PBS suing Trump administration over defunding, three days after NPR filed similar case
In its lawsuit, PBS relies on similar arguments, saying Trump was overstepping his authority and engaging in 'viewpoint discrimination' because of his claim that PBS' news coverage is biased against conservatives.
'PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,' lawyer Z.W. Julius Chen wrote in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. 'But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.'
It was the latest of many legal actions taken against the administration for its moves, including several by media organizations impacted by Trump's orders.
PBS was joined as a plaintiff by one of its stations, Lakeland PBS, which serves rural areas in northern and central Minnesota. Trump's order is an 'existential threat' to the station, the lawsuit said.
A PBS spokesman said that 'after careful deliberation, PBS reached the conclusion that it was necessary to take legal action to safeguard public television's editorial independence, and to protect the autonomy of PBS member stations.'
Through an executive order earlier this month, Trump told the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to stop funding the two systems. Through the corporation alone, PBS is receiving $325 million this year, most of which goes directly to individual stations.
The White House deputy press secretary, Harrison Fields, said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime.
'Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS,' Fields said. 'The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective.'
PBS, which makes much of the programming used by the stations, said it gets 22% of its revenue directly from the feds. Sixty-one percent of PBS' budget is funded through individual station dues, and the stations raise the bulk of that money through the government.
Trump's order 'would have profound impacts on the ability of PBS and PBS member stations to provide a rich tapestry of programming to all Americans,' Chen wrote.
PBS said the U.S. Department of Education has canceled a $78 million grant to the system for educational programming, used to make children's shows like 'Sesame Street,' 'Clifford the Big Red Dog' and 'Reading Rainbow.'
For Minnesota residents, the order threatens the 'Lakeland Learns' education program and 'Lakeland News,' described in the lawsuit as the only television program in the region providing local news, weather and sports.
Besides Trump, the lawsuit names other administration officials as defendants, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. PBS says its technology is used as a backup for the nationwide wireless emergency alert system.
The administration has fought with several media organizations. Government-run news services like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are struggling for their lives, The Associated Press has battled with the White House over press access and the Federal Communications Commission is investigating television news divisions.
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social .
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Brian Dalton, CEO of Altius commented, "We are pleased to partner with Franco-Nevada on this royalty, which encompasses AGA's world-class Silicon and Merlin gold deposit discoveries in Nevada, as well as extensive areas of prospective surrounding land. The Transaction crystallizes significant value for shareholders while further demonstrating the ability of Altius's Project Generation business to amplify the return profile of its overall royalty investment portfolio. The decision to retain a third of our Silicon royalty interest also provides continuing growth exposure to this emerging gold district, while confirming the addition of precious metals as a long-term, well-balanced component of our shareholder's diversified royalty portfolio. We now look forward to the ability to explore a wider set of capital allocation and deployment opportunities, facilitated by a considerably strengthened balance sheet and liquidity profile, and to further growing shareholder value." Anticipated Benefits to Altius Shareholders Capital Allocation Opportunities Cash, after taxes and fees, expected to increase to more than C$ 360 million (assumes up front and further payment proceeds from this Transaction and also from the recent acquisition of Orogen Royalties Inc. by Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp.) Total liquidity increased to more than C$ 540 million (including C$ 116 million available under a revolving credit facility and C$ 62.5 million potentially available under an accordion feature) Creates enhanced flexibility to evaluate external M&A opportunities while limiting equity level dilution of existing assets and the embedded growth potential of our portfolio Improves ability to opportunistically increase per share exposure to existing royalty interests through share repurchases Retained Royalty Exposure Continuing optionality exposure to gold resource growth1 from current ~16 Moz resource estimate at the Arthur Gold Project, as AGA continues aggressive exploration and delineation drilling programs and the reporting of encouraging results Achieves rebalance of commodity exposures while confirming precious metals and another tier-1 quality royalty as components of Altius's long-term, diversified portfolio. For further information, please see the updated Altius corporate presentation posted to the website at 1 See Expanded Silicon Project Update presentation Financial and Legal Advisors Cormark Securities Inc. is acting as financial advisor to Altius. Stikeman Elliott LLP is acting as legal counsel to Altius and ARC. About Altius Altius's strategy is to create per share growth through a diversified portfolio of royalty assets that relate to long life, high margin operations. This strategy further provides shareholders with exposures that are well aligned with global growth trends including increasing electricity based market share within energy usage, global infrastructure build and refurbishment growth, increased EAF based steelmaking, steadily increasing agricultural fertilizer requirements and the enhanced appetite for financial asset diversification through precious metals ownership. 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Altius does not undertake to update any forward-looking information contained herein except in accordance with securities regulations. View source version on Contacts For further information, please contact:Flora WoodEmail: Fwood@ Tel: 1.877.576.2209Direct: 1.416.346.9020 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
