Senator John Kennedy Speaks Out Against Taxpayer Funding for Biased Public Broadcasting 

On February 11^th, 2025, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) took to the Senate floor to criticizing the use of taxpayer money to fund public broadcasting.

Senator Kennedy brought light to the obsolete nature of broadcast media in the digital age, rendering the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and National Public Radio (NPR) a gross misuse of taxpayer money.  

Senator Kennedy pointed to the popularity of digital media and internet-based platforms that are widely used to reach millions of Americans: “Today, Americans get their news everywhere. There is no longer a need for National Public Radio… Both President Trump and Vice President Harris did popular podcasts.” 

The government should not subsidize radio networks or attempt to compete in the private sector. Networks like NPR that are subsidized by taxpayer dollars receive an unfair advantage over their competitors. Companies that cannot stay afloat without the help of subsidies should not be in operation. 

In a Washington Examiner op-ed published last year, ATR’s Director of Innovation Policy, James Erwin, explained the origins of the CPB as a byproduct of rent-seeking. In 1970, “a group of public radio stations successfully lobbied for federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit organization funded entirely by our tax dollars.” NPR claims that it only receives 1% of its funding from taxpayers, but if this is the case, then NPR should not need to rely on taxpayer dollars.  

However, the 1% claim by NPR is dubious. Senator Kennedy explained how local stations receiving federal pay licensing fees to NPR to broadcast NPR content, meaning NPR likely receives far more taxpayer funding through channels besides direct federal grants. The real figures, however, remain unclear.  

A 2011 Government Accountability Office audit of 29 radio stations found that the majority did not maintain required records to track how much in federal grants are sent to NPR. 

Not only is NPR benefitting from taxpayer money, the true extent of their subsidization also remains shielded from any semblance of transparency or accountability.  

The lack of transparency is concerning, especially given the left-wing bias present in several NPR articles.  

Senator Kennedy remarked how NPR’s journalism is tainted with a clear left-wing bias: “You’d think after receiving $100 million from taxpayers, NPR would play it down the middle…but that’s not the case,” Kennedy said, referring to NPR’s estimated annual revenue from taxpayers. Examples include headlines alleging racism in country music marketing (How racism became a marketing tool for country music) and, infamously, avian nomenclature: (Monuments And Teams Have Changed Names As America Reckons With Racism. Birds Are Next). 

Taxpayer money should not be used to fund any media, let alone biased media publications. This is a flagrant violation of free market principles and warrants immediate action to defund such outlets. The government should not pick winners and losers in the media industry, especially when alternative sources of information are abundant and widely accessible.

Watch Senator Kennedy’s full remarks here.