Nothing underlines the partisan nature of PBS right now more than The Atlantic magazine being allowed to take over the long-running “Washington Week” program in August 2023. This was not a hostile takeover but a deeper branding of what PBS is—taxpayer-funded mangle-MAGA TV.
Four years ago, The Atlantic tried to take Donald Trump down with anonymous sources claiming he called the American war dead “suckers” and “losers” on a European trip (which was strongly rebuked by Team Trump). In 2024, they did it again with anonymous sources claiming that after pledging to pay for a funeral for a murdered Mexican American soldier, Trump raged: “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f—ing Mexican!”
All their anonymous sources sound like rhetorical assassins. Now, they have a PBS platform to promote this—on “Washington Week with The Atlantic” and on other PBS shows like “NewsHour.”
How partisan is this gang? Let’s make a list:
1. The Atlantic has endorsed Trump’s opponent in three straight cycles. This year, they typically proclaimed him “manifestly unstable and incompetent” and “one of the most personally malignant and politically dangerous candidates in American history.”
2. Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who has railed against Trump for those three cycles, was very tight with President Barack Obama. He was granted hours of interviews with Obama to promote his “Obama Doctrine” and went on NPR in 2016 gushing that Obama was “the greatest terrorist hunter in the history of the American presidency.”
3. This year, Goldberg did a round of interviews promoting his new partisan book (of old essays) titled “On Heroism: McCain, Milley, Mattis, and the Cowardice of Donald Trump.” The promotional text said Goldberg explores “Donald Trump’s trenchant disdain for military personnel, a preoccupation that reveals the extent to which Trump is grossly unfit to serve. … Goldberg paints a portrait of a president whose impulse is to dismiss acts of heroism in pursuit of dangerously undemocratic processes and ideals.”
4. Laurene Powell Jobs, the multibillionaire widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs who bought a majority share in The Atlantic in 2017, celebrated Hillary Clinton in Time magazine in 2015 as “one of America’s greatest modern creations.” In 2016, Jobs donated $2 million to the Priorities USA super PAC via her nonprofit and hosted a $200,000-a-plate fundraiser that raised more than $4 million.
5. In the 2020 cycle, Jobs donated the individual maximum contribution of $2,800 to eight different Democratic presidential contenders, not just Joe Biden but Michael Bennet, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Andrew Yang … and Kamala Harris. After Biden became the nominee, she donated $600,000 toward Biden’s election and donated $70,800 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
6. In 2023, Jobs donated $10,000 to the Democratic Party apparatus in 49 states and the District of Columbia. She threw another $288,500 at the Democratic National Committee. There were no donations to Republicans.
7. Jobs is a close friend of Kamala Harris. Semafor reported when Harris abruptly secured the Democratic nomination, Jobs made no secret of her delight. “She’s overjoyed,” said Susie Tompkins Buell, the major San Francisco Democratic donor who has known both women for decades.
Republicans in Congress should be asking in the new year why the Trump-supporting half of America is forced to subsidize The Atlantic’s blatant and vicious partisanship on supposedly civilized “public” television.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.
Reprinted with Permission from Daily Signal – By Tim Graham
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
PBS has lots of programs I enjoy watching. Several decades ago, I started donating to them to support such programming.
Then someone said something that offended my budding political sensitivity, and I never gave them another cent. These days, they don’t even attempt to hide their vitriolic bias, and it angers me that some of our tax dollars are funding them.
I don’t mind a good debate, and I rather enjoy hearing differing points of view. But when they inject nuance, implication, or snide remarks paraded as facts…I’m done.
Defund PBS!
PBS should be defunded and disbanded on Day 1 of the next Trump Administration.
I think the public should be aware of how their tax dollars are being spent. Let Americans have a voice on some of theses wasteful spending issue. I thought PBS was suppose to an educational channel not a political platform for a particular party.
We need station that are educational, not bias. I believe PBS has changed their views, they have got away from the bases they were formed from. I believe most Americas are not even aware of PBS change and would not want tax dollars being spent to support this station.
PBS=Propaganda Broadcasting System
I used to donate to PBS until they became totally liberal. I no longer give anything to them. I don’t mind other points of view. But it has to be equal. PBS shouldn’t support any political candidate. They need to be defunded. And management replaced .
I can see no good reason for taxpayers to fund a (so called) “news” organization!
PBS is another propaganda arm of the left only “paid for by viewers like you”.
Why are we funding PBS? Looks like a job for the DOGE Bros.
Important information about the Public Broadcasting programs . I remember when PBS televised ” Firing Line ” the William F. Buckley program in the 1970’s . I reckon one could say it (PBS) sort of went downhill since those days. Watching Firing Line with Bill Buckley , who represented Conservative thought in those days was a good experience. And helped to develop a Conservative way of thinking ( still think in terms of being a Reagan Conservative ) So, your article is appreciated Tim Graham and that list you assembled is good reason to think seriously about the concept of the funding for PBS if they are going to be that anti – everything that isn’t left, liberal,pro Democrat .The Republican members of Congress should discuss the funding issue as it is improper to have programs that are not balanced in the political sense, and are just plain hostile to other views . The freedom of speech issue is obvious for a network like PBS . They need to have programs that are representative of other views and it is a matter that requires plenty of explanation.
Defund ALL federally funded media. Period. And then take away the tax exempt status of anyone else who keeps publishing anti-government garbage. First Amendment fine, but on their own privately funded dimes.
I hope the Trump administration stops tax money from funding PBS and NPR.
Our tax dollars at work…against us! Past time to pull the funding from these vindictive swine!
When we get somebody else in charge of the FCC, we can pull their license to broadcast. Although a lot of they’re funding comes from a percentage comes from the federal government. Would the Democrats tolerate a KKK Channel funded by the federal government? I don’t know maybe the Democrats might they are the people that started the KKK
Defund pbs on day one!!
This is just another example of why I have stopped any and all donations to PBS.
PBS and NPR are both left-leaning networks; and because of that partisanship they should not be receiving public funding, PERIOD. Perhaps we should write letters to our Congressmen requesting such.
They tried to resurrect the “few good people” lie again but failed. They’re so pathetic. Who votes fir these people knowing what obvious liars they are? If we’re “garbage” what’s that make THEM?
I used to donate to PBS back when they had entertainment Programs that were user friendly. I quit that some time ago and won’t do that again. It irritates me that I still have to fund it with my taxes! Defund PBS,,,,
After watching one “news” program on PBS and listening to one on NPR, I have never given any more donations to either. The taxpayers fund these stations. I hope that stops as well. And, there are commercials on both.
Does anyone reading this article still watch or listen PBS??? I don’t have time for their garbage and it saddens me that tax dollars are supporting them. But then Marxist indoctrination and stupidity do tend to sadden me because of the number of people who have been through the public school indoctrination over the last 50 years who buy into it. Democrats are not the only people to have pushed for our loss of freedoms. Anybody remember the “Patriot Act” which was anything BUT a “Patriot Act” and we are still saddled with it and REPUBLICANS have done NOTHING about it!!! That’s all today : )
Just de-fund PBS if they want to be political. They can live on advertisers just like the rest of the media..
Fabian Communist Rockefeller Republicans go back to Dulles Brother rape of our public treasury.
Another Democrat evil Trump and the GOP must end.
How about the piece they ran attacking the Rosary. Pathetic.
People are so f***ing stupid, it’s always MAGA or DEI, and do you know what I’m against far right MAGA and against far left DEI. About 95 percent of the population has been eaten up by one of these ideologies and they all claim to be the victim. Then each side nominates a turkey for president with almost everyone else in the government being turkeys. The good ones get ejected from their extremist party every time. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, seriously, what kind of a choice is that, both absolutely terrible. Then to do deal with democrats screaming Russia and republicans screaming stop the steal, enough. I just want to live my live without power hungry politicians like Trump and Harris.
We had good people back when I was a kid, moderates, now we didn’t even have 10 in all of congress, just a few on each side and that’s all and you can be assumed that these people get threats from both MAGA and progressive DEIs.
Think I’ll write in libertarian until both parties change.