President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday to end public funding of National Public Radio and PBS to stop what he called “biased and partisan news coverage.”
The order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS” to the extent allowed by law. The order could be challenged in court.
“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,” the Thursday night executive order reads. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
Trump and his loyalists, including Elon Musk, have long complained that NPR and PBS are biased and promote left-wing causes, an allegation staunchly denied by executives at both organizations. Last month, Trump called for their defunding on Truth Social, calling them “RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”
To date, NPR and PBS receive roughly half a billion dollars each in public money and earn money from sponsorship. NPR says less than 1% of its funding comes from public sources.
However, Trump said in the order that the CPB failed to follow the principles of fairness and impartiality that underpin its public role.
“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,” he said.
PBS and NPR did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
In a statement last month, in response to a draft memo to Congress outlining the funding cut, an NPR spokesperson said: “Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts, and public safety information.”
Paula Kerger, CEO and president of PBS, said last month that an order to defund the organization would “disrupt the essential service PBS and local member stations provide to the American people.”
“There’s nothing more American than PBS, and our work is only possible because of the bipartisan support we have always received from Congress,” she added.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a Wednesday report that Trump’s executive orders in his first 100 days in office had created a “chilling effect and have the potential to curtail media freedoms,” including by restricting access to the regular pool of reporters who follow the president and reopening FCC investigations into networks, including NBC News.
Former NPR editor Uri Berliner resigned last month and wrote an essay for a right-leaning publication criticizing the network’s liberal position and lack of political diversity. However, he stressed he didn’t support defunding NPR.
The Trump administration has repeatedly blocked reporters from covering news at the Oval Office and ousted journalists from their working spaces at the Pentagon, in a string of actions critics called an attack on independent news organizations’ efforts to report on his administration.
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