Late Thursday night, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” claiming that they had ideological bias, NBC news reported.
The executive order said that neither NPR nor PBS presented a fair, accurate, and unbiased portrayal of events to citizens and that the CPB board should cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law.
However, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger called this executive order a “blatantly unlawful Executive Order, issued in the middle of the night.”
Two weeks ago, the White House said it would ask Congress to retract any funding for the CPB as part of a $9.1 billion package of cuts. That package has yet to reach Capitol Hill.
The action against PBS and NPR follows his administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media. The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are amongst the ones targeted, but they were established to promote independent journalism in countries with restricted press freedom.
On social media platforms, Trump recently posted a message to NPR and PBS in all caps: “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”
The leaders of NPR and PBS testified at a House oversight committee hearing in March on the allegations of ideological bias against them. Earlier this week, the Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint of bias and illegal electioneering against NPR.
It is still unclear whether Trump has the power to make such an order to the CPB under the law. However, if the Trump administration succeeds in firing three of the five CPB board members, it would erase the quorum necessary for the CPB board to take any action, including eliminating funds for PBS and NPR.
