A top House Democrat questioned the patriotism of Republicans criticizing NPR on Wednesday during a heated hearing about the taxpayer-funded outlet's bias issues, suggesting they were playing into the hands of American enemies.
In a withering opening statement at the House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said figures like Vladimir Putin watched with glee when American journalists were attacked by politicians.
"Foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, Russia's Putin or Iran's violent theocrats certainly enjoy it when American politicians undermine our own objective journalists," she said. "This committee should not do their dirty work for them. Instead, we need to invest in public broadcasting, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."
Tim Graham, editor of the conservative watchdog Media Research Center and a witness at the hearing, responded later that he shouldn't be compared to Putin for having the temerity to criticize NPR.
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"I am the regular audience… I may be the weird guy that actually listens to NPR, but when you listen to it, it’s very hard to describe it as objective," Graham said. "I’m offended by the idea that by objecting to it, somehow, I’m comparable to Putin."
Graham said that in a democracy, citizens should be free to say the media doesn’t serve them.
"The media is basically kicking us in the keister," Graham said. "So, I think there should be a role in the public radio system to represent all the public. You can sit here and talk about how it does, I’ll tell you it does not. It’s not serving me."
"It’s harming me, it’s smearing me. And a lot of Republicans and conservatives feel that way," he added.
Graham was one of four witnesses to testify at the hearing on Wednesday. One key invited witness was not present: NPR CEO Katherine Maher, whose left-wing opinions and activism have come under fire during the scrutiny of her station.
A spokesperson for NPR confirmed to Fox News Digital that Maher would not appear, citing an all-day meeting with the organization's board of directors.
"NPR respects the Committee and its request and has offered to testify on a date in the near future that works for the Committee and Maher," the spokesperson said in a statement.
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The hearing was sparked by the actions of whistleblower Uri Berliner, who worked at NPR for 25 years before resigning last month. In a scathing piece for The Free Press, Berliner criticized NPR’s coverage of Russiagate, the COVID lab leak theory, Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop, embrace of the theory of systemic racism and accused the organization of downplaying antisemitism following Oct. 7.
Berliner also wrote that staffers were out to hurt the presidency of Donald Trump. Berliner, who said he voted against Trump twice, even said "one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists" said it was good to not cover the Hunter Biden laptop story because it could benefit Trump in 2020.
His piece angered colleagues, with some telling in-house media reporter David Folkenflik they didn’t want to work with him any longer. Berliner was initially suspended for five days for breaking NPR's rules on doing outside work for another outlet. Shortly after, he quit, saying he could no longer work in a newsroom run by its left-leaning CEO.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Castor's office for comment.
Fox News' Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
