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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PBS sues Trump White House over executive order to cut funding
PBS filed a federal lawsuit Friday asking a court to block the May 1 executive order by the Trump White House to cut off funding to public media, calling the move a violation of the 1st Amendment. The suit from the service that airs "Sesame Street," Ken Burns documentaries and the "PBS NewsHour" for free to millions of American homes, said that Congress has repeatedly protected PBS from political interference by filtering its funds through the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which is not a federal agency. "The [executive order] makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech." NPR, which also receives CPB funding, filed a suit on similar grounds on Tuesday. Read more: PBS and NPR on edge over FCC letter and Trump budget scrutiny The White House alleges that PBS has "zero tolerance for non-leftist viewpoints." Trump's order called for an end to government dollars for CPB, the taxpayer-backed entity that has provided funding to NPR and PBS for decades through Congress. Trump called the public media outlets 'left wing propaganda.' The White House press release announcing the order — titled "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media" — contained 19 bullet points citing news coverage and other content by NPR and PBS that prompted the action. The PBS suit says the data the White House cited to support that view are inaccurate and misrepresent the balanced range of viewpoints presented on PBS programs. The White House has also asserted that government funding of broadcast media is no longer necessary in an era when consumers have a vast array of platforms for information and entertainment. PBS was founded when most of the country only had access to the three commercial broadcast networks and a handful of other TV stations. PBS' suit also says that, regardless of any policy disagreements the administration may have over the role of public television, "our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS." Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
PBS sues Trump White House over executive order to cut funding
PBS filed a federal lawsuit Friday asking a court to block the May 1 executive order by the Trump White House to cut off funding to public media, calling the move a violation of the 1st Amendment. The suit from the service that airs 'Sesame Street,' Ken Burns documentaries and the 'PBS NewsHour' for free to millions of American homes, said that Congress has repeatedly protected PBS from political interference by filtering its funds through the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which is not a federal agency. 'The [executive order] makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech.' NPR, which also receives CPB funding, filed a suit on similar grounds on Tuesday. The White House alleges that PBS has 'zero tolerance for non-leftist viewpoints.' Trump's order called for an end to government dollars for CPB, the taxpayer-backed entity that has provided funding to NPR and PBS for decades through Congress. Trump called the public media outlets 'left wing propaganda.' The White House press release announcing the order — titled 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media' — contained 19 bullet points citing news coverage and other content by NPR and PBS that prompted the action. The PBS suit says the data the White House cited to support that view are inaccurate and misrepresent the balanced range of viewpoints presented on PBS programs. The White House has also asserted that government funding of broadcast media is no longer necessary in an era when consumers have a vast array of platforms for information and entertainment. PBS was founded when most of the country only had access to the three commercial broadcast networks and a handful of other TV stations. PBS' suit also says that, regardless of any policy disagreements the administration may have over the role of public television, 'our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NPR CEO rips Trump order to defund as ‘retaliation,' insists media outlet is 'non-partisan'
NPR CEO Katherine Maher assured PBS on Wednesday that her outlet is "non-partisan" following President Donald Trump's latest executive order seeking to defund the station. In an interview on "PBS NewsHour," the NPR boss trashed Trump's executive order to "cease Federal funding for NPR," calling it "viewpoint discrimination" and saying that Trump is just taking it out on NPR because it goes against his views. "And so, it is a textbook example of viewpoint discrimination from a First Amendment standpoint," she said, adding, "Essentially, by blocking funding to NPR and PBS, it is a form of retaliation against our organizations for airing editorial programming that the president might disagree with." Boise State Public Radio Chief Fears Service Cuts If Trump Funding Ban Succeeds Trump signed the order earlier this month which mandated that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies stop funding NPR and other public media outlets like PBS. The text of the order read, "NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers' money, as President Trump has stated." Read On The Fox News App Maher's outlet, joined by three public Colorado stations — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT — filed a lawsuit against the order in federal court on Tuesday. In a statement, the NPR CEO said, "The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment's protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press." 5 Things Veteran Npr Editor Exposed In Stunning Criticism Of Own Employer's Liberal Bias During the PBS interview on Wednesday, Maher suggested that Trump's executive order violated "safeguards" established by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 that keep "public media independent from government influence." PBS has not joined NPR's suit but said it is weighing legal options, among others. "PBS is considering every option, including taking legal action, to allow our organization to continue to provide essential programming and services to member stations and all Americans," PBS spokesman Jeremy Gaines said earlier this week. PBS NewsHour anchor Geoff Bennett asked Maher about accusations that NPR promotes a liberal bias, bringing up Republicans' claims, as well as those of former NPR editor Uri Berliner. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Berliner, who quit NPR in 2024, blew the whistle on the outlet in an essay for The Free Press that same year, slamming NPR for its "absence of viewpoint diversity." Maher responded to the critiques, declaring, "Well, first of all, I respond by saying we're a non-partisan news organization. We seek to be able to provide a range of different viewpoints in terms of who we bring on air, the stories that we tell." "My view is that is a mischaracterization of our work. We do not seek to favor any political party at all. We seek to ensure that Americans have a wide range of perspectives available to them," she added. In response to Maher's comments, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital: "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) 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. 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."Original article source: NPR CEO rips Trump order to defund as 'retaliation,' insists media outlet is 'non-partisan'
CNBC
4 days ago
- Politics
- CNBC
High school sports at PBS stations could be at risk with potential federal funding cuts
High school sports games and related coverage have become some of the most popular local programs on PBS stations across the U.S., especially in states without professional sports. PBS stations in states like South Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska have spent years bulking up on high school sports programming — mainly championship coverage — in a bid to broaden their local offerings. The content has led to a bigger audience for public broadcasters. Live sports on every level tend to boost TV and streaming viewership, and that's especially true when hometown athletes are being aired to local communities. In many cases, it's even led to increased donor support, according to interviews with station executives. But that programming is at risk if the federal government cuts its funding to PBS. "The Friday night lights phenomenon is real in the South, and we have all these viewers that look forward to that like you would an NFL game," said Bert Wesley Huffman, president and CEO of Georgia Public Broadcasting. Select regular-season high school football games are aired on GPB, in addition to other sports championships. "We've watched a lot of our players go on to the professional leagues," Huffman added. PBS television stations are funded by their state governments, as well as by federal subsidies and private donors and sponsors But President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month to cut federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the nonprofit corporation that stewards the government's investment for NPR, PBS and other services — alleging "biased and partisan news coverage." On Thursday, Politico reported the White House plans to soon send a "rescissions" bill to Congress, which includes cuts to NPR and PBS. This week NPR, which was also included in the executive order, sued Trump in response, arguing the order violates First Amendment protections of speech and the press. A spokesperson for PBS, which had earlier sued Trump over his move to fire some of its officials, said in a statement that "PBS is considering every option, including taking legal action, to allow our organization to continue to provide essential programming and services to member stations and all Americans." A White House spokesman said in a statement that "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." While the conversation surrounding PBS has largely focused on nationally aired shows, like children's program "Sesame Street" or news mainstays like "Frontline" and "PBS News Hour," locally produced content makes up the majority of the lineup for PBS stations. "I think the challenge is so much of the debate ends up being around news [programming], which is an important part of what we do but is less than 10% of it," said Paula Kerger, PBS CEO and president. "I think most people don't realize all of our stations are locally owned, operated and governed. They're run by people who love their communities and understand them really well. They decide everything that's on their air." In a show of how far local sports broadcasting can go, one of the first TV profiles of breakout WNBA star Caitlin Clark took place on Iowa's local PBS station in 2020 when she was making a run at a state championship in her home state. Now, years later, Clark has helped lead the WNBA to record ratings nationally. Iowa began broadcasting girls' high school sports championships, including basketball, more than 10 years ago, said Andrew Batt, the executive director and general manager of the station. "Girls' sports weren't being produced or broadcast consistently," Batt said. "We found an underserved audience there at a time prior to the explosion of interest in women's athletics." While Iowa has a number of businesses that underwrite its sports coverage, a loss of any federal or state funding "would seriously undermine our ability to have the staff and the resources" to produce sports programming, Batt said. Other state PBS executives said they and their viewers are concerned about potential cuts in funding. "It would be a disaster for us; it would be an absolute disaster," said Courtney Pledger, the executive director and CEO of Arkansas PBS. "If we lost CPB funding, sports would probably go and we would be limited in the things that we can make and the things that we could do." Arkansas' PBS receives about 40% of its funding from the state legislature, which mostly covers salaries and benefits and a small part of operations. The remainder of the operations are funded by federal subsidies or donations. Nebraska Public Media gets about 16% of its budget from the federal government. The station offers a variety of local high school and other sports programming, and is particularly known for its volleyball coverage. "One of the very first stations I visited was Nebraska, and for them, sports coverage is big time. One of the first big HD mobile trucks I actually saw was owned by Nebraska," Kerger said. Kerger also noted that some stations would be more affected than others if they were to lose federal subsidies. For those that count less than 10% of their budget from the federal government, the loss in funding would be "a hit," but for others that could lose up to 40% of their budget, "it's more existential." "I was speaking with someone today who said she has a staff of 18, and if they lose funding, they'd have to cut 10 people," Kerger said. While the executive order from the Trump administration has drawn concerns, budget fights are not new for most stations. "I've been doing this for over 36 years," said Julie Overgaard, executive director of South Dakota Public Broadcasting. "I've been through more budget funding fights than I like to admit." Overgaard added that "even in a very red state," budget cuts have been unpopular, largely because of the public outcry about sports cuts. SDPB recently faced a potential $3.6 million budget cut proposed by former Gov. Kristi Noem — who is now secretary of Homeland Security. In March, members of the legislature's main budget committee voted against the cut. Republican South Dakota state Rep. Liz May reportedly vowed to keep SDPB funding safe "because I have got to watch basketball." SDPB receives $2.2 million in federal funding, and $5.6 million from the state. While the state dollars cover most of the infrastructure costs, the money that comes through the CPB is what pays for most production costs and local coverage, according to Overgaard. The broadcaster has been airing high school sports championships for more than 20 years, and other state directors credit Overgaard as their inspiration for adding sports content. Pledger of Arkansas said she ended up talking to Overgaard at an event years ago about high school sports. "I thought that is something that would really work in Arkansas. It turned out to be one of those things that everybody loves, but isn't necessarily a moneymaking venture so commercial networks aren't going to really commit to high school sports," Pledger said. PBS stations often see a spike in viewership during games. The stations also air the games via streaming and on their websites outside of state lines, allowing extended family members to watch. Overgaard said streaming hasn't hurt the networks. In some instances, traditional TV broadcasts are the best option for viewers in rural areas that still don't have broadband connections — and in other instances the addition of digital platforms has just meant more viewers who wouldn't normally watch PBS, she said. "I joke that some times of the year public broadcasting is the only thing on in every South Dakota bar," Overgaard said.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The U.S. Has Ordered Mass Deportations Before. Now History Is Repeating Itself.
Bettmann Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take The following article is adapted from PBS NewsHour. It is published here with permission as part of a collaboration between PBS' Student Reporting Labs and Teen Vogue. The Trump administration's immigration policies have created fear and uncertainty for many communities, including people who lived through an earlier crackdown. Santiago Campos of our journalism training program, PBS News Student Reporting Labs, talked to his family members about how they view this moment. Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: Now a more personal take on how the Trump administration's immigration policies have created fear and uncertainty for many communities. Amna Nawaz: Santiago Campos of the "News Hour's" journalism training program, the Student Reporting Labs, spoke with his family members who lived through an earlier government crackdown. Santiago Campos: In the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration deported hundreds of thousands of Mexican immigrants, both documented and undocumented, as well as American citizens of Mexican descent. This included my grandfather, Daniel Campos. He and his family were among those deported to Mexico. His mother was undocumented, but he was a U.S.-born citizen. Daniel Campos, Grandfather of Santiago Campos: Why they were deported, I don't know, but I know they were deported. And we shouldn't have been. We were U.S. citizens. The powers to be were white, so they could basically do just whatever they wanted with us. Santiago Campos: At one point, a confrontation with a Border Patrol agent would lead Daniel's mother, my great-grandmother, to agree to a deal. Daniel Campos: The entire time that they had been deported, my mother was to try and get her to be an informant for the Border Patrol. Santiago Campos: My great-grandmother did succumb to this pressure, agreeing to inform Border Patrol of the whereabouts of other undocumented migrants. In exchange, she wouldn't be deported any further and would eventually get naturalized. These sorts of encounters with Border Patrol instilled fear that persisted to the next generation. My father, who was born in the U.S., showed me around the colonias where he grew up. These were unincorporated communities near the border, primarily inhabited by undocumented migrants and their families, with very few resources and in poor living conditions. Marco Campos, Father of Santiago Campos: This was originally a one-bedroom shack built out of discarded political campaign billboards, but we lived in a community of poor undocumented immigrants. We didn't experience the wrongful deportations. We still grew up in a community where that was still a very real threat for us. At least we felt that it was still a real threat because we knew what our family had gone through. Santiago Campos: When my father was young, in the 1980s and '90s, the process to cross-Border Patrol checkpoints often didn't involve showing papers. They would simply ask you whether or not you were a citizen. Marco Campos: What if one day I say yes and they don't believe me? Because it was purely based on what you looked like. We were poor. We were brown. We didn't have any kind of identity documents that said that we were from here. Mentally, it was a constant threat that we had to encounter any time we traveled out of this area. You didn't grow up in this kind of a community. You didn't grow up with a similar close experience of the family deportations. And so I think it's easier for your generation, when you hear something like mass deportation, to think, well, that couldn't happen to me because I'm an American citizen. Daniel Campos: But for someone who has experienced it and for someone who lived it, it's not far-fetched today we could wind up like that again. Santiago Campos: Despite these struggles, my family has successfully escaped poverty and built better lives for themselves. As anti-immigrant policies surge again, I and many others may need to reconsider how they could affect us. For PBS News Student Reporting Labs, I'm Santiago Campos in Elsa, Texas. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue Want more Teen Vogue immigration coverage? The School Shooting That History Forgot I Was Kidnapped After Coming to the U.S. Seeking Asylum Ronald Reagan Sucked, Actually The White Supremacist 'Great Replacement Theory' Has Deep Roots
