NPR chief won't attend congressional hearing on left-wing bias at outlet

The head of National Public Radio (NPR) will not attend the Wednesday House hearing on liberal bias at the outlet.

The hearing will still take place and hear testimony from witness Howard Husock, who served on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2013 until 2018, according to The Washington Times. NPR CEO Katherine Maher will not attend due to a scheduling conflict, though she did offer to testify "in the near future."

Husock, for his part, had previously suggested changes to NPR to cover more local news. NPR receives taxpayer funding and is expected to get over $91 million in 2024 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is also taxpayer funded. 

The hearing comes as multiple lawmakers have introduced legislation to defund NPR amid concerns over bias. Such concerns come in the wake of an essay from Senior Editor Uri Berliner, who published an article in The Free Press outlining the leftward ideological drift of the outlet.