NPR head asks critics to 'show me a story' that proves liberal bias amid defunding threats
NPR CEO Katherine Maher challenged critics to show her a story that would prove the radio network is biased on Wednesday.
Maher defended her organization on CNN's "The Situation Room" as it faces efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to remove its federal funding. Though Trump and other conservative critics have accused NPR of being politically biased towards Democrats, Maher insisted that they "serve all Americans" and seemed to deny any bias.
"It doesn‘t help anyone to take this funding away," Maher said. "As far as the accusations that we‘re biased, I would stand up and say, ‘Please show me a story that concerns you,’ because we want to know and we want to bring that conversation back to our newsroom."
She added, "We believe that, as a public broadcaster, we do have an obligation to serve all Americans, and we need to make sure that our coverage reflects the interests and perspective. And we hear from Americans across the political spectrum. That‘s important to us, and we want to make sure we live up to that."
Maher's comments received backlash from right-leaning social media users who were quick to provide examples.
"'We're here to serve all Americans' is a humongous lie. NPR is here to serve Democrats and Antifa and people who think the Communist Manifesto is a stirring book," Newsbusters executive editor Tim Graham wrote.
"Here you go @krmaher! These are just a few!" Libs of TikTok wrote with a photo of several NPR headlines.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., posted a thread featuring videos of himself on the Senate floor providing examples of NPR's political bias.
"NPR reported that country music and birds are racist, told American people to stop eating beef, and promoted the Russia-gate conspiracy. No person with a brain above a single-celled organism would call these articles fair and balanced," one tweet said.
Another read, "NPR claimed President Biden’s presidential debate performance didn’t change the election, days before he dropped out of the race. If you believe that headline, you believe in the tooth fairy. But that’s what NPR reported with your tax dollars."
"NPR reported that there is no evidence that biological men have an unfair advantage over biological women in sports. NPR also called America’s interstate highways racist. I did not know our highways were racist. I thought they were concrete, but not according to NPR."
He concluded, "NPR referred to rural Americans as ‘Christian nationalists’ and heaped praise on Biden administration official Rachel Levine. I could go all day. American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund this opinion journalism."
Newsbusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News Digital her comments "despicable and rancorous" and a "pants-on-fire lie," pointing to several examples of NPR’s political bias, including their failure to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
"Maher can lock herself in an ideological bubble all she wants, but what she’s not entitled to are the facts and poisoning the body politic with actual disinformation," Houck said.
Maher had admitted that ignoring the Hunter Biden laptop story was a "mistake," but one that happened before she was appointed CEO in 2024.
NPR CEO RIPS TRUMP ORDER TO DEFUND AS ‘RETALIATION,’ INSISTS MEDIA OUTLET IS 'NON-PARTISAN'
Shortly after she was named NPR CEO, however, NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner wrote a scathing rebuke of his publication and revealed that in the newsroom there were 87 registered Democrats in NPR editorial positions and "zero Republicans."
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Maher also came under fire after her old social media posts emerged featuring her openly supporting former President Joe Biden and attacking Trump leading up to the 2020 election. She also repeated several left-leaning talking points, such as saying that property damage was "not the thing" Americans should be upset over during the George Floyd riots.