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3w ago

NPR and PBS Prepare Legal Fight Against Trump’s Funding Cuts

The executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to halt funding raises legal and constitutional questions as public broadcasters warn of severe impacts on local stations.

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People participate in a rally to call on Congress to protect funding for U.S. public broadcasters PBS and NPR in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 2025.
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Overview

  • President Trump’s executive order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, citing alleged partisan bias and outdated subsidies.
  • NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger announced plans to explore legal challenges, invoking the Public Broadcasting Act and First Amendment protections.
  • Federal funding accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s budget and 15% of PBS’s, but smaller and rural stations, some of which depend on federal funds for up to 50% of their budgets, face existential threats.
  • Leaders warn that funding cuts could exacerbate news deserts in rural areas, where 20% of Americans lack alternative local news sources, and halt the development of educational children’s programming.
  • Critics of the executive order question the president’s authority to unilaterally defund public broadcasters, emphasizing that funding decisions are typically the purview of Congress.