Listen up, Alabama. The days of your hard-earned tax dollars propping up biased, bloated “public” media are mercifully coming to an end. President Trump and U.S. Rep. Dale Strong (R-Monrovia) are swinging the axe at National Public Radio (NPR), and it’s about time we do the same to Alabama’s own “home-brew” taxpayer-funded media circus.
“I don’t think the taxpayers of the people that I represent want their dollars spent,” Strong said. He has it right, pushing to gut NPR’s $600 million welfare check. We should cheer him on while turning our sights to the homegrown bathtub gin version of this scam.
NPR and its parent, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, were cooked up in 1967 with the excuse that rural folks needed TV and radio (don’t get me started on today’s issues concerning the lack of rural high-speed internet and mobile connectivity here in Alabama) to stay “informed” and “entertained.” Cute, but that was before satellite, cable and internet made that argument dumber than a bag of hammers.
Now, these outlets just coast on government handouts, free from the pressure to compete or innovate. The result? A cesspool of inefficiency and a megaphone for left-wing drivel that’s about as in touch with Alabama values as a vegan barbecue on Earth Day in Orange Beach.
The core issue isn’t just NPR’s liberal bias, though let’s be real, it’s as subtle as a sledgehammer. No one should be forced to bankroll any outlet pushing political agendas they don’t buy into.
The Supreme Court got it right in 2018 with Janus v. AFSCME, smacking down unions for forcing workers to fund their nonsense. The same principle applies here: Your tax dollars shouldn’t be funneled to media that spit in the face of your beliefs. State-sponsored news isn’t just anti-free market … it’s anti-First Amendment, more akin to Soviet Pravda than a free press.
Enter Todd Stacy, Alabama’s poster boy for this taxpayer-funded farce. This guy’s got a sweet gig hosting "Capitol Journal" on Alabama Public Television, broadcasting from a cushy, subsidized studio in the Statehouse basement. He’s also running Alabama Daily News, which he brags is the “first-click destination for political news.” Sounds great, until you realize you’re likely the one footing at least some of the bill for his influence-peddling.
Why are we subsidizing this when 1819 News, Alabama Political Reporter and Yellowhammer News, just to name a few, are out there slugging it out in the free market, no government crutches needed?
Stacy’s bias is so scripted and obvious, it’s almost performance art – if the piece of art used fecal matter from bovines.
Take the recent debacle with Gov. Kay Ivey’s shady firing of Veterans Affairs commissioner Admiral Kent Davis, a move so dirty it might be illegal. While heavyweights like J. D. Crowe, Josh Moon, Quin Hillyer and Rob Holbert tore into Ivey and backed the wildly successful Davis, Stacy and his sidekick Mary Sell churned out news reports that smelled like character assassination, cherry-picking facts to prop up Ivey and the dumpster fire that is Alabama’s Department of Mental Health (consistently ranked among the nation’s worst). Coincidence? Or just Stacy playing loyal lapdog?
Oh, and let’s not ignore the elephant in the room: Ivey, whose cognitive decline is the worst-kept secret in Montgomery, only sits for “interviews” with Stacy. These aren’t interviews, they’re scripted love fests, pre-recorded in the safe confines of his taxpayer-funded studio; he is serving up softballs for his guests to hit home runs when it really is a balk. Smells like propaganda to me.
What we’ve got with "Capitol Journal" is a socialist dog-and-pony show, dressed up as journalism by RINOs who’d vote blue if they thought they could get away with it.
Alabama deserves better. We need to take a cue from D.C.’s new efficiency mindset and cut off every dime to Alabama's public broadcasting cronies. Let them sink or swim in the free market like the rest of us. If they can’t hack it, that’s their problem, not ours.
NPR, alas, I barely knew ye! We did get some of Mister Rodger’s wonderful neighborhood for a short time, but now it is just another sanctuary city that resembles a Demilitarized Zone.
And now for the rest of the story … it is high time we stop bankrolling their callous bias and start respecting the taxpayers. It is their sworn duty. Conversely, it is our civic duty to hold them accountable, and we can do so in the 2026 statewide elections.
Troy Carico is a former infantry enlisted soldier (11B) and infantry officer with branch qualifications including counterintelligence (35E) and military intelligence (35D). He served with distinction in the U.S. Army for more than 22 years, and is highly decorated and service connected disabled. He also has prior service as a civilian intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency Great Skills Program and has served in numerous clandestine assignments throughout the world.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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