NPR CEO Katherine Maher on GOP Attacks, Editorial Criticisms & Digital Evolution

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For the past five decades, every Republican president except Gerald Ford has tried to cut funding for public media. But NPR and PBS have never dealt with a moment like this, where the Trump administration is attacking them from every possible angle. A recent executive order demanded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (or CPB) and executive agencies halt all funding for NPR and PBS; the FCC is investigating their corporate underwriting; and this week, the House is expected to take up a rescissions package that would claw back federal funding for the CPB. Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, is fighting back. On May 27th, NPR and three Colorado member stations filed a suit challenging the president’s executive order. (PBS followed suit a few days later.) Suing the president is, obviously, an uncomfortable position for a media organization which has to cover him. But according to Maher, NPR is doing its patriotic duty to defend the First Amendment. Kara and Maher discuss the potential effects the defunding would have on NPR, its member stations, and the communities that it serves; criticisms aimed at NPR and Maher, from both conservatives, on one hand, and some journalists, on the other; and her approach to innovation at NPR. Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is on with Kara Swisher, and I'm
0:17.3	Kara Swisher. My guest today is Catherine Marr, the CEO of National Public Radio,
0:21.9	and the timing couldn't be better. The Trump administration has essentially declared an all-out
0:26.5	war on public media, and this week the House is considering taking up a rescissions package
0:30.7	to claw back all federal funding for public media. As NPR's CEO, Marr has been on the front lines
0:36.5	defending her organization.
0:38.3	And in March, she testified before a Doge subcommittee chaired by Marjorie Taylor Green
0:42.4	and answered hostile questions about old tweets and statements and allegations of bias at NPR.
0:47.9	And NPR recently filed a lawsuit to fight an executive order demanding a stop to all federal funding for NPR and PBS. It's a very
0:55.9	uncomfortable position for a news organization, especially a public media organization, but Marr hasn't
1:00.8	shrunk away from the fight. I was interested in talking to her because I had known her a little bit
1:05.4	from her time in tech, and she did a great job at the various jobs she had, and it was an
1:09.8	interesting hire for NPR to make to lean forward into the future.
1:14.0	She's also juggling an enormously impossible problem
1:17.5	of dealing with an older organization moving into the future,
1:20.7	and also the constant debate in this country about whether public media should be public media.
1:27.2	Our expert question, though, comes from Alicia Montgomery,
1:30.1	a former VP of Audio at Slade, who worked at NPR for over 17 years,
1:34.4	and who had some really valid criticisms for NPR,
1:37.0	and I think Catherine can take it.
1:39.3	So stick around.
1:48.6	Music around. It's an interesting time for business.
	...

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