Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has ordered an investigation into NPR and PBS in a move that Democrats described as an attempt to intimidate the media.
“I am writing to inform you that I have asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation regarding the airing of NPR and PBS programming across your broadcast member stations,” Carr wrote in a letter yesterday to the leaders of NPR and PBS.
Carr alleged that NPR and PBS are violating a federal law prohibiting noncommercial educational broadcast stations from running commercial advertisements. “I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” Carr wrote. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”
Carr’s letter did not provide any specific examples of underwriting announcements that might violate the law, but said the “announcements should not promote the contributor’s products, services, or businesses, and they may not contain comparative or qualitative descriptions, price information, calls to action, or inducements to buy, sell, rent, or lease.”
Carr: Defund NPR and PBS
Carr pointed out that NPR and PBS member broadcast stations are licensed by the FCC. He also stated his opposition to government funding for NPR and PBS, though he acknowledged that isn’t up to the FCC. Carr wrote:
For your awareness, I will be providing a copy of this letter to relevant Members of Congress because I believe this FCC investigation may prove relevant to an ongoing legislative debate. In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming. For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.
To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for-profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars.
The FCC’s Democratic commissioners, Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, issued statements denouncing the investigation. “This appears to be yet another Administration effort to weaponize the power of the FCC. The FCC has no business intimidating and silencing broadcast media,” Gomez said.
Starks said that “public television and radio stations play a significant role in our media ecosystem. Any attempt to intimidate these local media outlets is a threat to the free flow of information and the marketplace of ideas. The announcement of this investigation gives me serious concern.”
NPB and PBS: We follow the law
An NPR article noted that corporate underwriting spots “are supposed to stop shy of a ‘call to action’ telling listeners and viewers to buy a product or service.” NPR and PBS both say their underwriting spots comply with the law.
“NPR programming and underwriting messaging complies with federal regulations, including the FCC guidelines on underwriting messages for noncommercial educational broadcasters, and Member stations are expected to be in compliance as well,” NPR CEO Katherine Maher said. “We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules. We have worked for decades with the FCC in support of noncommercial educational broadcasters who provide essential information, educational programming, and emergency alerts to local communities across the United States.”
PBS CEO Paula Kerger said the organization “is proud of the noncommercial educational programming we provide to all Americans through our member stations” and that “we work diligently to comply with the FCC’s underwriting regulations and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Commission.”
Carr echoed Trump’s complaints about media
Carr has frequently echoed President Trump’s complaints about the media and took action to revive three complaints against broadcast stations accused of bias against Trump. The complaints against CBS, ABC, and NBC stations were dismissed under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, but Carr reversed those dismissals in his first week as chair.
Media advocacy group Free Press criticized Carr’s latest move in a press release titled, “Trump’s Censorship Czar Orders NPR and PBS Investigation.”
“This unjustified investigation isn’t based on any genuine concern about whether there’s too much advertising on public media. It’s a blatant attempt to undermine independent, rigorous reporting on the Trump administration,” Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron said.
Aaron called the investigation “part of Carr’s far-right, Project 2025-inspired agenda.” Carr wrote a chapter for Project 2025 detailing the changes he wants to make at the FCC.
“In a healthy democracy, we would be investing enough in our public-media system that it wouldn’t need to seek any corporate underwriting,” Aaron said. “Unfortunately, Carr’s cronies in Congress and the Big Media barons they serve have instead for decades tried to zero out funding for public media. They have repeatedly failed because millions of viewers and listeners opposed them.”
Public funding
Corporate sponsorships are the top contributor to NPR funding, accounting for 38 percent of revenue between 2019 and 2023. NPR gets another 31 percent of its funding in fees from member organizations. Federal funding indirectly contributes to the latter category because the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides annual grants to public radio stations that pay NPR for programming.
“On average, less than 1 percent of NPR’s annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments,” NPR says.
PBS says that the CPB “receives a congressional appropriation each year of about $500M. CPB allocates the appropriation mostly to public television and radio stations, with some assigned to NPR and PBS to support national programming.”
Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge called Carr’s investigation “a nakedly political attempt to undermine public broadcasting under the guise of regulatory oversight.” Carr is “manufacturing a pretext to defund public media institutions that serve local communities across America, not to improve or support them,” Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer said.
“Chairman Carr appears intent on using his position to pressure broadcasters, whose political coverage he has been critical of… The FCC must remain an independent regulator focused on serving the public interest—not a tool for political intimidation of disfavored media outlets,” Bergmayer said.