President Trump’s executive command Defund NPR and PBS Was met on Friday with a fiery pushback, because the organizations challenged the legality of the move and said it could endanger access to vital information.
The order that was issued at the end of Thursday has assigned the company for Public Omroep, which receives more than $ 500 million in tax money annually and distributes on public TV and radio stations, to eliminate millions of dollars in federal financing to the two public media organizations. It comes down to perhaps the most important threat in a decades of Republicans campaign to weaken NPR and PBS.
Patricia Harrison, the Chief Executive of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private company, said in a statement that the White House had no legal authority about the company. NPR promised to challenge the order and called it ‘an insult to the first amendment’.
Paula Kerger, the Chief Executive of PBS, also known as Mr. Trump’s executive order illegally. “The flagrant illegal order of the president, published in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have the last 50-plus year,” said Mrs. Kerger.
Mr. Trump and other Republicans have long argued that NPR and PBS have a liberal bias and that taxpayers should not finance their journalism as a result. The executive order used the same argument and accused the news broadcasts of producing ‘left -wing propaganda’.
The Executive Order of Mr. Trump was the fourth attempt by Republicans to weaken public media in so many months: a bill is work through the congress To defend NPR and PBS; The White House applied for the congress on Friday Reduce federal financing for the company for public broadcaster; And this week Mr. Trump tried Fire three directors From the company for public broadcaster, a movement that was delayed by the courts.
The president sequence Federal agencies also instructed on Thursday to reduce any financing to NPR and PBS. Some federal agencies, such as the Ministry of Education, have awarded historical trade fairs to public media.
The change, if it survives a legal challenge, would have important effects on NPR and PBS, although those organizations can survive without government financing. About 2 percent of NPR budget comes from federal subsidies; For PBS, that number is approximately 16 percent. Both organizations indirectly receive government support through contribution and programmmatic costs from their member stations.
But the executive order could fundamentally change the relationships of NPRs and PBS with their member stations. For decades, local TV and radio stations in the United States have used federal money to buy popular programming, such as “All Things Contain” from NPR and “PBS Newshour.”
Mr. Trump’s order could prohibit local stations to spend their money on those programs, with an indirect federal support from those organizations, even if it does not explicitly eliminate the financing for local TV and radio stations across the United States, many of which depend on government support to survive.
It would probably not have an immediate effect, because the company has already distributed much of its money for 2025 for public broadcaster.
Amanda Mountain, the Chief Executive of Rocky Mountain Public Media in Colorado, insisted on staying informed, donating and speaking for public broadcasts.
“Make your voice heard,” she wrote in an e -mail obtained by the New York Times. “If you appreciate free, public service media, please contact your representatives.”
Susan Goldberg, the president and chief executive of GBH, a public broadcaster in Boston, said that the loss of federal financing “would be a paralyzing blow to the millions of people trusting our services for news and education, especially children.”
Richard H. Pildes, a professor in constitutional law at the New York University School of Law, said that the executive order could lead to a federal law that forbade the president to withdraw federal financing without the consent of the congress.
“In the general issue, the congress checks the wallet,” said Professor Pildes. “The president does not have the power to refuse to spend money that the congress has assigned for specific purposes.”
He also said it was unclear whether Mr Trump had the authority to recommend the company for public broadcast to do something, because it is a private, non -governmental entity.
A spokeswoman for the White House did not respond to a request for comments.
The ghost of Defunderen has been called for so long for public media organizations that managers have developed unforeseen plans. NPR compiled in 2011 A secret plan To assess what would happen if all federal financing from public media were eliminated. According to the analysis, NPR could lose between $ 1 million and $ 27 million, with no fewer than 181 local stations that are closed. An unforeseen plan this spring called the prospect of the total and decomposing “related to an asteroid who stood out without warning.”
Mr. Trump’s order came just when public radio executives from the United States met in Washington for the Spring Board meeting of NPR. Katherine Maher, the Chief Executive of NPR, addressed the order during the board meeting and said that existing laws prevent every employee of the US government from carrying out control over public broadcasts.
“We will strongly defend our work and the editorial and independence of our journalists and continue to tell the stories of the country with accuracy, objectivity and fairness,” said Mrs. Maher.
- Advertisement -
