On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to eliminate all federal financial support for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
According to the order, “Government funding of news media is not only outdated and unnecessary but also detrimental to the perception of journalistic independence.” It emphasizes that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is intended to be impartial and unbiased, and Trump contends that funding for NPR and PBS undermines this principle.
“The specific viewpoints promoted by NPR and PBS are irrelevant. What matters is that neither organization provides a fair, accurate, or unbiased representation of current events to taxpayers,” the order states.
While the executive order specifically claims bias in NPR and PBS, Trump recently expressed on Truth Social that “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”
Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr initiated an investigation into NPR and PBS for purported violations of FCC guidelines regarding commercials—an accusation that NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher publicly denied, asserting that NPR has long collaborated with the FCC to adhere to federal regulations.
The executive order is extensive, directing the CPB to halt both direct and indirect funding to NPR and PBS and to terminate any future allocations. NPR receives approximately one percent of its funding directly from the government, with a slightly higher percentage coming indirectly, while local stations obtain about 8 to 10 percent. PBS and its affiliates receive around 15 percent, reflecting the higher production costs of television compared to radio.
Despite asserting that taxpayer money should not support biased news, the Trump administration has also introduced the White House Wire, a news aggregator similar to the Drudge Report, designed to highlight positive media coverage of Trump. According to Axios, White House officials claim the wire aims to provide Trump supporters with a “one-stop shop for news.”
