This week, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., sent a letter to Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison, and National Public Radio (NPR) President and CEO John F. Lansing regarding its use of taxpayer funds to air “extremist content.”
Gaetz’s letter highlights NPR’s affiliated station on Morgan State University, “We Educate African Americans (WEAA) 88.9,” receiving taxpayer funds and airing the official radio show for Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam on a weekly basis. Gaetz requested clarification on how many taxpayer dollars are being allocated from the CPB to the affiliated station and on the vetting process used to ensure taxpayer funds are not being used to give “extremist content” a platform by September 22nd, 2023. As the House continues its work on appropriations legislation, Gaetz said intends to offer an amendment to prohibit taxpayer dollars from being expended to air this content on an NPR-affiliated station.
The letter is below.
Dear Ms. Harrison and Mr. Lansing:
It has come to my attention that a National Public Radio (NPR)-affiliated station of Morgan State University, “We Educate African Americans (WEAA) 88.9,” airs a program called “Final Call” every Sunday from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Final Call is the official radio show for Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, a black- supremacist, pseudohistorical cult.
Americans would be shocked to learn that black supremacy, ethnic extremism, or historical revisionism of any kind, especially of this magnitude, is being funded by their tax dollars. Sadly, if they accessed WEAA 88.9’s website, they would see that the station received $251,815 in taxpayer funds through the congressionally authorized Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 2021.
Nearly the entirety of CPB’s and NPR’s budgets are derived from congressional appropriations. Therefore, for the purposes of evaluating the continued funding and existence of both CPB and NPR, please provide answers to the following questions no later than September 22, 2023:
(1) How much taxpayer money has WEAA 88.9 been allocated by CPB in 2022 and 2023?
(2) What vetting processes do CPB and NPR use to ensure taxpayer funds are not being allocated to organizations that platform extremist content?
(3) What vetting processes do CPB and NPR use to ensure taxpayer funds are not being allocated to organizations that platform pseudohistorical and historically revisionist content?
(4) What other hate groups do CPB and/or NPR fund with taxpayer dollars?
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