XPost: alt.radio.networks.npr, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.misc   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/conservative-attacks-on-npr-a   
   nd-pbs-continue-with-call-to-take-fcc-licenses/   
      
   A conservative group yesterday urged the Federal Communications   
   Commission to take licenses away from NPR and PBS stations and let other   
   entities use the spectrum. The request came from the Center for American   
   Rights (CAR), a nonprofit law firm that has played a prominent role in   
   the news-distortion investigations spearheaded by FCC Chairman Brendan   
   Carr.   
      
   “In the wake of the wind-down of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting   
   and the end of federal funding for NPR and PBS, the Center respectfully   
   suggests that the Commission open an inquiry that looks at the future of   
   ‘public’ broadcasting in that new environment,” a Center for American   
   Rights filing said.   
      
   The CPB is set to shut down after Congress approved President Trump’s   
   request to rescind its funding. The Center for American Rights said the   
   CPB shutdown should be used as an opportunity to reassign spectrum used   
   by NPR and PBS stations to other entities.   
      
   “If PBS and NPR cannot prove a viable long-term business model as   
   national networks—and if their individual affiliates cannot show   
   long-term business models in each market—then this Commission needs to   
   consider whether those channels (i.e., that spectrum) will become   
   available in the near future for other potential licensees or uses,” the   
   group said.   
      
   Suggesting that PBS and NPR stations aren’t serving the public interest,   
   the CAR filing said the FCC “should ask whether PBS (and NPR) stations   
   are fulfilling their public-interest obligations as licensees when the   
   public’s elected representatives have just chosen to cut off public   
   funding because of their failure to serve the public well.”   
      
   Republicans cut off funding   
   The Republican-led votes to eliminate CPB funding were criticized by   
   Democrats. “Republicans once again bent the knee to their wannabe King   
   Donald, rubber-stamping his cruel and callous cuts while robbing kids   
   and communities of free, high quality public programming,” Sen. Ed   
   Markey (D-Mass.) said at the time.   
      
   The White House claimed that NPR and PBS “spread radical, woke   
   propaganda disguised as ‘news.’” Republican lawmakers agreed, with Sen.   
   Ted Cruz (R-Texas) saying during debate that public broadcasting “has   
   long been overtaken by partisan activists” and that “taxpayers should   
   not be forced to subsidize” NPR and PBS.   
      
   The Center for American Rights urged the FCC to “require PBS and NPR and   
   their member stations to provide transparent financial information, to   
   give the Commission a viable long-term business model, and to tell the   
   Commission how they plan to increase donor support while maintaining   
   editorial independence. If in fact many local stations will ‘go dark,’   
   PBS and NPR need to provide wind-down or transition plans and those   
   stations need to give the Commission adequate notice to protect the   
   public.”   
      
   The group alleged that “PBS sends out consistently liberal news,   
   entertainment, and education programming,” letting down “millions of   
   potential viewers of PBS affiliates in red states.” It further argued   
   that “if PBS does not have a viable long-term business model in many   
   markets, the Commission needs to consider what will become of its   
   historic role as a provider of daytime children’s programming.”   
      
   Although revoking broadcast licenses in the middle of a term is   
   difficult legally, Carr has used the prospect of license revocations to   
   threaten broadcasters. Licenses can also be taken away from individual   
   stations when they’re up for renewal.   
      
   We contacted NPR and PBS and will update this article if they provide   
   any comments.   
      
   CAR and Carr on the same page   
   CAR and Carr generally seem to think alike when it comes to the FCC   
   punishing broadcasters for alleged liberal bias. During last year’s   
   election campaign, CAR filed complaints echoing Trump’s claims of bias   
   regarding ABC’s fact-checking during a presidential debate, the editing   
   of a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, and NBC putting Harris   
   on a Saturday Night Live episode.   
      
   The CAR complaints were dismissed in January 2025 by then-FCC Chairwoman   
   Jessica Rosenworcel and then revived by Carr after Trump appointed him   
   to the chairmanship. Carr has continued making allegations of news   
   distortion, including when he threatened to revoke licenses from ABC   
   stations that air Jimmy Kimmel’s show.   
      
   During the Kimmel controversy, Carr said he was trying “to empower local   
   TV stations to serve the needs of the local communities.” The FCC   
   subsequently opened a proceeding titled, “Empowering Local Broadcast TV   
   Stations to Meet Their Public Interest Obligations: Exploring Market   
   Dynamics Between National Programmers and Their Affiliates.”   
      
   The FCC invited public comments on whether to adopt regulations “in   
   light of the changes in the broadcast market that have led to   
   anticompetitive leverage and behavior by large networks.” This could   
   involve prohibiting certain kinds of contract provisions in agreements   
   between networks and affiliate stations and strengthening the rights of   
   local stations to reject national programming.   
      
   FCC criticized for attacks on media   
   The “Empowering Local Broadcast TV Stations” proceeding is the one in   
   which the Center for American Rights submitted its comments. Besides   
   discussing NPR and PBS, the group said that national networks   
   “indoctrinate the American people from their left-wing perspective.”   
      
   “The consistent bias on ABC’s The View, for instance, tells women in red   
   states who voted for President Trump that they are responsible for   
   putting in office an autocratic dictator,” the Center for American   
   Rights said.   
      
   The FCC proceeding drew comments yesterday from the National Hispanic   
   Media Coalition (NHMC), which criticized Carr’s war against the media.   
   “The Public Notice frames this proceeding as an effort to ‘empower local   
   broadcasters’ in their dealings with national networks. But… recent FCC   
   actions have risked using regulatory authority not to promote   
   independent journalism, but to influence newsroom behavior, constrain   
   editorial decision-making, and encourage outcomes aligned with the   
   personal or political interests of elected officials,” the NHMC said.   
      
   The group said it supports “genuine local journalism and robust   
   competition,” but said:   
      
   policies that reshape the balance of power between station groups,   
   networks, and newsrooms cannot be separated from the broader regulatory   
   environment in which they operate. Several of the Commission’s recent   
   interventions—including coercive conditions attached to the   
   Skydance/Paramount transaction, and unlawful threats made to ABC and its   
   affiliate stations in September demanding they remove Jimmy Kimmel’s   
      
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