Brian Stelter Defends Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda as Trump Moves to Cut the Cord [WATCH]

CNN’s Brian Stelter is defending public broadcasting outlets PBS and NPR as nonpartisan news organizations, following renewed calls from the Trump administration to strip the networks of federal funding.

The comments came during Tuesday’s Inside Politics segment with host Dana Bash, coinciding with Tax Day and an ongoing political debate over publicly funded media.

Stelter responded to recent statements from the Trump White House accusing PBS and NPR of promoting “radical woke propaganda disguised as news.”

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The administration has proposed cutting taxpayer funding for the two outlets, arguing they have strayed from neutral journalism and are instead advancing ideological content.

“For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing NPR and PBS, which spread radical woke propaganda disguised as news,” reads a statement posted on the official White House website this week.

Stelter, formerly the host of CNN’s Reliable Sources and now a media correspondent, dismissed the administration’s claims during his appearance on CNN.

“When it comes to the White House’s framing of this, it’s about taking on wokeism and liberal bias,” Stelter said.

“Some of the examples on the list on the White House website are examples of NPR and PBS simply covering the news, for example, about transgender Americans.”

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Host Dana Bash had introduced the topic during a segment that also discussed the administration’s broader concerns over media objectivity, including recent criticism of the Associated Press.

“Brian, just real quick, what is the White House saying about not just PBS and NPR, but about its broader fights with media organizations, including the AP, that we were talking about before the break?” Bash asked.

Stelter said the effort to revoke taxpayer support for public media fits into the broader agenda of the administration.

“That list very much [is] about the president’s priorities, trying to push back on DEI,” Stelter said, referring to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.

“More broadly, Dana, you refer to the AP. We see the FCC under pressure. We see signs of authoritarianism all around. And yet networks like CBS just keep reporting the news. That’s true as well, Dana, at PBS and NPR.”

Brian Stelter fearmongers “it would also be, in many cases, Republican constituents that would suffer” from defunding PBS and NPR. He also claims “Some of the examples [of liberal bias] on the list on the White House website are examples of NPR and PBS simply covering the news,… pic.twitter.com/DjSb07mYBT

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 15, 2025

The exchange comes amid rising calls from Republican lawmakers and conservative organizations to end federal funding of public broadcasting.

Critics argue that PBS and NPR have consistently demonstrated political bias, particularly on cultural and social issues, while continuing to receive taxpayer support.

NPR recently drew criticism for its internal response to a senior editor’s op-ed accusing the network of ideological bias.

The editor, Uri Berliner, resigned this month after NPR suspended him for publicly criticizing the outlet’s direction.

PBS has also faced scrutiny for its programming choices and commentary segments, which critics say lean heavily toward progressive narratives.

Stelter, who has defended major media outlets from bias accusations in the past, positioned the backlash against public broadcasting as part of a broader effort to intimidate or silence news organizations that report critically on the administration’s opponents.

The Trump administration has not announced a final decision on whether funding cuts to NPR and PBS will be included in upcoming budget legislation, but senior officials have confirmed that the proposal is under review.

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