Photo Credit: James Cridland / CC by 2.0
NPR is suing President Trump over his executive order to stop all federal funding for the nonprofit public broadcaster.
National Public Radio (NPR) is suing President Trump over his executive order to cease federal funding for nonprofit broadcasters, including NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C.
According to NPR and three other public radio stations, Trump’s May 1 order violates the First Amendment’s protections of speech and the press, and undermines Congress’ authority. The order also “threatens the existence of a public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information.”
The executive order “expressly aims to punish and control Plaintiffs’ news coverage and other speech the Administration deems ‘biased,’” wrote attorneys for NPR and three of its member stations: Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio. “It cannot stand.”
The broadcasters are seeking to have Trump’s order permanently blocked and declared unconstitutional, which closely follows NPR and PBS’ previous vow to challenge the executive order. According to Trump’s order, government funding of a news outlet is “outdated and unnecessary” as well as “corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
NPR employs hundreds of journalists whose work is broadcast by more than 1,000 local stations. Founded in 1970, NPR’s initial funding was mostly allocated by Congress and delivered through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
That arrangement was changed in the 1980s when the Reagan Administration made cuts to public media funding. Now, the CPB sends federal money to local member stations, who then purchase NPR programming. Member station fees comprise 30% of NPR’s funding, while only 1% of its revenue comes directly from the federal government. According to NPR, the largest share of its funding—36%—comes from corporate sponsorships.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields told CNBC that the CPB is “creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime.” But the broadcasters’ lawsuit argues that Congress recognizes that the speech it supports with public funding “remains private—and thus fully protected from censorship, retaliation, or other forms of governmental interference.”
However, “the President—criticizing what he perceives as ‘bias’ in the award-winning journalism and cultural programming produced by NPR—has issued an executive order that thwarts Congress’ intent and the First Amendment rights of Plaintiffs to be free from the government’s attempts to control their private speech, and their rights to be free from retaliation aimed at punishing and chilling protected speech, journalistic activities, and expressive association,” wrote attorneys for the broadcasters. “The order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”
“It is evident from the president’s executive order, as well as statements released by the White House and prior statements by the president that we are being punished for our editorial choices,” said NPR CEO Katherine Maher in an interview with All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly.
“What we see is at stake here is not just funding to NPR, we also see the risk of funding to all public media, as well as broader concerns around government interference with the free press,” she continued.
“The specifics of how this executive order concerns us have to do with the viability of public media stations. They air hours of NPR programming a day and very often, that is when they have their highest number of listeners, their greatest success during donation drives. If stations are unable to air NPR, we recognize that that could be catastrophic for their ability to continue to survive both editorially and financially.”
Recommended Comments
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.