The Headlines - NPR and PBS in the Hot Seat, and a Rare Protest in Gaza

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Plus, fraud at Versailles.  On Today’s Episode: PBS and NPR Prepare for Showdown With Congress, by Benjamin MullinTrump Downplays Signal Leak, Backing Waltz and Pointing Finger at Journalist, by Tyler Pager and David E. SangerIn Montana, Republican Lawmakers Target the Judiciary, by David W. ChenIn Rare Protest, Gazans Voice Frustration With Hamas, by Iyad Abuheweila, Abu Bakr Bashir, Aaron Boxerman and Malachy BrowneArt Expert Accused of Duping Prince and Palace of Versailles Stands Trial, by Ephrat LivniTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, March 26th. Here's what we're covering. Today at the Capitol, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has organized a hearing titled Anti-American Airwaves, where the chief executives of NPR and PBS will face questions about what Green says is liberal bias at their networks. Green has said that today's hearing will address how public media has covered stories like Hunter Biden's laptop, the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, and other stories that she

said were, quote, left-leaning even to the point of propaganda. The network executives, PBS's Paula Kerger and NPR's Catherine Maher, say they're prepared to defend their organization's work and the government funding that helps support it. Any cuts could weaken their networks of TV and radio stations, which stretch from New York to Nome, Alaska.

Republicans in Congress have tried to cut back that funding for decades, but the threat has taken on new weight this year. Congressional Republicans have introduced bills that would eliminate public media funding altogether, and Elon Musk has called for something similar as part of his federal spending cuts. Recently, both PBS and NPR have taken steps to comply with new rules from the Trump administration. PBS closed its diversity, equity, and inclusion office. And NPR has changed how it approaches diversity in hiring. Still, the executives have been preparing

for combative questioning from Green and her colleagues, similar to what college presidents and Democratic mayors have faced at other hearings convened by conservative lawmakers. makers. At the White House. President Trump and his administration are downplaying the leak of sensitive war plans in a group chat that came to light earlier this week. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details about an attack on Yemen before it happened

in a chat that seemed to have accidentally included a journalist. Trump implied that the reaction's been overblown. Republicans on Capitol Hill followed his lead. There were no war plans discussed. There was no classified material sent on that thread. House Speaker Mike Johnson and others implied the chat on Signal was not a major breach. Some Democrats, however, have called on Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Michael Walz, who added the journalist to the chat, to resign. Today on The Daily, a conversation with the journalist who was in the chat. Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic talks with my colleague Rachel Abrams. For the Trump administration, one defining characteristic so far has been its willingness

to criticize and question the courts. The Times has been tracking how that effort to question the validity of a whole other branch of government mirrors a trend that's been building at the state level for years. What we've been seeing increasingly around the country is an effort by conservative lawmakers, predominantly in Republican leaning states, to challenge what lawmakers believe are liberal courts. They've been very unhappy with some of the decisions that judges have rendered on hot button issues like abortion and transgender issues. And so they've decided to introduce a whole bunch of legislation in an effort to change both the rules and even change the makeup of the courts.

My colleague David Chen covers politics. He's been reporting on several of the conservative-led efforts. He says in Missouri, there was a push to reduce the number of judges in a district in order to specifically oust one judge over his supposedly liberal rulings. And in Utah, there was a proposal to give lawmakers the authority to evaluate judges who are on the bench. David says the most aggressive effort has been taking place in Montana, where there have been over 30 proposals for reshaping the state's courts. In one attempt, there were a couple of bills that proposed that a judge's facial expressions be viewed as evidence of bias and as a pretext to potentially result in disqualification.

Just anything they can do to really disrupt the establishment and remake the judiciary. I think what we're going to see down the road is an increasing appetite by conservative lawmakers to continue challenging the system. They feel that the judiciary system has been stacked against conservatives for too long, and they feel that a big change is necessary to kind of balance things out. Critics, however, say that these conservative lawmakers are just mad that they've been on this judicial losing streak. And so they want to basically change the umpires, change the refs in order to produce a more

desirable result. And they say that that could set a very dangerous precedent because if you install an ump who's biased, then you're really undermining faith in the judiciary and by extension the entire government. In Gaza yesterday, protesters took to the streets in a rare show of dissent against Hamas. They chanted slogans calling for an end to the war and for Hamas to give up control of the territory.

While many people in Gaza blame Israel for the widespread death and destruction over the past year and a half, some also hold Hamas responsible for kicking off the conflict with the October 7 attacks. One protester told the Times that he wants to keep protesting until, quote, the bloodshed stops and Hamas leaves. In the almost two decades that Hamas has controlled Gaza, it's cracked down harshly on protesters and has been accused of routinely arresting and torturing its opponents. Despite Israel's aggressive campaign to wipe the group out, Hamas is still believed

to command thousands of armed fighters inside Gaza. And finally, a criminal trial is unfolding in France this week over chairs. The case centers on antiques purchased by the Palace of Versailles. The lot was valued at nearly $3 million and was supposed to include two Louis XV-era chairs. They were authenticated by the go-to 18th-century French chair expert, a man who literally wrote a book on the subject. But it turns out they were fakes. The expert, Bill Payot, is now on trial for his role in the scheme. He's

admitted that he and a woodworker basically got curious one day about just how good of a fake they could make. Their ruse raked in millions. But Payot was discovered, in part, by a fellow antique dealer who'd been raising doubts about him for years. That dealer said the subtle notes of licorice gave it all away. He told Vanity Fair that he knew woodworkers sometimes used melted licorice to give wood an old, vintage look. And when he saw some antiques that Pio claimed were authentic, he got real close to them and,

quote, I licked the chair and voila, I could taste the fraud. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.