Latest news with #KUER
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NPR sues President Trump over executive order to cut the station's federal funding
Following President Donald Trump's executive order to end federal funding for NPR and PBS, NPR has filed a lawsuit against the president. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington on Tuesday morning. NPR's lawsuit says Trump's executive order violates the Constitution and their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. It was filed by NPR and other public radio organizations including Colorado Public Radio and Aspen Public Radio. 'The president has no authority under the Constitution to take such actions,' the lawsuit said, according to The New York Times. 'On the contrary, the power of the purse is reserved to Congress.' The White House did not immediately comment on the lawsuit. Earlier this month, the president signed an executive order ordering the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which backs NPR and PBS, to freeze all funding to those organizations. The CPB annually spends over $500 million on public radio and TV stations. NPR's lawsuit says that Trump's order 'also threatens the existence of a public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information,' according to NBC. The order 'expressly aims to punish and control Plaintiffs' news coverage and other speech the Administration deems 'biased,'' wrote attorneys for NPR, according to NBC. 'It cannot stand.' According to KUER, public media funded by the CPB reaches about 99% of the U.S. population. There are around 42 million people who listen to public radio programming each week across all platforms. Both PBS and NPR are partially funded by the CPB. Each year, Congress appropriates funds to the CPB, which the board then distributes to over 1,500 media stations in the U.S. through community service grants, as previously reported by the Deseret News. KUER and Utah Public Radio are both NPR member stations that will be impacted by the cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Utah Public Radio is a nonprofit public radio station which houses a team of journalists who produce stories about Utahns. The station also broadcasts national and international news from providers such as the BBC. The station is located on Utah State University's campus in Logan. According to KSL TV, around 15% of UPR's funding comes from the federally funded CPB; the rest of the funding comes from private donors, grants and Utah State University. UPR station manager Tom Williams said that the funding cuts will negatively affect the station, but will not be fatal. A big portion of funding for KUER comes from listener support, business sponsors and foundation supporters, but federal funding from the CPB helps the station be able to maintain news bureaus in southern and northern Utah, broadcast across almost the entire state, operate without a paywall, and broadcast public service announcements for local nonprofits and community organizations. KUER reaches around 110,000 listeners every week. If KUER lost federal funding, the station would still be able to broadcast, but its services such as local reporting, emergency alerts and legislative coverage would be impacted. One of the major arguments made by conservatives against public media is the claim that stations such as NPR and PBS are biased and left-leaning. In his executive order, Trump said that the stations were 'biased' and that taxpayer money should go to 'fair, accurate, unbiased and nonpartisan news coverage,' according to The New York Times. In a House subcommittee hearing examining PBS and NPR, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said, 'NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, Left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives, who generally look down on and judge rural America. The 'news' that these entities produce is either resented — or, increasingly, tuned out — by most of the hard-working Americans who are forced to pay for it. They no longer view NPR and PBS as trusted news sources.' Some Republicans, such as Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., have also called the station propaganda, as previously reported by the Deseret News. 'I don't even recognize the station anymore. It's not news,' Comer said. 'I feel like it's propaganda. I feel like there's disinformation every time I listen to NPR and, you know, a media entity like MSNBC or Huffington Post that, in my opinion, consistently spews disinformation. They can do that, that they're a private company, but NPR gets federal funds.' Then-NPR editor Uri Berliner told The Free Press last year that when he looked at the voter registrations for NPR's Washington, D.C., bureau, he found 87 registered Democrats and zero Republicans. He left NPR after being suspended for his op-ed in The Free Press, which he then joined as a senior editor. According to The New York Times, the CEOs of NPR and PBS have rejected claims of bias and argue that their stations are a 'crucial source of accurate information and educational programming for millions of Americans.' Some Republicans have argued that these stations just aren't needed anymore, specifically the children's programming provided by PBS. 'Now we have 1,000 channels,' said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., according to Politico. 'Why are we funding this (channel) when we have a $2 trillion deficit?' Others have echoed the argument that it is unnecessary to continue to fund public television and/or radio when there is so much other content and competition out there. The leadership of NPR and PBS have argued that the services provided by their broadcasting stations are 'crucial,' adding that they are the only non-paywalled outlets providing these services in some rural areas as previously reported by the Deseret News. 'In places that serve more rural, distributed, or lower income communities, that dollar goes even further — public radio is very often the only news service in places where market economics does not support the expense of local news,' said NPR CEO Katherine Maher.
Axios
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Hill Highlights: Making "Utahn" permanent and glass recycling
Have you ever been erroneously referred to as a "Utahan?" The big picture: State Sen. Dan McCay (R-Riverton) is so tired of it that he's sponsoring a bill that would make "Utahn" the official state demonym. What they're saying: "While it may seem trivial, I think how we're known and how people see Utahns is important, and we want to make sure they spell it correctly," he said at a legislative committee hearing this week, per KUER. What we're watching: A bill to remove obstacles to deport immigrants living in the country illegally with misdemeanor offenses has been changed to concentrate on violent crimes. HB 226, sponsored by state Rep. Candice Pierucci (R-Herriman), previously sought to extend all class A misdemeanor maximum sentences by one day (364 to 365 days). A full year of incarceration could trigger deportation for an immigrant, according to federal law. HB 177, which has received bipartisan support, would direct the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control to study how to ramp up glass recycling. It's making its way through the Senate now. 💬 Hill Highlights is a weekly feature to recap what's going during Utah's legislative session.
