Taxpayer-Funded Public Media Stations Hit With Investigation From Trump’s New FCC Chair

President Trump’s new FCC Chief Brendan Carr has just launched an investigation against two taxpayer-funded media stations — NPR and PBS.

The probe will investigate the organizations’ alleged running of illegal commercial ads.

By law, public broadcasts are prohibited from commercials, since they are supposed to get their funding from the U.S. taxpayer — not private companies.

Because of this, they’re also supposed to provide non-biased, just-the-facts reporting.

Here are the details:

Trump's FCC Chief Brendan Carr has opened up an investigation into NPR and PBS for reportedly running prohibited commercials.

Public broadcasting is prohibited by law from running commercials. pic.twitter.com/uxNyTNdPbI

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 30, 2025

JUST IN: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has announced an official investigation of PBS and NPR.

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials. In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting…

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) January 30, 2025

🚨🇺🇸FCC CHAIR TARGETS NPR AND PBS: LAUNCHES PROBE INTO "COMMERCIAL ADS"

Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr just opened an investigation into public broadcasting's funding sources, questioning whether sponsorship messages cross the line into illegal advertising.

Carr:… pic.twitter.com/5k1QiJ2U7L

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 31, 2025

The Hill reported:

The chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is launching an investigation into NPR and PBS over their alleged “airing of commercials.”

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing
commercials,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote to the news outlets in a letter first obtained by The New York Times. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

In a statement to The Hill on Thursday, NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said the outlet’s programming and underwriting messaging “complies with federal regulations, including the FCC guidelines on underwriting messages for noncommercial educational broadcasters, and Member stations are expected to be in compliance as well.”

“We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules,” Maher said. “We have worked for decades with the FCC in support of noncommercial educational broadcasters who provide essential information, educational programming, and emergency alerts to local communities across the United States.”

A representative for PBS told The Hill the broadcaster “is proud of the noncommercial educational programming we provide to all Americans through our member stations.”

“We work diligently to comply with the FCC’s underwriting regulations and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Commission,” a spokesperson for the outlet said.

This news comes as President Trump and many other patriots have slammed public broadcasting for being just as biased as the MSM.

Many conservative lawmakers have called for defunding these networks in recent years.

Fox News commented on this:

NPR and PBS are both public broadcasting organizations, and both are bracing to potentially lose public funding under the Trump administration.

“NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in April 2024, potentially previewing their fate under his second administration. “THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!”

Republican members of Congress also have introduced bills that would defund the public broadcasting organizations, such as Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry introducing the No Propaganda Act in December 2024.

“The American Taxpayer is footing the bill for a woke media corporation that pretends to be impartial while pushing Chinese propaganda,” Perry said when introducing the legislation. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting “cannot be allowed to keep using your hard-earned tax dollars to push a biased and political agenda that goes against what’s best for Americans.”

Many folks on X are calling for them to be defunded already:

PBS and NPR should be not only defunded but the assets sold off to reimburse the taxpayers.

— Michael Quinn Sullivan 🇺🇸 (@MQSullivan) January 30, 2025

Just defund them already.

— Apollo C. Vermouth (@DbldDieObtuse) January 30, 2025

They just need to be shutdown.

— LiveFreeValues (@LiveFreeValues) January 30, 2025

What do you think?

Would you support defunding NPR and PBS?