USA: Congress should strengthen public media, not threaten its editorial independence
On March 26, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) will hold a hearing on the alleged bias of National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the country’s two national public broadcasters. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has submitted a letter for the public record affirming the value of American public media outlets and their vital role in bringing news to rural communities. Rather than holding hearings that jeopardize the media’s editorial independence, RSF encourages Congress to investigate ways to bolster public media’s strengths in order to foster more resilient communities and a better informed citizenry.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican subcommittee chairwoman, called the hearing to question the heads of these media outlets on “why the demonstrably biased news coverage they produce for an increasingly narrow and elitist audience should continue to be funded by the broad taxpaying public.” This framing mischaracterizes public media’s role and value in the United States: these broadcasters provide millions of Americans free access to daily local news and disproportionately benefit rural communities. RSF worries that such hearings may use the pretext of combating bias to interfere with public media’s editorial independence or to impose politicians’ viewpoints.
“Examining bias is something every responsible media outlet should constantly be doing, but RSF is deeply concerned the House hearing on bias in NPR and PBS is a political stunt that will create a slippery slope towards politicians dictating the programming of public news outlets. That is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment. Public media plays a hugely important role in informing the American people through free, reliable, and accessible journalism. Cuts to funding would deprive the general public of an indispensable news source and disproportionately harm rural communities and the nearly 55 million Americans who live in news deserts.”
Clayton Weimers
Executive Director, RSF USA
Public broadcasters are crucial in rural communities and news deserts, areas with very limited or no consistent local news coverage. In many cases, journalists from public media are the only reporters at important local meetings and events in these areas, working to keep communities informed. The Local News Initiative’s 2024 report found that 206 counties in the country lack any local news source and 1,561 counties have only one source, which accounts for almost 55 million people. According to an RSF report on press freedom in swing states, the rise of news deserts is especially acute in the states most critical to US elections.
READ RSF’S LETTER HERE.
RSF also joined the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) in sending a letter ahead of the hearing urging the subcommittee to “embrace the importance of a pluralistic, free press throughout the hearing, and to be mindful that using rhetoric that devalues the contributions of journalism could fuel attacks on journalists and media outlets for their reporting, regardless of their perceived or real political persuasion.”
The United States ranks 55th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index, having dropped an alarming 10 spots from 2023.
