quantity is an mixture quantity. A few of our stations obtain a smaller portion of their funds, 5% or 6% or 7%. However there are stations on this nation that the federal appropriation represents as much as 50% of their funds. And for these stations, that is actually an existential second. If that funding doesn’t proceed, if we’re not in a position to help these stations, they actually could be challenged to maneuver ahead.
And I feel that as we’re actually making an attempt to make sure that everybody has entry, I’ve traveled quite a bit since I have been on this job. I’ve visited not all 330, however lots of them. And what I’ll let you know is that for therefore many stations that I go to, the native public tv stations and public radio stations are the final remaining regionally owned, operated, and ruled media organizations.
These are information deserts which are served superbly by public media. And that is why we had been created, was to shut these market gaps that the business media panorama is just not in a position to fulfill.
KAY: Yeah. And that in an period of rising misinformation, we want dependable information sources much more than we ever have.
How a lot leverage do you’ve gotten and the way a lot do you assume the American public and viewers will elevate their voices if these cuts undergo?
KRUGER: Effectively, I do know that within the final week, greater than 1,000,000 folks have referred to as, emailed, or texted their members of Congress. That is one thing folks do care about. We’re asking folks in the event that they care about this to let their elected officers know.
WILLIE GEIST: Paula, simply selecting up on that time you made there, and all the extraordinary reveals that you simply broadcasted through the years and that you simply broadcast now, from Sesame Road to Frontline and every little thing in between. I feel this can be a time of kind of reminding folks concerning the establishments of our nation, and I depend PBS amongst these.
So, you have come below assault from the president himself, saying PBS is radical left and all the issues he is been saying, making an attempt to harm our nation. In order you see it and as you have seen it in your lengthy tenure there, what’s the mission of PBS?
KERGER: Effectively, I at all times wish to say, you understand, though we’re a media group, we’re really in a barely completely different enterprise. We use the identical instruments as everybody else, however our focus is basically not simply to entertain, however we’re hoping that the content material that we’re producing can also be educating and provoking.
And I feel at a second after we’re taking a look at methods to carry our nation collectively, it’s establishments like PBS which are very centered on group. And that is our mission. That has been our core mission from after we had been created, and it continues to be our mission at this time.
