Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has ordered an investigation into Nationwide Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service over considerations about selling sponsors, a probe that will affect the controversy over taxpayer funding of public media.
Mr. Carr instructed the presidents of NPR and PBS that he has requested the company’s enforcement bureau to look into “the underwriting bulletins and associated insurance policies of NPR, PBS, and their broadcast members stations.”
“I’m involved that NPR and PBS broadcasts may very well be violating federal regulation by airing commercials,” he mentioned in a letter dated Wednesday however launched Thursday. “Particularly, it’s doable that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting bulletins that cross the road into prohibited business ads.”
He mentioned it was vital that noncommercial instructional broadcast stations “stay true to their vital missions and chorus from working as noncommercial in identify solely,” however that their member stations could have gone too far.
“For-profit entities that contribute funds to NCE stations could obtain on-air acknowledgments, however the FCC has lengthy held that these underwriting bulletins are for identification functions solely,” he mentioned within the two-page letter.
Mr. Carr, who was named chairman by President Trump after serving on the commission since 2017, made it clear that he believes the investigation “could show related to the continued legislative debate.”
“Particularly, Congress is contemplating whether or not to cease requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” he mentioned within the two-page letter. “For my very own half, I don’t see a motive why Congress ought to proceed sending taxpayer {dollars} to NPR and PBS given the modifications within the media market because the passing of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.”
Republicans have lengthy chafed over what they describe because the left-wing and pro-Democrat bias of PBS and NPR, whereas supporters argue that the shops play a priceless position in informing the general public.
New: Trump FCC appointee and Mission 2025 contributor @BrendanCarrFCC orders company to analyze @npr and @pbs underwriting (ie., sponsor bulletins/commercials), with eye to defunding public broadcasting. pic.twitter.com/SgeTthk15s
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) January 30, 2025
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher and PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger insisted that their sponsorship credit observe federal laws.
“We’re assured any evaluate of our programming and underwriting practices will verify NPR’s adherence to those guidelines,” Ms. Maher mentioned in an announcement. “Now we have labored for many years with the FCC in help of noncommercial instructional broadcasters who present important data, instructional programming, and emergency alerts to native communities throughout america.”
Jenna Leventoff, senior coverage counsel on the American Civil Liberties Union, slammed Mr. Carr’s choice to analyze the stations.
“The Commission mustn’t carry frivolous investigations into media shops just because they don’t like their protection,” she mentioned. “Investigations like this will chill protection and threaten the independence of the press, making it tougher to carry the federal government accountable and preserve us all knowledgeable.”
Sen. Edward Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, decried the investigation in an X publish as “baseless” and a “harmful assault on public media and native journalism.”
On the opposite facet was the conservative Media Analysis Middle, which declared on X: “Defund NPR and PBS!”
NPR and PBS disseminate their programming by way of a community of about 1,500 member broadcast stations, that are licensed to function by the FCC.
