Latest news with #Kerger
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an hour ago
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Trump Calls on Congress to Erase $1.1 Billion in Public Broadcast Funds
President Trump on Tuesday formally called on Congress to cancel $1.1 billion in funding over the next two years that has been budgeted for public broadcasters like PBS and NPR. The president's rescission request — which asks Congress to cut funding it had already approved for public broadcasters — will need a majority of lawmakers in the House and the Senate to become law. Tuesday's request is the latest step in President Trump's push to defund NPR and PBS. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the end of taxpayer subsidization of PBS and NPR, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,' the order said. 'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.' The president has also called NPR and PBS 'radical left monsters' that Republicans must defund in recent social media posts. Congress has already allocated $535 million for public broadcasters this fiscal year; PBS last week said it is it receiving $325 million this year from the CPB, which accounts for 22% of its funding. PBS and NPR have both recently sued the Trump Administration in an attempt to thwart his plan to defund public broadcasters. The lawsuit filed by PBS last week said the president's executive order violates its First Amendment rights and also claimed President Trump does not have the authority to make decisions over funding for public broadcasters. President Trump, the lawsuit added, was engaging in 'viewpoint discrimination' because he has claimed PBS is biased against him and other Republicans. PBS chief Paula Kerger recently said the president's executive order would spell the end for a number of local news stations. Kerger, in an interview with Katie Couric, lamented that 'there are stations that will go off the air' in rural areas if the president is successful, without projecting a specific number of PBS member stations that would cease to operate. 'I think we'll figure out a way, through digital, to make sure there is some PBS content,' Kerger said. 'But there won't be anyone in the community creating local content. There won't be a place for people to come together.' The post Trump Calls on Congress to Erase $1.1 Billion in Public Broadcast Funds appeared first on TheWrap.
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4 days ago
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PBS Sues Trump Administration Over Push to Defund Public Broadcasters
Public Broadcasting Service on Friday sued the Trump Administration over the president's recent executive order to cancel federal funding for public broadcasters like PBS and National Public Radio. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said the president's executive order violates its First Amendment rights; the filing also claimed President Trump does not have the authority to make decisions over funding for public broadcasters. President Trump, the lawsuit added, was engaging in 'viewpoint discrimination' because he has claimed PBS is biased against him and other Republicans. 'PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,' the lawsuit said.'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.' Friday's lawsuit comes a few days after NPR filed a similar lawsuit. Trump signed an executive order on May 1 calling for the end of taxpayer subsidization of PBS and NPR, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,' the order said. 'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.' The president has also called NPR and PBS 'radical left monsters' that Republicans must defund in recent social media posts. PBS has said it is receiving $325 million this year from the CPB, which accounts for 22% of its funding. Last week, PBS chief Paula Kerger said the executive order would spell the end for a number of local news stations. Kerger, in an interview with Katie Couric, lamented that 'there are stations that will go off the air' in rural areas if the president is successful, without projecting a specific number of PBS member stations that would cease to operate. 'I think we'll figure out a way, through digital, to make sure there is some PBS content,' Kerger said. 'But there won't be anyone in the community creating local content. There won't be a place for people to come together.' On Friday, PBS was joined in its lawsuit by Lakeland PBS, a station that serves rural parts of Minnesota. The station said the president's push to defund PBS posed an 'existential threat' to it. Whether Trump achieves his goal of defunding public broadcasters is to be determined. Congress has already allocated $535 million for public broadcasters this fiscal year, and beyond the NPR and PBS lawsuits, he is facing a lawsuit from CPB over a related issue — his decision to fire three of its board members. The post PBS Sues Trump Administration Over Push to Defund Public Broadcasters appeared first on TheWrap.
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7 days ago
- Business
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PBS disputes Trump's claims of ‘bias' following his executive order targeting the network
The head of PBS is disputing President Donald Trump's claims that the outlet is biased after the president issued an executive order saying that PBS and NPR would no longer receive federal funding. During a conversation with Katie Couric, Paula Kerger, the CEO and president of PBS, was asked about Trump's opposition to her outlet and the executive order ending federal funding for the outlets. "The White House released a document accompanying the executive order criticizing PBS and NPR's coverage of the pandemic and Hunter Biden, among other things," Couric said. "To say that this, you know, that the information that you all are disseminating on PBS and NPR is basically biased. And I'm curious to hear your response to that." Pbs, Npr Blast 'Blatantly Unlawful' Trump Executive Order Halting Public Funding, Vow Challenges Kerger responded saying that she doesn't "understand" the accusations of bias. "In terms of the you know, the COVID origins, we actually did fairly extensive coverage of, you know, the various theories, including the Wuhan lab theory," Kerger said. "So that I don't understand the criticism and always when people say we see bias in your programs and by the way we get that on both sides. You know, I get as many calls from people on the more progressive side as on the conservative side that have issues every night with every night's broadcast. You know, I see this or I see that." Read On The Fox News App She also insisted that confirmation bias is to blame in the current media cycle. "We're in a difficult time right now in our country around news coverage where people forget that news is news and it is not about hearing information that is reaffirming what you think you know," Kerger said. Npr Sues Trump White House Over Executive Order Targeting Public Media Trump's executive order, entitled "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization Of Biased Media," criticized the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels taxpayer money to PBS and NPR. "Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options," the executive order reads. "Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence." On Tuesday, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations sued the Trump administration over the executive order defunding PBS and NPR. "It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. 'But this wolf comes as a wolf,'" the legal brief for the public broadcasters reads. "The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President's view, their news and other content is not 'fair, accurate, or unbiased'." PBS is reportedly not part of the lawsuit, but in a statement Tuesday said that 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." Fox News Digital reached out to PBS for comment, but did not immediately receive a article source: PBS disputes Trump's claims of 'bias' following his executive order targeting the network
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
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PBS Chief Says Trump Defunding Will Have Permanent Local Impact: ‘Stations Would Likely Be Sold, and That'll Be the End'
PBS chief Paula Kerger on Wednesday said President Donald Trump's push to defund public broadcasters would spell the end for a number of local news stations. Kerger, in an interview with Katie Couric, lamented that 'there are stations that will go off the air' in rural areas if the president is successful, without projecting a specific number of PBS member stations that would cease to operate. 'I think we'll figure out a way, through digital, to make sure there is some PBS content,' Kerger said. 'But there won't be anyone in the community creating local content. There won't be a place for people to come together.' She added: 'Once broadcast licenses are gone, they're gone. It's a finite commodity. The stations would likely be sold and that'll be the end.' Trump signed an executive order on May 1 calling for the end of taxpayer subsidization of PBS and NPR, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,' the order said. 'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.' The president has also called NPR and PBS 'radical left monsters' that Republicans must defund in recent social media posts. Whether Trump achieves his goal is to be determined, however. Congress has already allocated $535 million for public broadcasters this fiscal year, and he is facing a lawsuit from CPB over a related issue — his decision to fire three of its board members. You can watch Kerger's full interview with Couric below; her comments mentioned above are made around the 37-minute mark. The post PBS Chief Says Trump Defunding Will Have Permanent Local Impact: 'Stations Would Likely Be Sold, and That'll Be the End' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
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PBS Faces Crisis After Government Pulls Plug on Kids TV Grant
PBS has furloughed 25% of its PBS Kids staff after the U.S. Department of Education abruptly ended a key grant program that's funded educational children's television for over 30 years. Current reported that the move was announced by PBS President Paula Kerger during her keynote speech at the 2025 PBS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, just days after the Department pulled the plug on the Ready To Learn grant program for 2020–2025. That decision halted federal funding to PBS and 44 local public media stations mid-cycle. 'We've been forced to furlough really talented members of our staff at PBS as we figure out how to continue to advance the PBS Kids service,' Kerger said. 'We are going to keep fighting.' The Ready To Learn initiative has historically supported the creation of educational programming aimed at underserved children and families. Its unexpected termination now threatens the production of beloved PBS Kids shows and the jobs behind them—including freelance writers and producers whose contracts rely on episodic production orders. A PBS spokesperson confirmed the scale of the layoffs, citing the funding loss as a critical blow to the network's ability to deliver high-quality, accessible content. 'This decision removes a critical resource that for over 30 years has enabled us to create high-quality, educational PBS Kids content while opening up worlds of possibilities for millions of children across the country.' The Writers Guild of America East called the cuts 'an attack on children and families' and urged Congress to fully restore federal funding for public children's programming. "Our children deserve no less," the union said in a statement. Other grantees, including Minnesota-based TPT, have also cut staff as a result. TPT had received $4.6 million in Ready To Learn funds for the current grant cycle to support its animated series Skillsville. While PBS Kids remains a staple in homes across America, its future—at least in its current form—now hangs in the balance.
