Google propped up an attack on the upcoming subcommittee hearing that will debate whether Congress should covertly re-fund leftist outlets NPR and PBS.
On Tuesday, the House appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies is doing a markup of a Fiscal Year 2026 spending bill. But when MRC researchers searched Google for the title of the hearing, the search giant elevated Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT) negative press release about the hearing titled “House Republicans Continue Assault on Public Education and Research into Lifesaving Cures.” This was the first opinion-based link Google included and was included among the search engine’s “Top Stories.”
As the House Appropriations subcommittees meet to discuss, markup and amend Fiscal Year 2026 spending bills, adding in funding for the previously defunded leftist outlets NPR and PBS is on the table.
Google, like many of the legacy media’s allies, has seemed to support NPR and PBS funding when MRC has conducted past searches on the topic.
For example, MRC researchers searched the words “trump rescission” in June, the day the Trump administration sent a $9.4 billion rescissions package to Congress that would cut funds to PBS and NPR. Not one of the 14 links the search giant provided led to a right-leaning media outlet or organization.
When asked in March, “Are NPR and PBS biased?” Google’s Gemini simply concluded that whether NPR and PBS are biased “is a subject of ongoing debate” and that “they aim for objectivity” without citing any sources. When prompted to “double check response,” the chatbot proceeded to list sources supporting its points, the majority of which came from PBS.
Methodology: On September 2, 2025 MRC researchers searched Google Search for the terms “Subcommittee Markup of Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Bill.” Researchers then analyzed the results for apparent bias.
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