Friday, May 2, 2025 - The White House on Thursday, May 1, said US President Donald Trump had signed an executive order seeking to cut funding for the public news outlets NPR and PBS.
The order
tells the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding to the
stations, to "cease direct funding" to the public news outlets.
A White
House statement on the order labeled the news outlets as partisan and
biased.
"The
CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by
law and shall decline to provide future funding," the order says.
A
statement from the White House said the order ended all direct funding, plus
indirect payments from other public media organizations.
"NPR
and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer
dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers’ money,
as President Trump has stated."
The Trump
administration has labeled numerous institutions in academia and the media
— from Harvard and Columbia universities to NPR and PBS — as
left-wing and biased. It has threatened funding cuts as a result. Human
rights advocates have raised concerns over free speech as well
as academic and press freedom.
The Trump
administration has also tried to close Voice of America, Radio Free Asia
and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, whose news broadcasts are funded by the
US government. In late April, a federal judge ordered the Trump
administration to stop those efforts.
NPR and
PBS have previously said Trump's effort to cut their funding would have
a "devastating impact" on US citizens who rely on them for
reliable local and national news — including during emergency
situations.
In a
statement last month, Paula Kerger, president and chief executive of PBS,
said the Trump administration's effort to rescind
funding for public media 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 said. "This public-private partnership allows us to help prepare
millions of children for success in school and in life, and also supports
enriching and inspiring programs of the highest quality."
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