President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 1 seeking to end federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) over what he called “biased and partisan news coverage” from the news outlets.
The CPB board of directors was urged to “cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law” and “decline to provide future funding” for the news outlets.
The order also instructs other federal agencies to terminate funding and identify “any remaining grants, contracts, or other funding instruments” entered into with NPR and PBS that are noncompliant with the administration’s policy.
“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” Trump stated in his order.
Trump said that providing funding to NPR and PBS runs counter to CPB’s principle of impartiality, which states that it must not contribute to or support any political party.
“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” he stated. “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
Neither NPR nor PBS responded to a request for comment from The Epoch Times by publication time.
NPR and PBS have previously said that cutting the funding would disrupt their operations and affect American communities that rely on public radio stations for news and public safety information.
During the hearing, PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger said that her station looks to appeal to all Americans, although she did not go into depth about allegations of bias.
NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher told the hearing that NPR has processes to ensure that its content is “fair and comprehensive” and that diverse issues and viewpoints are aired.
“We have a responsibility to serve Americans across the full political spectrum in a trustworthy, nonpartisan fashion,” she said.
Several Republicans confronted Maher about NPR’s coverage of the 2020 story of the laptop of former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The laptop consisted of information related to Hunter Biden’s business dealings that have included work in China and Ukraine, where he was on the board of energy company Burisma. Maher said that NPR’s attitude over the laptop story was a “mistake.”
The funding cuts affected organizations under USAGM’s umbrella, including Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The judge said Radio Free Europe had shown it would suffer irreparable harm absent a restraining order, noting that USAGM’s actions to terminate the grants “threaten the very existence” of the news group.
