MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Now, some news about public media. The new head of the Federal Communications Commission under President Trump has ordered an investigation of NPR and PBS. He is focusing on the corporate underwriting spots that you hear on shows like this one. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik joins me now. And before I bring in David, I do want to note, NPR has rules for reporting when we report on ourselves. Among them, no corporate official, no news executive has had a hand in this coverage. With that, David, what is this investigation about?
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Well, Mary Louise, on its face it involves concerns raised by the new FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, elevated by President Trump to that position, about the question of whether our underwriting spots - just as you say, the ones that we hear on shows like this on NPR, and on PBS stations as well - are veering into becoming - crossing the lines, in fact, into becoming prohibited commercial advertisements. So for example, if you hear something like Toyota, you know, is underwriting NPR and stations like this, they can't say, go buy a Tercel or some other Toyota car. They can say, you can learn more on our website, and here's what you can do. You can't have a call for action, and there are other restrictions as well. And that's what he's doing there. It's worth also remembering the FCC doesn't directly regulate networks like NPR and PBS. What it does is regulate the member stations which, even in this digital age, have to get licenses approved by the FCC to broadcast their - you know, and use airwaves that are owned otherwise by the public.
KELLY: What have NPR and PBS said in response to this investigation?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, it's my chance, as always, Mary Louise, to point out, I'm not speaking for NPR. I'm just the guy paid by NPR to cover it. But our chief executive, Katherine Maher, as well as the head of PBS, Paula Kerger, both say, look, our programming and our underwriting messages comply with the law. They comply with federal regulations, and they comply, as we've tried to do for decades, with the guidelines that the FCC itself has given us to make sure that we're going on the straight and narrow, that we're staying within the rules. And both of them had said, essentially, that they're confident that this review or inquiry will ultimately affirm that they're adhering to these rules. These would have real consequences for our - you know, these 1,500 public broadcasting stations around the country that are licensed by the FCC. But, you know, they're saying, we think that we do it right. And, you know, presumably, if there - tweaks are suggested, they would live with that, too.
KELLY: David, just back up and give us a sense of the broader stakes here.
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think it's really important. You know, in some ways you've got this specific inquiry being raised by Chairman Carr, but it fits into his call, which he made expressly in his letters to the heads of NPR and of PBS, that he basically wants there to be an elimination of all government funding from the federal government for public broadcasting. And he said he's basically going to share what he finds with lawmakers on Capitol Hill as they debate that very issue. Trump tried without success several times to cut that funding during his first term in office.
And it of course fits into this broader assault rhetorically by President Trump and his allies on the mainstream media. Trump has taken to the courts to go against major networks and major news organization. He's, you know, made clear he intends to use bureaucratic regulatory levers as well. This is one of them. So you see this as, you know, really, in some ways, an attack on public broadcasting's federal funding and a questioning of its private funding and, you know, creating a more hostile climate for media writ large.
KELLY: NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, thank you, as always, for your reporting.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
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