- Voters want to pull the plug on tax dollar flows to public broadcaster
- Most Republican voters say NPR should lose federal support for biased news
- READ MORE: NPR journalist blows whistle on network’s obsession with DEI
Voters by a wide margin seek action against National Public Radio (NPR) after a whistleblower last month came forward and accused the station of liberal-biased news coverage, a poll shows.
Fully 44 percent of respondents to a DailyMail.com/TIPP survey said the broadcaster should lose its taxpayer cashflows over its political leaning.
Another 26 percent of more than 1,400 US adults said it should keep its government support; and 31 percent said they were not sure.
NPR was rocked last month when one of its senior editors, Uri Berliner, accused his employer of overly woke news coverage, with a fixation on stories about race and identity.
In an open essay for The Free Press, the 25-year NPR veteran slammed it for being heavily dominated by Democrats, sidelining conservative voices, and for having ‘lost America’s trust.’
NPR devoted ample coverage to claims of then-president Donald Trump being a Russian asset, but held back on stories about Hunter Biden‘s laptop and the Covid lab leak theory, Berliner said.
Meanwhile, historic tweets from NPR’s new chief executive Katherine Maher resurfaced, in which she embraced liberal causes, praised leading Democrats Black Lives Matter protestors and called Trump a ‘racist.’
Berliner later resigned, saying he had faced criticism from Maher.
Republicans reacted angrily to the revelations, saying they confirmed long-held fears about NPR.
Trump on social media called the broadcaster a ‘LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE.’
‘NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!’ he posted.
NPR directly receives 1 percent of its budget from taxpayers — but gets many more times that indirectly through its local member stations, says the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank.
New York Republican lawmaker Claudia Tenney distilled these concerns into a bill, the Defund NPR Act of 2024, which says no taxpayer dollars can be ‘directly or indirectly’ sent to the radio network.
The network had become a ‘partisan propaganda machine,’ Tenney said.
There are few signs that the bill could make it into law.
The Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on May 8 about alleged biases in the public broadcaster’s coverage.
Our survey of 1,435 adults reveals widespread support for defunding NPR.
Men, people aged 65 and above, and adults aged under 25, are especially keen on cutting federal cashflows to the broadcaster.
Perhaps understandably, there is a strong partisan leaning — more than half of Republican voters want to cut NPR’s funding, compared to just a third of Democrats.
The nationwide survey has a +/-2.7 percent error margin. It was carried out earlier this month by TIPP, which has been noted for the accuracy of its polls.
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Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. Israeli Forces Intensify Attacks On Gaza’s Rafah, Jabalia Camp – Reuters
Israeli forces pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza’s northern edge on Monday to recapture an area from Hamas fighters, while in the south, tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah.
Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed a main crossing point for aid, which humanitarian groups say is worsening an already dire situation.
Gaza’s health authority appealed for international pressure to reopen access via the southern border to allow aid, medical supplies, and fuel to power generators and ambulances.
2. Hamas Fighters Comprise Almost Half Gaza’s Death Count: Netanyahu – AFP
Israel’s prime minister said on a podcast that almost half of those killed in the Gaza war are Hamas fighters, playing down a civilian toll that has sparked global outrage.
Benjamin Netanyahu maintained the overall toll is lower than that given by authorities in the Palestinian territory. According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 35,091 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
3. Palestinians To Mark 76 Years Of ‘nakba’ As Israel’s War On Gaza Brings New Fears – A.P.
Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza.
Palestinians refer to it as the “Nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe.” Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.
4. Blinken Arrives In Ukraine In Show Of U.S. Solidarity – UPI
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky. The State Department said in a statement that his visit will “highlight the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine.”
The visit comes as Russia has increased its attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and claimed gains.
5. Ukraine Says Russia’s New Defense Minister Will Focus Economy On War – Reuters
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Russia’s choice of an economist as its new defense minister shows how far Moscow is preparing to overhaul its economy to serve its war needs.
“Russia is moving almost its entire economy onto military lines. It will be an aggressive country, and its economy will be built exclusively to produce for the military,” Podolyak said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised the world by naming Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specialized in economics, his new defense minister on Sunday.
6. Kremlin Approves Bill Expanding ‘Undesirable’ Tag To State-Funded Organizations – RFE/RL
The Russian government approved a bill to label any foreign organization, including those established by a government, as an “undesirable organization.”
The current iteration of the so-called “undesirable organizations” law, which has been in effect since 2015, only allows foreign nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations to be labeled as “undesirable” and shut down. So far this year, Moscow has designated RFE/RL and the U.S.-based NGO Freedom House as “undesirable” organizations.
7. Biden Signs Law Banning Imports Of Russian Uranium – UPI
President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan legislation, severing the U.S. from its dependency on the Kremlin-controlled resources while cutting off the Putin regime from another key revenue source for its war against Ukraine.
According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, Russia supplied the United States with 24% of its uranium enrichment services in 2022. Under the new law, unirradiated, low-enriched uranium from Russia will be prohibited within 90 days from Monday, with waivers included until 2028 for U.S. nuclear reactor operators with no alternative viable source for the resource.
8. Georgia Poised To Adopt ‘Russian Law’ Despite Mass Protests – D.W.
“Tomorrow, the Parliament of Georgia will act on the will of the majority of the population and pass the law in the third reading,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said in a televised address on Monday, referring to the controversial “foreign influence” law.
Critics have called it the “Russian law” for its similarities to a law that the Kremlin has used to crack down on independent media and human rights groups. Georgia has seen major protests almost every night for more than a month.
9. U.S. Forces China-Linked Firm To Sell Property Near Wyoming Air Base – Nikkei Asia
The White House announced it was forcing a Chinese-linked company and its partners to sell property they had purchased near a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming, citing national security risks posed by the deal.
The White House said MineOne Partners Limited, owned by Chinese nationals, partnered with other companies to buy real estate for cryptocurrency mining.
White House calls its proximity to strategic missile hub a ‘national security risk.’
10. U.S., Chinese Officials To Hold First High-Level Talks On AI In Geneva – UPI
A U.S. official said in a call with reporters that the discussions will allow for “an exchange of views on the technical risks of AI” and allow both nations to share their concerns over the wide-ranging technology.
The United States is not expected to discuss working with China on AI development or use; instead, it is expected to express China’s use of AI in ways the United States believes “undermines both U.S. and allied national security.”
11. China Due To Free Vlogger Who Filmed Wuhan Lockdown – BBC
A Chinese citizen journalist who was jailed for covering the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic from its epicenter in Wuhan was scheduled for release on Monday after serving a four-year sentence, according to her supporters.
The 40-year-old former lawyer is one of several activists who have encountered trouble with Chinese authorities for reporting COVID-19. Some have been detained, while others have gone missing.
She was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge frequently used against activists in China.
12. Swedish PM Open To Hosting Nukes In Wartime – AFP
Sweden’s parliament is set to vote on a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the U.S. in June. The agreement will give the U.S. access to military bases in the Scandinavian country and allow the storage of military equipment and weapons there.
Calls have mounted in recent weeks from the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Association and others for the government to put in writing in the DCA agreement that Sweden will not allow nuclear weapons on its soil.
“In a war situation, it’s a completely different matter. [It] would depend entirely on what would happen,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told public Swedish Radio.
13. U.S. Warns Of “Potential Risk Of Sanctions” After India, Iran Sign Port Deal – PTI
The United States has said that any country having business dealings with Iran risks sanctions. It noted that it is aware that Iran and India have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port.
India and Iran signed a 10-year contract to operate a terminal at the strategically important Chabahar port in Iran, a move that will boost regional connectivity and trade ties.
14. OpenAI Releases New GPT-4o, A Faster And Free AI Model For All Users – AFP
On Monday, OpenAI released a higher-performing and even more human-like version of the artificial intelligence technology that underpins its popular generative tool, ChatGPT, and made it free to all users.
The update to OpenAI’s flagship product landed a day before Google is expected to make its own announcements about Gemini, the search engine giant’s AI tool that competes with ChatGPT head-on.
The company said the model could generate content or understand voice, text, or image commands.
15. Yoga Can Improve Long-Term Health Of Heart Failure Patients – HealthDay News
Heart failure can have devastating effects on a person’s quality of life, leaving patients tired, breathless, and unable to participate in their usual activities.
“Patients who practiced yoga on top of taking their medications felt better, were able to do more, and had stronger hearts than those who only took drugs for their heart failure,” lead researcher Dr. Ajit Singh of the Indian Council of Medical Research said in a news release.
Singh said yoga may be unsuitable for heart failure patients with severe symptoms, who were excluded from our study.
16. FDA Warns About Using Over-The-Counter COVID-19 Tests From Cue Health – UPI Health
The Food and Drug Administration, citing an increase in false results, advised consumers not to use Cue Health’s over-the-counter COVID-19 tests and to throw them out.
The FDA issued a warning letter to the California-based company regarding the findings of an inspection in October and November that showed shortcomings with the tests. The inspection revealed that the San Diego company was no longer in compliance with certain conditions of authorization for its product.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
