NPR and PBS quickly fired back at President Donald Trump over his executive order attempting to halt federal funding for the outlets on Friday, calling it “blatantly unlawful.”
“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,” PBS President Paula Kerger wrote.
NPR released a 618-word statement vowing an immediate challenge as well, saying, “We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public. We will challenge this Executive Order using all means available.”
“This is not about balancing the federal budget,” NPR said. “The appropriation for public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS, represents less than 0.0001% of the federal budget. The President’s order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR and locally owned and operated stations throughout America to produce and air programming that meets the needs of their communities.”
TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO SLASH TAXPAYER FUNDS TO PBS, NPR: ‘RADICAL, WOKE PROPAGANDA’
President and CEO of Public Broadcasting Service Paula Kerger testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump’s order, issued late Thursday, instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.” It further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The CPB was told to not give direct funds to either outlet, as well as cease indirect funding through grants to local stations.
Given the almost certain legal challenge that will come for Trump’s EO, it’s unclear how his move will affect NPR and PBS for now. The CPB is funded two years in advance to prevent immediate political interference.
“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” Trump’s order states. “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. No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.”
The order was the latest broadside by the Trump administration against the outlets, which it has accused of peddling progressive content without balance. Trump has signaled since taking office that he was interested in cutting off the federal spigot to NPR and PBS.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
TRUMP SAYS HE’D LOVE TO YANK FUNDING FOR NPR, PBS, WOULD BE ‘HONORED’ TO SEE IT END
NPR CEO Katherine Maher. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
“[President Trump] just signed an executive order ENDING the taxpayer subsidization of NPR and PBS – which receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” the White House posted in a statement on X.
Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher testified in defense of their outlets in March before a GOP-led House subcommittee investigating taxpayer waste.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created in 1967, allocates about $535 million annually to NPR and PBS.
“CPB allocates the appropriation mostly to public television and radio stations, with some assigned to NPR and PBS to support national programming,” PBS’ website states.
According to an NPR report on Friday, NPR receives roughly 1% of its funding directly from the federal government, and a slightly larger amount indirectly, while its hundreds of member institutions around the country get about 8 to 10 percent from the CPB.
FORMER NPR EDITOR SAYS BROADCASTER SHOULD REFUSE FEDERAL FUNDS AMID DOGE HEARING
Some local NPR affiliates, such as WABE in Atlanta, have made direct calls for donations in recent months in response to the Trump administration’s threats.
“WABE has never been more VALUABLE or more VULNERABLE,” the WABE donation page reads. “Cuts to federal funding would severely compromise our essential services. The future of all public media is at stake, including WABE.”
Former NPR editor Uri Berliner and others have suggested NPR simply reject federal funding in order to eliminate concerns that taxpayer money goes toward an outlet with ideological bias issues. Berliner made headlines last year by calling out the left-leaning outlet for examples of bias, such as rejecting the Hunter Biden laptop story, dismissing the COVID lab-leak theory, and its fervent embrace of Russiagate.
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“NPR should regain its respect by doing something no one ever does in American life: Turn down government support. Get ahead of the game and say, We’ll survive without it. In other words: Become truly independent,” Berliner wrote in “The Free Press” in March.
