The average American awards some amount of undeserved prestige to "public" TV and radio merely by the branding of "public," like it's for all the people and it's non-commercial. But PBS and NPR are not acting for the entire "public." They are taxpayer-subsidized propaganda, and they often ignore or downplay news events that they do not support.
Exhibit A for Abortion: the annual March for Life, which draws tens of thousands of pro-lifers every year. President Trump spoke to the crowd on video, and Vice President J.D. Vance and the Republican leaders of the House and Senate spoke in person. It was a news event.
On January 24, NPR aired no story on the pro-life protest on their terribly named show All Things Considered. Pro-lifers were not considered! They also ignored it on their morning show Weekend Edition Saturday, including in the Week In Politics segment with their political analyst Ron Elving, which was all about their weekly Trump outrages.
The PBS News Hour disposed of the event in less than 30 seconds of a story on Trump and disaster relief, using the vaguest of soundbites for the "anti-abortion" side.
PBS @NewsHour gave the March for Life 29 SECONDS of vague air time in a larger story on Trump touring disaster sites. pic.twitter.com/BtNyIdYPCb
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) January 30, 2025
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: All this while in Washington --
DONALD TRUMP: In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life.
BARRON-LOPEZ: -- the annual March for Life, where Trump made a simultaneous virtual appearance via prerecorded video, crowds of anti- abortion protesters watching on.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON: We believe that every child has the right to life.
BARRON-LOPEZ: The event featured a lineup of Washington`s new Republican leadership...
J.D. VANCE: We are proud to march with you.
BARRON-LOPEZ: ... including Vice President J.D. Vance.
The March did not come up in the Week in Review segment on PBS, while Jonathan Capehart did lament that the Laken Riley Act would bring "terror" to immigrants.
On the subject of abortion on March for Life Day, NPR.org published a story on their internationalist "Goats and Soda" blog, suggesting Republicans reinstalling their "Mexico City Policy" -- forbidding government funds for groups promoting abortion internationally -- backfires and spurs more abortions.
A 2019 analysis, published in the medical journal The Lancet, examined access to contraception and abortion rates in sub-Saharan Africa across three presidencies: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The policy was in effect during Bush's years in office but was revoked by Clinton and Obama.
The researchers looked at abortion rates in 26 sub-Saharan African countries during the eight years of the Bush administration, when the funding ban was in place, and the Clinton and Obama administrations, which each lifted the funding ban.
The analysis suggests that the Mexico City policy has actually increased the rate of abortions by about 40% in the countries studied.
This almost entirely one-sided article ends by noting in 2019, they interviewed Connor Semelsberger, then with the pro-life Family Research Council, who didn't find the study convincing. They put the conservative at the bottom.
