For the Tax Day edition of CNN’s Inside Politics on Tuesday, media correspondent Brian Stelter joined host Dana Bash to allege that President Trump wants to defund PBS and NPR for “simply covering the news.” If Stelter really believes that then he has a funny definition of what is newsworthy.
Of course, any media segment about defunding public broadcasting has to include a good deal of fearmongering and Stelter saw no reason for this one to be any different:
It would mean that local stations, smaller stations, and some of these smaller producers would be hardest hit. For example, the group that produces Sesame Street only relies on government funding for about four percent of the production. Sesame Street would still suffer, but it wouldn't go off the air as a result of losing government funding. However, there are all smaller stations in smaller states and rural areas that would really suffer if they lost this funding and those are the kinds of preparations that are now underway. As you said, this would be a big victory for Republicans who have wanted this to happen for decades. But it would also be, in many cases, Republican constituents that would suffer, Dana.
Bash acted as if that was the most profound argument she had ever heard, “Yeah, that is such a good point.”
She then asked, “Brian, just real quick, what is the White House saying about not just PBS and NPR, but about its broader fights with media organizations, including the AP, that we were talking about before the break?”
Stelter began by explain, “When it comes to the White House's framing of this, it's about taking on wokeism and liberal bias. Here's a part of the quote from the White House website. They've listed off what they believe are examples of partisan bias at NPR and PBS, saying, quote, ‘for years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing NPR and PBS, which spread radical woke propaganda disguised as news.’”
However, Stelter wasn’t buying it, “Some of the examples on the list on the White House website are examples of NPR and PBS simply covering the news, for example, about transgender Americans. So, that list very much about the president's priorities, trying to push back on DEI. More broadly, Dana, you refer to the AP. We see the FCC under pressure. We see signs of authoritarianism all around. And yet networks like CBS just keep reporting the news. That’s true as well, Dana, at PBS and NPR.”
Stelter referenced the list, but never actually cited anything on it. The transgender-related stories the White House cited include:
- “In 2022, NPR educated the nation on the ‘whole community of genderqueer dinosaur enthusiasts’ and ‘trans-ceratops.’”
- In 2021, a PBS station aired a ‘children’s program’ that featured a drag queen named ‘Lil’ Miss Hot Mess.’”
- In 2017, PBS produced an entire movie celebrating a transgender teenager’s so-called ‘changing gender identity.’”
Not a segment profiling a transgender teenager, an entire movie. What news value to “genderqueer dinosaur enthusiasts” or Lil Miss Hot Mess have? And that is before we get to non-transgender related examples like NPR’s 2020 “the racial origins of fat phobia.”
Sign the petition to help us defund another CNN in PBS and NPR at defundpbsnpr.org.
Here is a transcript for the April 15 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
4/15/2025
12:33 PM ET
BRIAN STELTER: It would mean that local stations, smaller stations, and some of these smaller producers would be hardest hit. For example, the group that produces Sesame Street only relies on government funding for about four percent of the production. Sesame Street would still suffer, but it wouldn't go off the air as a result of losing government funding. However, there are all smaller stations in smaller states and rural areas that would really suffer if they lost this funding, and those are the kinds of preparations that are now underway. As you said, this would be a big victory for Republicans who have wanted this to happen for decades. But it would also be, in many cases, Republican constituents that would suffer, Dana.
DANA BASH: Yeah, that is such a good point. Brian, just real quick, what is the White House saying about not just—
STELTER: Yeah.
BASH -- PBS and NPR, but about its broader fights with media organizations, including the AP, that we were talking about before the break?
STELTER: Right. When it comes to the White House's framing of this, it's about taking on wokeism and liberal bias. Here's a part of the quote from the White House website. They've listed off what they believe are examples of partisan bias at NPR and PBS, saying, quote, “for years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing NPR and PBS, which spread radical woke propaganda disguised as news.”
Some of the examples on the list on the White House website are examples of NPR and PBS simply covering the news, for example, about transgender Americans. So, that list very much about the president's priorities, trying to push back on DEI. More broadly, Dana, you refer to the AP. We see the FCC under pressure. We see signs of authoritarianism all around. And yet networks like CBS just keep reporting the news. That’s true as well, Dana, at PBS and NPR.
