President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on ceasing federal funding for public broadcasters National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service.
Signed Thursday, the executive order asks Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” and notes that they do not present an “unbiased portrayal of current events” to tax-payers.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, known by its short name CPB, is a congressionally chartered body that disburses approved funding to the public broadcasting channels. Congress has allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year.
Trump, who in a recent social media post accused NPR and PBS of hurting the country, instructs the CPB and executive branch departments and agencies to cease direct and indirect funding of the two public broadcasters.
“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the executive order named “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” notes.
“What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens,” the Order says.
The Order says, 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.
NPR’s President and CEO Katherine Maher recently argued in All Things Considered program that funding should continue.
“I think that it’s important for public media to be able to continue to be relevant in a time where there is a lot of coverage of different issues and areas of interest,” she said, according to an NPR report.
Reacting to the White House order, NPR’s senior vice president of communications, Heather Walls said, “We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public,” NPR
“The President’s order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR and locally owned and operated stations throughout America to produce and air programming that meets the needs of their communities,” Walls said in a statement.
It said the executive order jeopardizes the national airing of NPR newscasts, and programs like Morning Edition and Tiny Desk Radio.
NPR receives about 1% of its funding directly from the federal government, and a little more indirectly. Additionally, according to the broadcaster, NPR’s 246 member institutions, operating more than 1,300 stations, receive on average 8% to 10% of their funds from CPB.
PBS and its stations receive about 15% of their revenues from CPB’s federal funds, according to the report.
Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, criticized the presidential order on freezing federal funding for the broadcasting service in a statement:
“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.”
