President Trump has asked Congress to pull all funds from public broadcasting. People who love ‘Sesame Street’ seem to be uncertain if this is a good plan. Drew Holden, the ultimate keeper of receipts, is here to relieve America of any of that guilt.
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I’m not sure people realize just how egregious some of NPR’s “journalism” has been. Amid the debate about defunding the network, I wanted to walk down memory lane to revisit some of its worst coverage.
There’s a lot. ⤵️
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Buckle up!
First, perhaps the most egregious display of activist journalism: their response to the Hunter Biden laptop story of corruption involving a major party candidate on the eve of the election.
Not only did @NPR not cover it, they bragged about refusing to do so. pic.twitter.com/CxQg06T1To
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
A little blast back in history. This was actual election interference.
Insofar as @NPR did cover the Hunter Biden scandal, they actively tried to cover it up.
They applauded Facebook & Twitter strangling the story as part of a push against “misinformation and conspiracy theories.”
The story, of course, turned out to be far from invented. pic.twitter.com/ykhfpdFP0S
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
In particular, @NPR shamelessly went after @EmmaJoNYC for, of all things, doing real journalism.
Her doing so offended NPR so badly that they wrote an entire hit piece about her. pic.twitter.com/ZRMqXsvWe5
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Americans don’t hate NPR enough.
This wasn’t the only hatchet work from @NPR in defense of Biden.
When questions about Biden’s cognitive functioning started to bubble up in February 2024, NPR leapt Pravda-like to his defense.
The real problem? How such allegations would be “weaponized.” pic.twitter.com/7WUOZMIPIN
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
They were one of the entities working hard to cover up for Joe Biden. They literally behaved like state media.
Oh, and Biden’s pardoning of his son? No big deal, to hear @NPR tell it.
Partisan bias is one thing. Actively serving as stenographers of the administration, with your tax dollars, I would say is another. pic.twitter.com/rxjDL1Difv
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Remember when Biden promised he wouldn’t pardon his son?
Or how about @NPR begging voters to consider how good the economy allegedly was under Biden?
Early effort to insulate him — look at the headline! — from electoral attacks. pic.twitter.com/uqg2ogwDWW
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Such pro-government animus when a Democrat was in office contrasts sharply with @NPR’s breathless coverage of “Russian collusion.”
Despite (I get a kick out of this) claiming they weren’t going to discuss the sensational allegations, they were among the lead proponents. pic.twitter.com/5fIGp39epd
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Oh, Republicans are scrutinized non-stop.
Here are just a few examples of @NPR rushing to repeat the baseless narrative that Trump was compromised by Russia.
Here’s just a couple examples. pic.twitter.com/FYtcheEz1D
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
But of course this sentiment extended to all things connected to Trump.
The worst, in my book, remains their dismissal of the COVID lab leak hypothesis.
Not mincing words, @NPR claimed that the idea that Covid originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, had been “debunked.” pic.twitter.com/mnYJZma7JB
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
The lab leak theory, of course, is wasn’t debunked. It has since become the going theory not just in the U.S. but abroad.
I would like this @NPR side by side on my tombstone. pic.twitter.com/DwN571jjrC
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
And @NPR had more bad Covid lab leak coverage, and coverage of the pandemic more broadly.
Perhaps my favorite is this, where they compared the lab leak theory to (I’m not joking) the “lead-up to [the] Iraq War.” pic.twitter.com/vs8N6FQsuM
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
They were so wrong about Covid so many times.
The rush to hit Trump has led to some other funny side by sides from @NPR, like this one about Covid’s danger. pic.twitter.com/Y3G6JaEYPi
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
And on some issues, @NPR has really taken on the role of advocacy organization, not media entity. As @MaryMargOlohan flagged earlier, NPR has been at the vanguard of promoting the merits of“gender affirming care.” https://t.co/LTilVz2V4q
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
This alone is reason enough to take all of their funding.
And then of course there are the seemingly endless examples of @NPR using your tax dollars to do “journalism” that, well, I’m not sure many people would pay for.
Are you concerned about worm emojis? How about policing emoji skin tone?
No? Anyone? pic.twitter.com/rs1xPaPPXW
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Are you interested in your tax dollars funding coverage of the symbolic dance protest of Trump’s actions toward the Kennedy Center? pic.twitter.com/b7NgmIzTYj
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Surely you’re okay with your tax dollars investigating whether the depiction of people with eating disorders is too white? Or camel caps attacks on capitalism? pic.twitter.com/XWTgYL3GjW
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
So, yeah, if everyday Americans look at the coverage @NPR produces and think, no, I don’t want my tax dollars going to this, I think that’s reasonable.
I can’t help but think that maybe those who are up in arms about the prospect aren’t really interested in journalism at all.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 15, 2025
Share it with your friends who are complaining about this move by Trump. It’s very convincing.