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FCC, Project 2025 & Congress attack NPR & PBS [1]

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Date: 2025-01-31

It was always going to happen with Trump in charge with his willing accomplice, Brendan Carr, Chairman of the FCC.

The Republicans have hated both National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System for decades. It's because they see accurate reporting as left-leaning.

They've been looking at trying to cut any government funding to the organizations as long as I can remember. Now Brendan Carr has found a made-up cause to attack. He said that both are violating the rules of not broadcasting commercials, with the messages that they put in front of programs listing both private and corporate sponsors that keep the shows alive. These messages have gotten longer and more detailed over time, rather than just a quick name drop.

Carr didn't mince words:

"In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that crossed the line into prohibited commercial advertisements."

Has this ever bothered anyone else in the entire history of both NPR and PBS? No, it hasn't. NPR and PBS are also news organizations, and they each have a website which can give you the news of the day just like any other news organization. They are also completely ad-free. It's the news part that have Trump, Carr and the House and Senate up in arms.

So, Carr has come up with this excuse to try to defund NPR and PBS.

Where the FCC has its greatest control is with the broadcast licenses for NPR's radio stations and PBS's television broadcast stations. Every license, both public and commercial stations keep their license as long as they serve the "public interest." Those two words are crucial. It means what the FCC says it does. Here's a 45 page PDF that explains the four areas of what public interest has meant. So far, the FCC's reasoning has been upheld in the courts. But the FCC's reasoning is changing.

In his letter to the CEOs of both organizations Carr said, "In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming."

Two cannon shots off the bow. Blaming them for doing commercials and telling them the money that Congress appropriates could disappear as well.

"To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for-profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars."

He's completely off base calling either organization a for-profit enterprise. They pay the bills and their employees from what they get from Congress, the program underwriters, and their constant annoying telethons to get donations. Of course, they put on some really good programming keep you watching during the telethons.

Wouldn't you know that the CEOs of NPR and PBS are both women?

Paula Kerger of PBS nicely said:

"PBS is proud of the non-commercial educational programming we provide to all Americans to member stations. We work diligently to comply with the FCC's underwriting regulations and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Commission."

Katherine Mahar of NPR was just as nice:

"We are confident that any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR's adherence to these rules. We have worked for decades with the FCC in support of non-commercial educational broadcasters who provided essential information, educational programming, and emergency alerts to local communities across the United States."

Brendan Carr still couldn't say anything nice in response:

"From my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue spending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS, given the changes in the media marketplace."

For his own part. He's offering his personal views as the views of the FCC. Changes to the media marketplace. Because we have the internet now for streaming, we don't need radio and TV broadcasters anymore? Well, that didn't go well with another commissioner.

FCC commissioner Jeffrey Starks said:

"Public television and radio stations play a a significant role in our media ecosystem. Any attempt to intimidate these local media outlets is a threat to the free flow of information and the marketplace of ideas."

In April of last year, Trump let his feelings be known:

"NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM! THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE, NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. You can tell he's really angry when he uses three exclamation points.

After Trump was re-elected in November, NPR member stations circulated a report warning that "it would be unwise to assume that the events will play out as they have in the past," as far as funding is concerned.

A public interest media lawyer named Andrew Jay Schwartzman said, "There's no reason to believe there are significant or widespread violations of Section 399B of the Communications Act, as referred to in the letter, or of FCC guidelines adopted under that law. It leads me to conclude that it's more of a scare tactic rather than the identification of a genuine problem."

It's the obvious what Brendan Carr is doing. It's very transparent. It's also possibly very convincing to many. PBS and NPR would be ignoring it at their peril.

Brendan Carr wrote the section in Project 2025 about the FCC, while being an FCC commissioner. In that section, he called for the government to strip non-commercial radio and television stations of their funding and licenses.

After Trump won the election, Trump appointed him as the new chairman of the FCC. Something Congress couldn't stop.

Earlier this month Marjorie Taylor Green threatened to drag PBS before Congress, so they could testify about their accurate reporting of Elon Musk and his Sieg Heil salute.

We get so much and pay so little for public broadcasting. We pay $3.16 per person in the United States to get 99% coverage of the U.S. by at least one radio or television station, as opposed to the U.K. at $81.30.

The House and Senate both have a "No Propaganda Act" targeting PBS and NPR. H.R. 8053 and S. 5427. There's also the Defund the NPR Act of 2024 H.R. 8286. All Republican sponsored, of course.

The services PBS and NPR provide were enshrined in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. It's been working and under attack ever since. It was actually an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934.

This three pronged attack by the FCC, the House and the Senate are a sign that Republicans are going after perfectly neutral news organizations because they can get away with it, now that Trump is president.

So far, all three bills are introduced. No other moves to pass them have gotten traction.

The current threat is Brendan Carr's made up excuse for going after PBS and NPR. He telegraphed it in his FCC section in Project 2025. 15 page PDF. Read it if you want to see what his plan is for turning information dissemination in the United States into the propaganda arm of a conservative government, censoring other viewpoints in the name of free speech.

As a commenter reminded me, the correct answer about the program sponsors is to increase government funding so public broadcasting doesn't have to give them so much time and emphasis. An increase on funding would have been possible under a Democrat administration. It's a pipe dream under a Republican trifecta.

This is just the start. Carr has already said he's going after the broadcast licenses of ABC, CBS and NBC, with the logic that they are unfair to Trump and conservative Republicans.

Trump and Republicans have forged a course of deregulation by departments and agencies. The FCC isn't one of them. Here they want to give the FCC as much power as they can and have the courts and Congress back them up. It's a fight for freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom from government interference to information.

There will always be an excuse to attack. Watch the news about this. Let your Congressman and Senators know your viewpoint, because they control the purse strings, and that's what keeps NPR and PBS alive.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/31/2300313/-Brendan-Carr-s-FCC-vs-NPR-PBS?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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