In a recent meeting of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), emotions ran high as the agency's President and board members grappled with the fallout from Congress's decision to withdraw funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and other public media outlets.
The decision, driven by allegations of liberal bias, has sparked a fierce debate about the role of public media in American society.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, the meeting took place on July 24, just days after Congress voted to rescind $1.1 billion in federal funding that the CPB had allocated to NPR and local public radio and television stations.
The move was spearheaded by Republicans, who have long criticized the perceived left-leaning bias of NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Pat Harrison, President of the CPB, acknowledged the existence of bias within the organization, which she has led since 2005. "Is there bias?" Harrison asked during the meeting. "Sure, we're not perfect, but we were working on that," she admitted, arguing that the alleged leftward slant of public media is "not a legitimate reason to shut down everything."
Harrison's admission starkly contrasts with the assertions of Democrats and NPR's chief executive, Katherine Maher, who told Congress in March that she has "never seen political bias" at NPR.
The meeting was marked by a somber atmosphere, with Harrison and several board members shedding tears as they discussed the funding cuts. They portrayed the cuts as a threat to American democracy. Diane Kaplan, a board member, expressed her grief over the cuts, stating, "My beloved state of Alaska is in mourning."
Ruby Calvert, the chair of the CPB board, criticized Congress for its "assault on public media." Calvert, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018 and reappointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, said, "Never in 58 years, actually, of operations has CPB and our public media system been so maligned and attacked."
Tom Rothman, a Biden appointee, described the situation as a "terrible miscarriage." Harrison, too, was visibly moved during her remarks, which she concluded by reciting a speech from Shakespeare's Henry V, likening the plight of public media to the king's battle against the French at Agincourt.
Harrison urged her colleagues to "aim for that win for public media," while Rothman compared her to a heroic character from the film Master and Commander, praising her for standing "tall in the quarterdeck under heavy and unfair fire."
The meeting could potentially be used by the Trump administration in its legal battle to dismiss Rothman and Kaplan, who were also appointed by Biden in 2022. Trump fired the two members and former board member Laura Ross on April 28, but they refused to leave the organization, continuing to participate in board meetings and vote on agenda items.
The Department of Justice has since sued the trio, accusing them of unlawfully "usurping" the agency by attending board meetings. Kaplan addressed the lawsuit during the meeting, stating, "We have not only been chastised, we've been sued, and then just last week, three of us were personally sued for serving in a public service role on a board where we were nominated by the President of the United States."
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