Congressional hearings are being held tomorrow featuring the chief executives of PBS and NPR as the star witnesses.
PBS is practicing answers with lawyers. NPR executives are preparing to monitor the fallout. Members of Congress are promoting the star witnesses — the leaders of the two public media networks — as if they were combatants in a prizefight.
They’re all getting ready for a hearing on Wednesday — ominously titled “Anti-American Airwaves” — organized by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who leads a House subcommittee tied to Elon Musk’s efforts to cut federal spending.
Ms. Greene said in an interview that she planned to call on the two top witnesses, Paula Kerger, the chief executive of PBS, and Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, to address what she sees as liberal bias at their organizations. She also reiterated her support for defunding PBS and NPR, a move being pushed by many backers of President Trump...
“Everything is at stake,” Ms. Kerger said in an interview. “The future of a number of our stations across the country will be in jeopardy if this funding is not continued.”
As the article goes on to point out, conservatives are not fans of Maher in particular. Many have wondered why a person who thinks truth often gets in the way of getting things done is leading a news organization.
Katherine Maher, Director of NPR, on her instrumental view of the truth: "our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that's getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done."
— Mark F. Proudman (@mfproudman) March 4, 2025
And President Trump is very much in the way of the things she would like… pic.twitter.com/f6IKcEzudF
Maher is also an outspoken progressive who has far left opinions on every topic, as demonstrated by some of her tweets.
I grew up feeling superior (hah, how white of me) because I was from New England and my part of the country didn’t have slaves, or so I’d been taught.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) January 20, 2020
She didn't have children because of climate change.
New NPR CEO explains that she didn't have children because "the planet is literally burning" https://t.co/kynQbEhR7S
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) April 15, 2024
And of course she's not a fan of capitalism.
New NPR CEO explains that she didn't have children because "the planet is literally burning" https://t.co/kynQbEhR7S
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) April 15, 2024
All that to say, tomorrow's hearings could be entertaining as there is lots of material to ask her about.
Usually, when PBS is in danger of losing federal funds (about half a billion per year) they roll out Big Bird. I wouldn't be surprised to see Big Bird make an appearance tomorrow somewhere but in a separate article we learn that Sesame Street is facing some serious financial problems at the moment that go beyond federal funds.
The organization is losing its lucrative contract with HBO, which has paid $30 million to $35 million a year for a decade for rights to the show. With Hollywood suddenly watching every penny, nothing nearly as rich is in the offing.
Then there is the Trump administration. Its cuts to the United States Agency for International Development have stripped Sesame Workshop of some valuable grants that the nonprofit did not anticipate abruptly losing. The administration’s attacks on public media could bring some further cuts.
What’s more, “Sesame Street” is at risk of getting lost in the shuffle of a deeply competitive and fast-changing children’s TV landscape. The show reliably ranks far behind shows like “Bluey” and “Cocomelon” in Nielsen’s streaming numbers — and YouTube is eating up even more of the attention...
Sesame Workshop cut about 20 percent of its staff, or nearly 100 people, a few weeks ago. Without the cost cuts, the organization would face a deficit of nearly $40 million next year, according to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times. Even with the cuts, it has had to draw $6 million from its investment fund for the first time in more than a decade to help cover some of the budget shortfalls.
Big Bird is broke and needs a new funder to keep it going. Sesame Workshop is now pitching itself to other interested parties including Netflix, Prime and Roku. But the market has changed to the point that they are unlikely to get the kind of money there were getting from HBO, hence the job cuts.
There's also another wrinkle in the story. The people who work at Sesame Workshop were rallying for a union on the day the cuts were announced.
Much of Sesame Workshop’s administrative work force — which includes education experts, fund-raisers and paralegals — had been preparing to declare a union for months. On March 4, the employees announced that they were forming a union and kicked it off with a rally outside the nonprofit’s Midtown Manhattan offices. Immediately after the rally, workers assembled for a staff meeting where they learned about the cuts.
Unionizing is the last thing Sesame Street needs at this point. That will only ensure more jobs are lost as the union demands higher wages for the people who remain.
But as mentioned above, the real problem is that Sesame Street isn't the only kid's show on TV anymore. Sesame Street has a lot more competition now and some of it is more popular with kids. The show is vowing to change things up for its 56th season which starts production soon. Can an old bird learn new tricks? If not, it may not matter much what Congress does to their funding.
