Dupage Policy Journal

Laura Hois, co-chair of Awake Illinois’ Downers Grove chapter and a former Republican candidate for the DuPage County Board, didn’t hesitate to express her support for President Donald Trump’s recent executive order defunding NPR and PBS, saying she wholeheartedly backs the decision.

“NPR is totally one-sided and un-American,” Hois told the DuPage Policy Journal.

Amid growing scrutiny of NPR’s editorial practices, including internal accusations of political bias, Trump’s executive order argues that public funding for NPR and PBS is outdated and should be limited to content that is fair, accurate and nonpartisan.

Trump's assessment is confirmed in an op-ed titled “How NPR Lost America’s Trust,” by former NPR senior editor Uri Berliner and published by The Free Press. 

Uri argued that the network has undergone a “relentless leftward drift,” abandoning impartiality by ignoring key stories and promoting a narrowly progressive agenda that has alienated much of the American public.

It was also recently revealed that NPR’s D.C. newsroom includes 87 Democrats and no Republicans. 

For Hois, the issue goes far beyond media bias—it’s about the soul of the country. 

“NPR and PBS are funded by people and NGOs who want to impose their anti-Judeo Christian values and viewpoints upon good, hard-working Americans who want no part of what they are selling,” she said. 

“American citizens want to live freely, unhampered by state control and government overreach. NPR and PBS do not respect the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights or true American history, thus they are aligned with the local Democrat machine's and former Biden administration’s tactics designed to disenfranchise citizens and take away their rights and freedoms. America is the land of the free and home of the brave. We want our country back. No men in women’s sports. No more lying. No more deception.” 

Before the executive order, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) received approximately $535 million annually from Congress, which it allocated to public radio and television stations, including affiliates like the Chicago Sun-Times.

DuPage County is served by Chicago Public Media’s WBEZ Chicago (95.1 FM), the region’s NPR affiliate, which also owns and operates the Chicago Sun-Times, and WTTW (Channel 11), Chicago’s primary PBS station. 

The Chicago Sun-Times recently defended WBEZ's $2 million federal subsidy, calling it essential to journalistic freedom. 

But critics, including conservative watchdogs like the Media Research Center and Americans for Tax Reform, say public funds should not go to outlets that promote one-sided, ideologically driven content.

“This is more of the same narrative spit out simultaneously by news outlets reading talking points every day,” Hois said.  

Hois also pointed to NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who has faced backlash over past statements about free speech and U.S. institutions being subjected to “America’s addiction to white supremacy."

“CEO Katherine Maher is not a leader,” Hois said. “She is not objective. She is being paid handsomely to support the Marxist agenda that is and has been forced upon us.”

Maher, former CEO of Wikipedia and current board member of Signal, has faced criticism for describing traditional free speech frameworks as a “white male Westernized construct” and expressing skepticism about the First Amendment’s role in addressing misinformation.

Hois connected the issue back to Illinois politics. 

“Our freedom of speech is under attack every day in virtually every government-run office in Illinois,” Hois said. “Tyrannical Governor Pritzker has set the tone for lawlessness, sanctuary state policies, mandatory school closings and shutdowns and harmful, deadly health measures imposed upon good people in the name of ‘safety.’ In the Democrat-controlled state of Illinois, hundreds of unconstitutional laws were placed on the books during the fraud-driven COVID years specifically written to control people and take away their freedoms.” 

She cited the Illinois Department of Human Services Act as one example. 

"The Illinois Department of Human Services Act expressly allows trans men into women’s bathrooms. Do women have rights any more?” she said.