Politics

WATCH: NPR CEO Exposed For Having Democrat-Only Newsroom In Brutal House Hearing

Published

4 days ago

March 26, 2025

In a fiery congressional hearing on Wednesday, NPR CEO Katherine Maher faced intense scrutiny from House Republicans, who accused her of presiding over a taxpayer-funded media outlet riddled with political bias and left-wing activism.

The hearing, held by the House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, featured both Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger. But it was Maher who drew the lion’s share of attention after a bruising line of questioning from Republican lawmakers, including Rep. William Timmons (R-SC) and Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX).

“You’re a rabid progressive,” Rep. Timmons charged. “Do you not think it’s a problem that your political leanings make it seem to the American people that you’re not doing your job?”

Timmons then dropped a bombshell: According to his data, NPR’s editorial staff includes 87 registered Democrats and zero Republicans. “How does that work to give us the perception that you’re delivering unbiased information?” Timmons asked.

Maher, who has been in the role for just under a year, called the figure “a concern if it is accurate,” and conceded that NPR must “represent the full breadth of American society.” Still, her defense—that a “strong firewall” exists between her personal views and newsroom decisions—did little to quell GOP frustration.

WATCH:

“I just really think… NPR is not necessarily worth saving,” Timmons concluded bluntly, citing its small but symbolic taxpayer funding.

Rep. Brandon Gill then took the hearing to a personal level, confronting Maher with a barrage of old tweets, some of which dated back to 2020, where she appeared to embrace radical progressive rhetoric.

“You tweeted that ‘America is addicted to white supremacy,’” Gill noted. “Do you still believe that?”

“I don’t recall the exact context,” she repeated several times, including in response to past endorsements of reparations and claims that “white people inherently feel superior.”

Gill read from one of her tweets: “’Yes the North, yes all of us, yes America, yes our original collective sin and unpaid debt, yes reparations.’”

Maher tried to downplay it, saying it wasn’t a reference to “fiscal reparations” but rather a vague nod to historical injustice.

But Gill wasn’t buying it. “That’s a bizarre way to frame what you tweeted,” he snapped. “How much reparations have you personally paid?”

When Maher admitted she hadn’t paid any, Gill fired back, “Okay. Just for everybody else.”

Wednesday’s hearing comes as public trust in legacy media outlets continues to fall, especially among conservatives who view taxpayer-subsidized media like NPR and PBS as deeply partisan. While Maher attempted to distance herself from her past tweets, critics say her remarks only reinforced concerns that NPR’s leadership and newsroom culture are tilted far left.

President Donald Trump has renewed his push to defund NPR and PBS, citing what he sees as long-standing liberal bias within the publicly funded outlets. Trump said he would be “honored” to see both networks shut down, calling their coverage “very unfair” and “very biased.”

Led by chairwoman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the hearing focused on editorial decisions and questioned whether taxpayer dollars should continue supporting media organizations accused of promoting left-leaning narratives. The pressure on NPR and PBS has extended beyond Capitol Hill. Brendan Carr, President Trump’s newly appointed head of the FCC, has launched an investigation into whether NPR and PBS violated federal regulations by airing content that could be considered commercial advertising—a potential breach of laws governing non-commercial public broadcasters.

The moves come just as NPR is already facing internal fallout over accusations of progressive bias and a lack of ideological diversity, made public by former senior editor Uri Berliner earlier this year.