Free Republic

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is comprised of the National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are budgeted to receive $535 million from the federal government for FY2025. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has recommended this funding be cut. Paula Kerger, CEO, of PBS and Katherine Maher, CEO of NPR appeared at the House of Representatives DOGE subcommittee to testify against budget cuts. Subcommittee Chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) said "folks in my district listen to podcasts and internet based news. At the same time, NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo...

"Real Time" host Bill Maher argued in favor of pulling federal funding from NPR, insisting it has to go private in the age of hyper-partisan politics. During his online "Overtime" segment, Maher read a viewer question asking the panel to react to the testimony of NPR CEO Katherine Maher (no relation) and PBS CEO Paula Kerger, who defended their outlets to the House of Representatives' newly-formed Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee as GOP lawmakers call to strip them of taxpayer money over their left-wing bias. He specifically called out his "namesake" Maher over her repeated assertions that NPR was...

PBS fired two diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) executives and scrapped the department after Bari Weiss’ online publication Free Press was tipped off that the broadcaster was ignoring President Trump’s executive order eliminating the controversial initiative. On Monday, PBS CEO Paula Kerger informed staff that it was parting ways with Cecilia Loving, senior vice president of DEI, and Gina Leow, director of DEI. In the email, Kerger explained that the departures were necessary in order to adhere to Trump’s executive order from Jan. 20, which mandates the elimination of DEI-focused positions and funding in federally supported organizations. “I know you...

PBS CEO Paula Kerger refused to defend PBS host Jim Lehrer’s debate performance, even failing to push back against the idea that Lehrer is too old and too white for the job. “It was a very complicated debate structure, and you saw that I think in the debate last night,” Kerger said yesterday on CNN when asked to evaluate Lehrer. CNN’s Carol Costello then asked whether Lehrer should have had the job in the first place. “There was criticism when Jim Lehrer was initially named to be a moderator. People said: ‘oh, another white guy; he’s too old to be...