Executives at public broadcasting giants National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are keeping a wary eye on billionaire Elon Musk and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s mission to eliminate government waste from the federal government.
Musk and Ramaswamy were appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by newly elected President Donald Trump, promising to conduct a thorough audit of the federal government and find ways to save taxpayer money.
Leaders of NPR’s largest radio stations distributed a report warning of future threats to their government funding, according to the New York Times.
“While it is impossible to know exactly what will happen, it would be unwise to assume that events will play out as they have in the past,” the warning said about DOGE.
Congress approved $535 million in public funding for public broadcasting in 2024. But the coffers could quickly become empty if DOGE takes control in January.
Both Musk and Ramaswamy have included public media funding on their list of federal expenses to be eliminated.
For decades, Republicans have championed the idea of defunding public broadcasters, largely because national brands are biased against conservatives.
But efforts to discourage funding from the institutions usually lead to widespread emotional resistance from Americans who feel strongly about public programs like Sesame Street and local public radio.
Any attempt to limit public broadcasting would be labeled by critics as an attempt to cancel or kill off likable characters like Elmo from Sesame Street.
Elon Musk has pledged to tackle federal spending on public broadcast media as part of his job to reduce government waste
Any attempt to limit public broadcasting would be labeled by critics as an attempt to cancel or kill off likable characters like Elmo from Sesame Street.
Former failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney received widespread public outrage from Democrats after declaring in a debate that he would shut down public broadcasting.
“I’m sorry Jim. I’m going to end the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things,” Romney said during a 2012 debate with moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS. “I like PBS, I like Big Bird, I actually like you too.”
But Musk has previously voiced his opposition to federal funding of public media, especially NPR, which has come under increasing criticism for its left-wing bias.
Should your tax dollars really be paid to an organization run by people who think the truth is a ‘distraction?’ Musk wrote on X in November.
He highlighted a video of NPR CEO Katherine Maher explaining to an audience that the United States’ “respect for the truth” had become a “distraction.”
Ramaswamy also responded to the Maher video, calling for an end to taxpayer funding for outlets like NPR.
‘The search for the truth is not the real problem. It is wasteful federal spending,” he said wrote. ‘Let’s turn off the tap and see what happens. No one will get hurt.”
In August, Vivek published a video on social media, criticizing them for excluding their journalists who were demanding more political balance.
“NPR is literally state-funded media. Somewhere in the last decade they started behaving like this,” he warned.
For decades, Republicans have championed the idea of defunding public broadcasting
Former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy was appointed by Trump to work with Elon Musk to reduce government waste
Kari Lake, newly-elected US President Donald Trump’s nominee for the position of director of Voice of America
Trump is determined to see a significant change in direction from the government-funded media.
The president-elect selected failed Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake to lead Voice of America, a publicly funded global news agency.
Trump tasked Lake with ensuring that “the American values of freedom and liberty are broadcast FAIRLY and ACCURATELY around the world, unlike the lies spread by the fake news media.”
Lake, a former television journalist, assured critics that she would not try to reshape the organization to serve as a propaganda channel for Trump and his agenda.
“I’m not here to make it Trump TV and MAGA TV,” she said in an interview with CBS. ‘That’s not what this is about. That’s not what Voice of America is.”