Associated Press
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.
The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”
It’s the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with. Since taking office, Trump has ousted leaders, placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists, libraries, museums, theaters and others, through takeovers of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Trump has also pushed to withhold federal research and education funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agreed to eliminate diversity programs and other measures Trump has found objectionable.
The broadcasters get roughly half a billion dollars in public money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and have been preparing for the possibility of stiff cuts since Trump’s election, as Republicans have long complained about them.
“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.”
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued Trump earlier this week over his move to fire three members of its five-person board, contending that the president was exceeding his authority and that the move would deprive the board of a quorum needed to conduct business.
Just two weeks ago, the White House said it would be asking Congress to rescind funding for the CPB as part of a $9.1 billion package of cuts. That package, however, which budget director Russell Vought said would likely be the first of several, has not yet been sent to Capitol Hill.
The move against PBS and NPR comes as his administration has been working to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which were designed to model independent news gathering globally in societies that restrict the press. Those efforts have faced pushback from federal courts, who have ruled in some cases that the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority in holding back funds appropriated to the outlets by Congress.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
15 comments
Ron Ogden
May 2, 2025 at 7:14 am
“The President alleged bias.”
Yeah, and he alleged the sun rises in the east, too.
Michael K
May 2, 2025 at 7:55 am
Public media has been under attack by the far right for decades. Why? In-depth Investigative reporting is one reason – PBS Newshour, Frontline, NPR news offers thorough reporting and analysis and goes out of its way to fact check and verify sources. Public media is also free – something else the far right hates, because it is not beholden to sponsors, and clearly identifies if a corporation is an underwriter.
Rural people are likely most affected, as public media reaches remote parts of the entire nation – especially those without broadband and cable access.
But we just can’t have nice things anymore. The arts, universities, science, books, libraries and museums and freedom of the press are all under attack. Ideas and free speech are dangerous to authoritarians who demand total control of every narrative and demand no challenge to the lies they spew.. So here we are. Freedumb.
Bill
May 2, 2025 at 8:06 am
https://www.project2025.observer/
It’s happening. While we sit there looking on in amazement at the buffoonery in the WH, in the real world, it’s all slowly disappearing.
Ron Ogden
May 2, 2025 at 10:57 am
“So here we are.”
And here we’ll stay, too. And all you dumbfounded elitists will have years to sit with your collective chin in your hand trying to figure out how you blew it so badly.
PeterH
May 2, 2025 at 12:24 pm
Well actually this is yet another Trump executive order that will go to court. Only Congress has the authority to fund or not fund PBS and NPR. Perhaps Trump will shed more tears at SCOTUS on how he’s being treated so unfairly.
Michael K
May 2, 2025 at 12:30 pm
What makes you think that you – and only people like you – gets to decide what is funded? I’m a taxpayer too – and pay a higher percentage of federal income tax than our current president (so far as we know, as hes never kept his priomise to release his returns). But based on the info publicly released, yes, I pay far more than he does. And I support free libraries, pubic media, the arts, libraries, museums and culture.
rbruce
May 2, 2025 at 11:22 am
PBS and NPR is not free. It is beholden to their corporate sponsors and Congress. A few more commercials and telephone cold calls will easily make up the money that the taxpayer no longer forced to pay for a service few use.
Earl Pitts American
May 2, 2025 at 8:20 am
Thank you Mr. President,
PBS has not broadcasted anything worth a pee pee doo doo since Click & Clack “The Tappitt Brothers” [AKA “CAR TALK”].
Now lets see how long America’s “Dook 4 Brains Leftys” will fund PBS. Sure we will get a few “Dooks” come out early with bold statements about funding …. however that will all peter-out in the typical 3 week “News Cycle”.
Thanks again Mr. President as your Sage actions are both “Historical And Folklorical”,
Earl Pitts American
Victoria Olson
May 2, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Of course Earl had to reply in word salad again saying NOTHING of value.
PeterH
May 2, 2025 at 9:24 am
PBS should align with the existing subscription of Hulu, National Geographic and Disney and offer their informative, educational and terrific news as a pay-to-view cable only option.
Michael K
May 2, 2025 at 12:37 pm
One audience that loves NPR public radio is long-distance truck drivers. Why? Interesting material that can be accessed anywhere in the nation thanks to local outets.
Regarding cable, it’s increasingly only old people who still have it. Folks under 40 are likelier to cut the cord and go for streaming. But for low-income folks, over-the-air is still free, and PBS offers the best TV programming out there in the vast wasteland.
PeterH
May 2, 2025 at 1:00 pm
True. I meant cable or streaming. I have a little of both with an Apple TV box. Yes, I’m not a truck driver but my car is tuned to NPR most of the time……and I’ve been donating to both NPR and PBS for 50 years.
Risky Florida Business
May 2, 2025 at 10:24 am
I listened to public radio,it more informative than those ignorant people at Fox News,that were banned from the UK for being a propaganda Google Fox News UK Banned
Paul Passarelli
May 2, 2025 at 11:59 am
I grew up with PBS. From Sesame Street & The Electric Company, ZOOM, to Nova, David Attenborough’s Wild Planet, even William F. Buckley Jr.’s Firing Line. I still remember the first time I heard him trounce a bloviating Democrat, I smiled with glee, ran into the kitchen and told my mommy about this brilliant man on Channel 13.
As an adult, I used to listed to Science Friday, Engines of our Ingenuity, A Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and Mark Russel.
Some time in the late 90s, simply had to start tuning away. Certain segments came on and my propaganda senses started tingling, either that or my urge to vomit. But when your commute is 1hr 45m each way, you learn not to throw things at the radio.
I stopped listening to NPR shortly after 9/11 because of all the revisionist history the began spewing out. Because of work, I had been paying particularly close attention to Middle East news in the months leading up to the event. And so when the lies and internal contradictions started flowing post 9/11 the lies were oh so easy to spot.
Anyway, the outlets funded by the CPB are all damn liars at their core. They are parasites infecting the government teat.
They also *HATE* conservative media, because there are literally *NO MARKETS* where they can compete with it. Without the subsidies and guarantees, they would all be out of work. Are there a few notables that I would continue to support? Sure, the stations that play classical music are OK. Daily shows like Market Watch are *mostly* (but not entirely) free from bias. But the long format audio documentaries are literally swimming in Blue Kool-ade. I suppose their programming is a light in the dark for a specific audience segment, I’m referring to blind, handicapped, shut-ins with mommy issues, but other than they, it’s not fit for human consumption.
I used to pledge to PBS et. al. during their drives, I still have many of the book premiums on my shelves to prove it. I used to donate to GreenPeace too, when they were dying baby seals with indelible orange ink, ruining their fur value. But that too stopped when they started using violence & vandalism of private property.
Performing so called ‘Acts of Compassion’ that cannot stand up to intellectual scrutiny is not a valid philosophy for life, it’s the result of brainwashing.
Victoria Olson
May 2, 2025 at 1:13 pm
This is a page out of the HITLER playbook where the Fascist Nazi during the 1936 Summer Olympics, broadcasts, up to eight hours a day, took place in Berlin and Hamburg. The Nazis intended to use television as a medium for their propaganda once the number of television sets was increased, but television was able initially to reach only a small number of viewers, in contrast to radio. However, by the time World War II began, plans for expanded television programming were shelved in favor of radio, which Hitler saw as more effective for mass propaganda.
Because PBS & NBR are 1 educational and tell the TRUTH about science, education & other important matters.