Democrats don’t simply want NPR and PBS; they need them. Desperately. This is why they so oppose President Trump’s proposal to rescind these liberal flagships’ funding: Unable to compete in a media free market, they need lots of help.
On Tuesday, NPR and three of its Colorado stations filed a federal lawsuit in Washington against President Trump’s May 1 executive order instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting “and all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.” NPR’s lawsuit claims that Trump’s move violates free speech and that only Congress can control NPR’s funding. Earlier, the administration asked Congress to eliminate future funding; there have also been reports that the administration will soon move to rescind $1.1 billion in advance funds as well.
Democrats, never happy about cutting government spending (unless it’s defense spending), are unsurprisingly up in arms. Oregon’s Senator Ron Wyden said Trump “has made it his personal obsession to label impartial facts and fair reporting as enemies, so it’s no wonder he’s targeting public outlets that inform and educate all Americans.”
“Impartial facts and fair reporting” are not how 25-year-veteran Uri Berliner famously described NPR just a year ago: “It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding. In recent years, however, that has changed. Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.”
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No wonder that Democrats want to keep receiving their “distilled worldview” via taxpayer subsidy. However, Democrats need to keep receiving it even more than they want to keep receiving it. The reason is simple: Their “worldview” can’t compete in the marketplace, so they want to ensure it doesn’t have to.
Myriad measures show Democrats’ liberal worldview is getting crushed. This isn’t just based on policies or leadership—as demonstrated by President Biden’s abysmal job approval ratings (according to Real Clear Politics’ average of national polling, Biden finished with a 39 percent overall approval rating). It’s also measured in the media market.
Immediately following November’s election, stories were rife about MSNBC and CNN viewership plummeting: in late November MSNBC was down 38 percent and CNN 22 percent as Fox News jumped 41 percent. Not long after, MSNBC parent Comcast announced it would jettison MSNBC. MSNBC was allowed to keep its name (appropriately titled “SpinCo”), but little else—including staff, offices, and studio space—while remaining “talent” absorbed pay cuts. During April, Fox not only drubbed MSNBC and CNN, it beat ABC and NBC “to become the second highest-rated network in all of television.”
On audio (radio and podcasts), where NPR dwells, the situation is far worse. According to Talkers’ estimate for March 2025, all the top 10 radio talk show hosts were conservatives. Earlier this month, Slate admitted: “Liberals have been sufficiently rooted out of the digital-media ecosystem at a moment when political conversations and activism exist largely online.” So desperate to counter Joe Rogan’s influence from the right, Democrats are seeking to buy their own liberal version.
The decline of newspapers, which the Left dominate, is itself old news. In October 2024, there were fewer than 5600 newspapers remaining, down from 8900 in 2005—a 37 percent drop. Revenues have fallen even more: from $49.4 billion in 2005 to $9.8 billion in 2022. Even liberal flagships are not immune. The Washington Post lost about $100 million in 2024, 30 percent more than in 2023. The LA Times reportedly lost $50 million in 2024.
Unable to pay their own way in media, Democrats need someone to pay it for them. Being Democrats, that of course means going to the government.
NPR’s lawsuit complaint that cutting funding limits free speech is utterly specious. Limiting free speech is when you prohibit someone’s ability to speak on their own dime, not when you don’t give them the dime to speak.
Sure, it’s a subsidy. The fact that they’re asking for a subsidy for such a well-heeled audience bothers their liberal sensibilities not a bit. The median income of NPR News listeners was $115,000 in 2022; U.S. median household income was $80,000 in 2024.
Being Robin Hood in reverse doesn’t bother Democrats if it’s for a good cause. And for Democrats, funding NPR’s more than a good cause, it’s a necessity.
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