Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has asked PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher to testify in a March hearing examining biased news reporting and federal funding for public media.
In separate letters to the executives, Greene said the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, of which she is chair, is concerned about “blatantly ideological and partisan coverage” by NPR and PBS. The subcommittee operates under the authority of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and “has broad authority to investigate ‘any matter’ at ‘any time,’” she wrote.
The letters, dated Monday, describe the hearing as “an opportunity” for the leaders of PBS and NPR to explain why federal funds should be used for public radio and television. Greene asked both CEOs to confirm their availability for the hearing during the weeks of March 3 or March 24.
In an online statement, NPR said it welcomes the opportunity to discuss the critical role of public media in providing “impartial, fact-based news and reporting to the American public.”
The NPR statement also cited the organization’s standards and ethics guidelines, the role of its public editor, and final review process for the nearly 2,000 pieces of journalism its newsroom produces each month.
“We constantly strive to hold ourselves to the highest standards of journalism,” the statement said.
In her letter to Maher, Greene pointed to former NPR editor Uri Berliner’s Free Press essay along with comments Maher made in 2022 when she was CEO of Wikipedia. Greene also cited NPR’s explanation of why it declined to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020.
Greene’s letter to Kerger cited a News Hour post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “implied” Elon Musk made a “fascist salute” at President Donald Trump’s inaugural celebration, which she asserts was “clearly false.” Her letter quoted a post by the Anti-Defamation League that said Musk made “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.”
“This sort of bias betrays the principles of objective reporting and undermines public trust,” Greene wrote.
PBS released a statement expressing appreciation for the opportunity to present testimony to the subcommittee.
“PBS and our member stations are grateful to have bipartisan support in Congress, and our country,” the statement said. “We’ve earned this support from decades of noncommercial and nonpartisan work in local communities: providing all Americans with content they trust; offering a broad range of stories and programs that help citizens understand our past and shape our future; and helping children and families open up worlds of possibilities through educational programming.”
This story has been updated to include PBS’ statement.