Congressional Republicans are applying pressure to both National Public Broadcasting (NPR) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) amid NPR\u2019s bias scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A series of letters to both entities have been sent from both House and Senate Republicans, requesting action to ensure NPR\u2019s integrity and address the allegations of ideological bias made by senior editor Uri Berliner, who has since left the organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested NPR CEO Katherine Maher to appear Wednesday for an Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on the allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The Committee has concerns about the direction in which NPR may be headed under past and present leadership,\u2019 Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, a spokesperson for NPR told Fox News Digital in a statement that Maher would not be joining the subcommittee to testify. She is willing to testify on a different date, the spokesperson added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018NPR respects the committee and its request and has offered to testify on a date in the near future that works for the committee and Maher,\u2019 the spokesperson said. \u2018NPR has a previously scheduled and publicly posted all-day meeting of its board of directors on that date, Maher\u2019s first such meeting since she joined NPR just six weeks ago. These meetings are scheduled more than a year in advance.<\/p>\n
\u2018Maher is therefore unable to attend this week\u2019s hearing and has communicated that to the committee and proposed alternate dates. Maher will provide written testimony in her absence,\u2019 the spokesperson continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the House Energy and Commerce committee told Fox News Digital Maher\u2019s choice not to testify on Wednesday \u2018speaks volumes.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The chair looks forward to reviewing her thorough and transparent responses to the committee\u2019s letter,\u2019 the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., did not say whether she is concerned by the allegations made against NPR or if she would invite Maher to testify in the Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The chair is focused on getting a five-year reauthorization passed,\u2019 the spokesperson said, referencing the FAA re-authorization bill that has a deadline of May 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CPB has also been the recipient of letters scrutinizing its grant funding to NPR amid the scandal. Both Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have sent such letters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked by Fox News Digital for comment on the letters and any concerns the corporation might have over the revelations at NPR, CPB simply replied on Tuesday it \u2018has confirmed receipt of Senator Cruz\u2019s letter and will reply in a timely manner.\u2019<\/p>\n
The allegations of ideological bias in NPR\u2019s newsroom have also led to bills being discussed in both chambers and introduced in the House to cut the organization\u2019s funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One such attempt by House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., would stop NPR from receiving federal funding, while also preventing public radio stations with federal grants from using them to buy content from or pay dues to NPR.<\/p>\n
Berliner\u2019s scathing essay addressing his concerns with his employer was published roughly one month ago, on April 9. Among other revelations, Berliner discovered that the NPR Washington, D.C., newsroom held zero Republicans, compared to 87 Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
Congressional Republicans are applying pressure to both National Public Broadcasting (NPR) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) amid NPR\u2019s bias scandal.\u00a0 A series of letters to both entities have been sent from both House and Senate Republicans, requesting action to ensure NPR\u2019s integrity and address the allegations of ideological bias made by senior editor <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}