Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) laid into left-wing taxpayer-funded media outlet NPR on the Hill this week while calling out fellow Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for defending the funding.
He then exposed “the rest of the story” the media refuses to tell.
“The Communications Act requires public media entities, like NPR, to strictly adhere to ‘objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs on a controversial nature,’” Cruz said. “Unfortunately, NPR does not. Last Congress, I put out a detailed report how NPR took millions in earmarked donations from left-wing mega-donors for very specific coverage.”
“After receiving those donations, NPR churned out content precisely mirroring its donors’ agendas,” Cruz continued. “Likewise, the Congressionally-chartered independent television service, paid for documentaries like, ‘Racist Trees’ to appear on PBS. NPR CEO Katherine Maher continues to deny that NPR has a serious story selection problem, even when senior editors are resigning because the bias is so overwhelming.”
Watch the clip below:
The Communications Act of 1934 requires NPR to maintain strict objectivity and balance in all programs, particularly those addressing controversial topics.
Last year, I released a detailed report showing how NPR accepted millions in donations from left-wing groups earmarked for… pic.twitter.com/Hm312CBQ4t
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) May 6, 2025
Cruz’s attack on NPR comes just days after President Trump’s executive order calling for the federal defunding of NPR and PBS for disseminating almost exclusively progressive points of view.
“National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options. Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” The executive order stated.
“At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage. No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize. The CPB’s governing statute reflects principles of impartiality: the CPB may not ‘contribute to or otherwise support any political party.’”
