Are NPR and PBS biased? Should they receive taxpayer funding? Don’t ask Google. The company’s AI chatbot showed its bias when it answered by simply pushing the leftist legacy media outlets in question.
Google showed a clear bias when MRC researchers asked “Are NPR and PBS biased?” and “Should NPR and PBS be defunded?” on March 25 and April 1. In its answers to the two prompts, Gemini cited NPR, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which both NPR and PBS are funded by in part) as sources nearly 59 percent of the time (a combined total of 17 times out of 29 sources listed). Gemini’s responses included only six links that did not favor taxpayer-funded public media like PBS or NPR. This is a continuation of a similar tactic used by Gemini last week, the day before NPR and PBS executives were brought before members of Congress to answer for their networks’ biased reporting. Neither prompt cited a single article by the Media Research Center, which has produced countless reports on the bias at NPR and PBS over the last 30+ years.
“When it comes to NPR and PBS, Google’s bias could not be more clear here,” said NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham. “Aside from perhaps NPR itself, no media entity has expended more ink over the decades on the question of NPR and PBS’s bias than the Media Research Center, and yet, at no point did Google even deign to mention the MRC as a source for either prompt. But this is just Google’s usual modus operandi, isn’t it?”
When asked on April 1, “Are NPR and PBS biased?” Google’s Gemini simply concluded that whether NPR and PBS are biased “is a subject of ongoing debate” and that “they aim for objectivity” without citing any sources. When prompted to “double check response,” the chatbot proceeded to list sources supporting its points, the majority of which came from PBS itself.
Even Gemini’s source explaining critiques of NPR and PBS bias cited PBS’s own coverage of the hearing about NPR and PBS’s bias. The chatbot proceeded to refer to this article a total of six times in its answers to the April 1 prompts.
MRC researchers decided to follow up by asking whether it would be biased for an AI chatbot to primarily cite the source in question when asked whether that source is biased. Gemini flat out admitted, “Yes, it would.”
The chatbot aptly noted that “Organizations, including media outlets, often have a vested interest in defending their own objectivity.” The chatbot added that “A comprehensive assessment of bias requires considering a range of viewpoints, including those of critics, independent analysts, and academic researchers.”
Google had a similar problem when asked, “Should NPR and PBS be defunded?” Gemini again cited PBS coverage as one of its sources showing that critics of NPR and PBS accuse it of having a liberal bias. However, this time, the chatbot also referred back to a press release for Rep. Strong’s proposed “No More Funding for NPR Act of 2025.” While there have been several other bills introduced with significant support, this is the only one Gemini referred to.
These results were very reminiscent of Gemini’s responses last week, just one day before the hearing.
On March 25, MRC researchers asked, “Are NPR and PBS biased?” and Google’s Gemini gave a very diplomatic, almost relativist response, explaining both sides of the issue, but downplaying the question as “subjective.”
“What one person considers biased, another may view as objective reporting,” Gemini wrote. The chatbot then added, “Media bias is a broad and multifaceted issue, and it's essential to consume news from a variety of sources to gain a well-rounded understanding of events.”
Gemini, however, did not offer a “well-rounded” understanding of the issue, just as it failed to do a week later. The AI chatbot instead presented sources that included links to two PBS pages, an NPR article, the Wikipedia page for “Public Broadcasting in the United States” and an article by Free Press defending NPR.
When MRC researchers asked “Should NPR and PBS be defunded?”on March 25, Google’s Gemini offered six points for each side of the argument, but when it listed its sources, a clear bias shined through. While there was one source that simply analyzed funding and media statistics, two sources were from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the organization that funnels federal funds to NPR and PBS. One was from an NPR affiliate, and another came from protectmypublicmedia.org in the form of an article headlined “How Federal Funding Cuts Would Devastate Local Public Media.”
The only right-leaning source Gemini cited on March 25 was an article by The Heritage Foundation headlined “Taxpayers Shouldn’t Have to Fund Biased, Woke Public Broadcasting.” The chatbot also included an article published by Broadband Breakfast with the headline, “Sen. Lee Proposes Bill to Defund NPR and PBS." Rep. Strong’s press release also appeared among Gemini’s sources. Not one of MRC’s countless articles on NPR and PBS’s overt bias appeared in Gemini’s source list.
This clear bias may be by design. Even former Vice President Kamala Harris said the quiet part out loud during a roundtable event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. “[P]art of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine, and we can predict... what then will be produced in terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process,” she said.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Google be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
Methodology.
For this study, MRC Free Speech America asked Google’s AI Gemini to answer a series of questions on March 25 and April 1. The questions asked were as follows: “Are NPR and PBS biased?” and “Should NPR and PBS be defunded?” On April 1, researchers additionally asked, “Would it be biased for an AI chatbot to primarily cite the source in question when asked whether that source is biased?”
MRC researchers examined the listed sources Google’s AI provided on March 25 and asked Gemini to “double check response” on April 1, which generated sources for its answer. Researchers then recorded the sources and content of the links that Gemini directed them to and analyzed whether the source defended or promoted publicly-funded media, including National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
