President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to defund PBS and NPR, claiming that today’s media landscape has changed enough to warrant ending public funding for broadcasting. In addition, he used the executive order to criticize the broadcasters (established in 1967 when Congress created the CPB) over what he claims is “biased” reporting.
Congress has the final say on funding CPB but, as has been the case since his inauguration, Trump is attempting to sidestep Congress via executive order. The CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation established by federal law and governed by an independent board.
For decades, Republicans have attempted to defund CPB over what they perceive as political bias but, in recent years, they have added the “evolving media landscape” as further justification for their arguments, claiming that programming via public broadcasting is replicated elsewhere.
But critics of the administration say Trump has sought to quash media voices selectively and use the power of his office to strike at his critics as well as a free press. One month earlier Trump posted on the Truth Social site, in all caps, “Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left ‘monsters’ that so badly hurt our country!”
According to news coverage by the BBC, more than 40 million Americans listen to NPR public radio each week, and 36 million watch a local television station from the PBS network each month, according to their estimates.
The order reads in part:
“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options. Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.
“At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage. No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize. The CPB’s governing statute reflects principles of impartiality: the CPB may not “contribute to or otherwise support any political party.” 47 U.S.C. 396(f)(3); see also id. 396(e)(2).
“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."
The CPB administers $535 million in taxpayer funds annually to PBS and NPR stations, who provide a range of free, accessible news, educational and entertainment programming, as well as emergency alerting. The service is particularly well-received in rural areas that lack access to broadband or multichannel video services.
At a Congressional hearing in March, Ed Ullman, president and CEO of Alaska Public Media, defended public broadcasting’s importance, especially in rural areas.
“In many parts of Alaska and communities throughout the country, public media is often the only locally operated, locally controlled broadcasting service. We are more than ‘nice to have.’ We are essential, especially in remote and rural places where commercial broadcasting cannot succeed.”
Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB, issued the following statement:
“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.
“In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors…’ 47 U.S.C. § 398(c).”
Katherine Maher, NPR President and CEO, also responded, saying "NPR stands by the excellence and commitment of our journalists, staff, and Member organizations to seek out stories that matter to the American public, that reflect every part of the diversity of our nation, and that bring affairs of the world to our audiences."
"We stand by our high standards and our colleagues in their pursuit of factual reporting, their work to present issues fairly and without bias, and our effort to seek the humanity and human consequence of every story," she added. "We will strongly defend our work and our editorial independence and will continue to tell the stories of our country and the world with accuracy, objectivity, and fairness.
CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority.”
Patricia Harrison, CPB President/CEO
Several weeks ago, the administration asked Congress for $1.1 billion in funding cuts to CPB. That request was made on April 15 and would have to be approved by Congress within 45 days (May 30) after it is formally proposed. This order appears to be an attempt to nullify that proposal and shut down federal funding to the broadcasters altogether without Congressional approval.
Earlier this week, the CPB filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from firing three of its board members, claiming the president has no power to do so.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr supports the moves to defund public broadcasting and has ordered an investigation into how sponsorships are handled.
“For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967,” the chairman said when issuing the order at the end of January.
MoveOn launched a petition calling on Congress to protect public broadcasting has surpassed 36,000 signatures by 3 p.m. ET on Friday, May 2. The petition is available here.
This is a developing story.
Radio World Editor in Chief Paul McLane contributed to this story.
