Dan Proft was joined by journalist and Substack writer Drew Holden for a wide-ranging conversation on media bias, public funding for journalism, and the fallout from recent congressional moves to cut funding for NPR and PBS. The discussion also touched on reactions within the press to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The interview opened with a sharp critique of NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who faced tough questions during congressional testimony and has come under scrutiny for past social media posts expressing progressive political views. Holden and Proft argued that Maher’s testimony, and NPR’s overall editorial approach, reinforced perceptions of deep bias at the publicly funded outlet. Both suggested that even if NPR and PBS produced content from a different political perspective, their existence as taxpayer-funded entities would remain problematic in an age of media abundance.
Holden underscored what he called the “philosophical first principle” behind the House-passed rescission package, which stripped $1.1 billion from public broadcasters. “It’s not just about bias,” Holden said. “It’s about whether the government should fund any media outlet at all—left, right, or center.” He pointed to NPR’s dismissal of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 as a prime example of editorial malpractice with political consequences, arguing that the outlet actively buried a legitimate news story with potential implications for the presidential election.
The conversation then shifted to CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane’s claim that he was diagnosed with PTSD after covering the Trump rally in Butler, where the former president survived an assassination attempt. MacFarlane asserted that he feared Trump supporters might attack the press. Holden and Proft dismissed the claim as hyperbolic and narcissistic, calling it an example of journalists making themselves the center of the story instead of focusing on the facts or the people actually harmed in the attack, including Corey Comperatore, the local firefighter killed in the gunfire.
Holden argued that this self-centered approach to journalism is a growing problem, particularly in national newsrooms. “The media’s instinct is to ask, ‘How did this event affect me?’ rather than ‘What does this event mean?’” he said. “And when that becomes the standard, it’s no wonder trust in journalism is in freefall.”
As the conversation wrapped up, both Proft and Holden emphasized the importance of knowing who journalists are and what ideologies they bring to the table, particularly as they move between roles in newsrooms and government-funded institutions. “These aren’t just reporters,” Holden concluded. “They’re political activists in press passes.”
Holden writes at the Substack Holden Court and continues to track media bias and accountability efforts in Washington and beyond.