Kari Lake, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, told Newsmax on Friday that NPR cannot survive without taxpayer support due to what she calls a deeply partisan bias.
She said NPR may be coming to an end with the formal elimination of its federal funding, a move pushed by President Donald Trump and approved by Congress this week.
"NPR's days are probably numbered if the government and the taxpayer aren't footing the bill," Lake said on "Finnerty."
On Friday, the House voted 216-213 to give final approval to Trump's $9 billion rescission package, which includes $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Senate passed the measure Thursday in a 51-48 vote.
The bill rolls back funding over two years for public broadcasters such as NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service — an action public media executives warn could force dozens of local stations to shut down, according to Fox News.
Trump, who has long accused NPR of political bias, celebrated the bill's passage as a significant win for his administration and congressional Republicans.
Lake echoed Trump's criticism, saying, "You could do your whole show tonight with headlines from NPR showing incredible bias."
She cited a whistleblower's assertion that NPR's Washington office had "87 Democrats working there and zero Republicans."
"You're going to get bias when that's the ideological makeup of a newsroom," Lake said.
Her comments came in response to NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who defended the network on CNN this week and challenged critics to point to specific examples of bias.
"Please show me a story that concerns you," Maher said. "We want to know, and we want to bring that conversation back to our newsroom."
Lake pointed to one story in particular: "One of my favorite headlines was an opinion piece they wrote, 'In Defense of Looting,' and that came out in the summer of 2020, when our cities were being burned to the ground and looted and destroyed."
She questioned whether NPR could sustain itself without government funding.
"If they are as special as they say they are, and if they have as much support as they say privately, then they should have no trouble being privately funded," Lake said.
"I think they know the truth — that they're not popular, that they are an outlet for continuing to spread anti-American propaganda," she added. "They can go out and be as liberal and as radical as they want, but not on the hardworking American taxpayer's dollar."
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federal funds to NPR and PBS, faces a significant funding shortfall affecting both programming and community radio and television stations nationwide.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.