Per executive order by President Donald Trump yesterday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) will no longer provide federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
PBS was established as a nonprofit in 1969. NPR, also a nonprofit, was established in 1971. Both are losing federal funding based on Trump’s interpretation of their news coverage.
Trump’s order, as reported by CNN, instructs the CPB’s board to end direct funding to both nonprofits to the “maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding” and to take steps to “minimize or eliminate” indirect funding to both.
However, CPB is protected from government interference and excluded from presidential executive orders. CPB is already in the middle of suing Trump for terminating three board members.
“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,” CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement.
According to PBS CEO Paula Kerger, who released a statement Friday morning, Trump’s “blatantly unlawful” order threatens PBS’s ability to serve the American public with educational programming, which they have done for more than 50 years.
“We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans,” Kerger said.
Every year, the CPB provides $535 million in taxpayer funds for TV, public radio and producers of education and cultural programming, which allows TV and radio stations to provide free access to programming.
“These are funds that we were already counting on because it’s already appropriated. So we’re anxious to see what they’re talking about and we will be responding very quickly,” Kerger said.
As part of the executive order, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will investigate NPR and PBS for possible employment discrimination.
When Congress established the CPB in 1967, it attempted to protect public media from politics. Legislation which created the CPB states that the government is forbidden to exercise “any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting.”
According to Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron, the executive order is evidence why America‘s democracy is on life support. Free Press Action is a nonpartisan organization fighting for people’s rights to connect and communicate, and does not support or oppose any candidate for public office.
“Healthy democracies have independent, well-funded and robust public-media systems. At their best, noncommercial media put the public interest before profits and hold power to account. Trump’s outrageous order to end federal support for NPR and PBS takes U.S. media in the opposite direction. It’s riddled with falsehoods and disinformation about public media, much of it seemingly cribbed from right-wing blogs and newsletters. Despite the president’s twisted claims, public broadcasting remains an incredibly popular use of taxpayer dollars, and local stations provide trustworthy news and cultural programming, as well as lifesaving coverage during emergencies,” Aaron said.
Aaron testified in February 2025 before the House Judiciary Committee about the Trump Administration’s campaign of censorship against media viewpoints the president does not like, calling it a “free-speech emergency.” In May 2024, Aaron testified about false claims of bias at NPR and PBS. Free Press Action is leading grassroots efforts to craft public policy that supports local noncommercial news and information.
Aaron questioned the legality of the executive order, because Congress appropriates funding for public broadcasting and the president does not get to erase programs he does not like.
“The government’s unhinged attempt to defund news outlets they deem biased is blatant censorship. This represents a dangerous assault on independent journalism and public accountability — and it’s not happening in isolation. The Trump administration is also pushing Congress to rescind public media’s already-approved budget and is trying to remove board members at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for no legally justifiable reason. Brendan Carr, Trump’s top censor at the Federal Communications Commission, has also launched an investigation into the underwriting practices of NPR and PBS, using it as a pretext to call for an end to funding,” Aaron said.
The order comes as no surprise, however, after Trump has spent years attacking journalist, lying about journalism in America. Now Trump is attempting to silence any newsroom that questions him or shares the truth about how his policies affect Americans.
“Yet in many of those communities, the local public-media station is the only source of independent reporting. Trump, of course, prefers fawning propaganda — which too many commercial TV and radio broadcasters are willing to provide in exchange for regulatory favors or to stay off the president’s target list. Since Trump can’t shake down NPR and PBS the same way he’s doing to CBS and ABC, he’s trying to starve them of the resources they need to survive,” Aaron said.
Page one of the authoritarian playbook includes attack journalists and the media, Aaron said, and why Americans have reason to be “deeply concerned” about the future of public media.
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Rebecca Barnabi
