‘Blatantly Unlawful’: PBS CEO Hits Back at Trump’s ‘Middle of the Night’ Order to Cut Broadcaster’s Funding
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday night to defund the National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Company, accusing both of long-held bias.
The order, which is all but guaranteed to be challenged in court, directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS.”
“The CPB’s governing statute reflects principles of impartiality: the CPB may not ‘contribute to or otherwise support any political party,’” read the White House’s statement, adding:
The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS. Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.
I therefore instruct the CPB Board of Directors (CPB Board) and all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.
PBS’s CEO Paula Kerger hit back with a strongly worded statement on Friday, saying, “The President’s blatantly unlawful Executive Order, issued in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years. We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.”
PBS hit back at Trump’s threats to defund the network in February by releasing an internal poll that found public funding for the broadcaster is actually very popular, including with Republicans.
The poll, commissioned using YouGov, found that 65% of Trump voters said that PBS was either “underfunded or adequately funded.” Additionally, 82% of total voters, including 72% of Trump voters, said they “valued PBS for its children’s programming and educational tools.”
Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, also released a statement on Trump’s order, “CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”
Trump and his allies, like Elon Musk, have long railed against PBS and NPR, accusing them of bias. “NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM! EDITOR SAID THEY HAVE NO REPUBLICANS, AND IS ONLY USED TO ‘DAMAGE TRUMP,’” Trump fumed on his Truth Social platform last April. “THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!”
Both NPR and PBS have each received some half a billion dollars in public money since their inception in 1967, but also earn revenue from sponsors. NRP says less than 1% of its total budget comes from public sources. “On average, approximately 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments, excluding CPB funding for the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS),” notes NPR on its website.
