Trump signs executive order blocking PBS and NPR funding

‘Neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens’ The White House claims

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order cancelling all PBS and NPR federal funding after accusing them of “bias” in their news coverage.

The executive order, signed on Thursday night, stated that “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

The two news organizations are America's primary public broadcasters and have received federal funding ever since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act in 1967. The act led to the establishment of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for public radio and television. They receive roughly half a billion dollars in public money.

As a result of the new order, the White House declared that the CPB Board of Directors and all executive departments and agencies were to cease federal funding for the two news organizations.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” the White House said.

Trump has axed all federal funding for PBS and NPR (REUTERS)

“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,” it added.

Trump has repeatedly targeted what he and his other MAGA allies consider to be “the legacy media”, particularly those that run critical pieces on his policies.

Last month, he blasted both broadcasters on Truth Social, stating: ‘REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT “MONSTERS” THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”

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.

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.

Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the CPB, said Friday: “CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.

“In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors…’ 47 U.S.C. § 398(c).”

PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger told The Independent: “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.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.