The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched an investigation into media outlets PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) concerns that member stations could be airing “prohibited commercial advertisements,” according to a letter that was obtained by the New York Times.
“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” FCC chair Brendan Carr wrote, according to the report. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”
FCC regulations allow business to support noncommercial radio and television stations — such as NPR or PBS — through on-air announcements known as underwriting sponsorships. While such sponsorships have similarities to commercial advertising, they come with additional FCC regulations that do not apply to regular radio or television ads.
On Wednesday, Carr sent letters to NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger, according to the report. Carr has been a member of the FCC since 2017 and was most recently tapped by President Trump to lead the commission during his second term in the White House.
Brendan Carr discusses public broadcasting regulations in a September interview with Fox News.
In the letter, Carr explained that he will be notifying Congress about the investigation. He further noted that lawmakers are currently debating whether NPR or PBS should receive any taxpayer funding at all. “In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” he wrote, according to the New York Times.
“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 letter continued.
In response to the letter, NPR CEO Katherine Maher expressed confidence that the outlet’s sponsorship practices “complies with federal regulations.”
“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,” Maher told Fox News when asked for comment.
“We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules,” she added. “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.”
Maher, who served as the CEO for Web Summit and Wikimedia Foundation prior to joining NPR, has found herself at the center of controversy in the past due to numerous partisan political statements she has made in the past. The NPR chief has referred to President Trump as a “racist” and has questioned the validity of the First Amendment.
“The number one challenge here that we see is of course the First Amendment in the United States,” Maher said while speaking with the Atlantic Council. “It is a fairly robust protection of rights. And that is a protection of rights both for platforms, which I actually think is very important that platforms have the right to be able to regulate what kind of content they want on their sites. But it also means that it is a little bit tricky to really address some of the real challenges of where does bad information come from, and sort of the influence peddlers who have made a real market economy around it.”
President Trump has endorsed the idea of pulling public funding from NPR on numerous occasions in the past. “NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in April 2024, which was made in response to Maher’s comments. “THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!”
House and Senate Republicans have also introduced bills that would defund the public broadcasting organizations. “The American Taxpayer is footing the bill for a woke media corporation that pretends to be impartial while pushing Chinese propaganda,” U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) said when introducing theNo Propaganda Act in December of last year. The legislation was co-sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA).
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