President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 1 to cut all federal funding of the National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). PBS is a non-commercial, free-to-air television channel funded by the public. PBS is known for its wide range in educational and cultural immersion programs, including historical dramas, science series, and documentaries. One of PBS’s most popular programs is PBS Kids, which serves to give education to kids, mainly those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Similarly, NPR is a non-profit membership media organization that acts as a public news source. NPR receives funding from member stations, a television or radio station who is part of a larger public broadcast station, and contributions from memberships, individuals, and corporate sponsorships. PBS generates a majority of their revenue from pledge drives, donations, member stations, and corporate sponsorships. Federal funding for NPR only makes up about 1 percent of their revenue. For PBS, the funding contributes to about 15 percent of their revenue.
Trump issued a public statement saying the reason for defunding these news outlets is because they produced left-leaning biases that do not cater to all audiences.
“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. The [Corporation for Public Broadcasting (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 and all executive departments and agencies to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” Trump said.
In a rebuttal to Trump’s statement, PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger released a response stating that Trump’s decision to terminate federal funding to PBS is illegitimate.
“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,” Kerger said.
Furthermore, NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher also made a declaration following the defunding. Maher said NPR will oppose this new notion and continue producing news regardless of what the Trump administration claims.
“We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information, and life-saving services to the American public. We will challenge this executive order using all means available, [as] this is not about balancing the federal budget. 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,” Maher said.
