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Conservative activists have waited decades to defund PBS and NPR. They’re finally getting their chance

Richard Nixon tried. Ronald Reagan tried. President Trump tried during his first term in office. All three were stymied by Congress.

Advocacy groups like MRC, short for Media Research Center, which runs NewsBusters,have been arguing against NPR and PBS for decades, asserting that the taxpayer funding is unnecessary and unfair. But the belief that PBS and NPR “spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news’” (something the Trump White House claimed earlier this year) has become close to GOP orthodoxy. Shows like “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” and “Antiques Roadshow” have ardent fan bases — and those supporters have been urged to contact Congress to defend the federal funding that’s currently at risk.

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