Latest news with #PaulaKerger
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PBS sues Trump administration in wake of calls to strip funding
PBS is suing President Trump's administration on First Amendment grounds, arguing the president is trying to pull funding the from the broadcaster because of editorial coverage he disagrees with. The suit filed Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., accused the president of trying to 'upend public television' and argues the law 'forbids' him from pulling funding to it and other public broadcast outlets. PBS's suit follows a similar lawsuit filed earlier this week by NPR, which similarly argued Trump's executive order targeting funding to public media 'violates the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause by disregarding Congress's express commands.' In a statement to The Hill on Friday, a spokesperson for PBS said, '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.' Trump and his allies have long attacked NPR and PBS over their funding, some of which comes from taxpayer dollars but a larger portion of which is derived from private donations and member stations. On Capitol Hill, a push among Republicans to strip federal funding from public broadcasters is gaining steam, though some lawmakers expressed skepticism. At a hearing last month, PBS president Paula Kerger defended the outlet's editorial strategy and funding model, arguing the network provides vital services to Americans and particularly children through educational programming. But Trump, in his executive order that has now sparked a pair of lawsuits, argued PBS and NPR are biased against his agenda in their news coverage and are undeserving of federal dollars. 'No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize,' his executive order on the matter reads. 'Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax paying citizens.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
4 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
PBS sues Trump administration over funding cuts
The nonprofit Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and one of its local affiliates on Friday said they sued the Trump administration over the executive order seeking to cease all federal funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and PBS. Why it matters: The lawsuit follows a similar complaint filed by NPR earlier this week. PBS CEO Paula Kerger had alluded to the broadcaster's willingness to take legal action in an interview with Axios last month, saying she would would "vigorously" defend PBS' board from any political interference. State of play: The complaint, which was filed in a U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., argues the president doesn't have the authority to serve "as the arbiter of the content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS." It argues the president lacks the power to influence funding decisions made by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a non-government entity. (CPB allocates around $535 million in federal funding annually to NPR and PBS.) It also says the president's executive order violates PBS' First Amendment rights. With the complaint, PBS is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from Trump's executive order and asks the court to declare that the order violates the Constitution. What they're saying:"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," a spokesperson said. Catch up quick: Last month, the CPB sued Trump and several administration officials for attempting to fire three of the five members of its board and asked a judge for a temporary restraining order. A District Court judge ordered both sides to file arguments in response to CPB's request for a temporary restraining order that would pause the firings while the case was deliberated, per NPR. By the numbers: PBS receives around 15% of its total revenue from the federal government. The rest comes from public support and corporate sponsors. Yes, but: Like NPR, PBS' local member stations are generally more reliant on federal funds than the national PBS organization. PBS, in its lawsuit, argues stripping federal funding would ultimately "upend public television."
The Hill
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
PBS sues Trump administration in wake of calls to strip funding
PBS is suing President Trump's administration on First Amendment grounds, arguing the president is trying to pull funding the from the broadcaster because of editorial coverage he disagrees with. The suit filed Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., accused the president of trying to 'upend public television' and argues the law 'forbids' him from pulling funding to it and other public broadcast outlets. PBS's suit follows a similar lawsuit filed earlier this week by NPR, which similarly argued Trump's executive order targeting funding to public media 'violates the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause by disregarding Congress's express commands.' In a statement to The Hill on Friday, a spokesperson for PBS said, '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.' Trump and his allies have long attacked NPR and PBS over their funding, some of which comes from taxpayer dollars but a larger portion of which is derived from private donations and member stations. On Capitol Hill, a push among Republicans to strip federal funding from public broadcasters is gaining steam, though some lawmakers expressed skepticism. At a hearing last month, PBS president Paula Kerger defended the outlet's editorial strategy and funding model, arguing the network provides vital services to Americans and particularly children through educational programming. But Trump, in his executive order that has now sparked a pair of lawsuits, argued PBS and NPR are biased against his agenda in their news coverage and are undeserving of federal dollars. 'No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize,' his executive order on the matter reads. 'Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax paying citizens.'
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
PBS Sues Trump Over Order to Cut Funding
PBS sued President Trump on Friday to block an executive order that would cut federal funding for public television and radio, arguing that it was unconstitutional. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by PBS and a public TV station in Minnesota, says that Mr. Trump's order violates laws that 'forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.' '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,' the lawsuit says. 'That is blatant viewpoint discrimination.' The White House had no immediate comment. Mr. Trump signed an executive order this month demanding that the taxpayer-backed Corporation for Public Broadcasting cut federal funding from NPR and PBS, arguing that those organizations were politically biased. Both organizations pushed back vehemently: NPR sued to block the executive order this week, and Paula Kerger, the chief executive of PBS, called it 'blatantly unlawful.' The order, PBS says, will 'upend public television,' which has aired shows like 'Sesame Street,' 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' and 'Frontline' for decades. About 16 percent of PBS's budget of $373.4 million annual budget comes directly from grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which spends more than $500 million each year on public media. PBS's lawsuit says that Mr. Trump's order also jeopardizes the roughly 61 percent of its budget that comes from local station dues, arguing that the White House ban on indirect funding of PBS would apply to local stations. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives its funding from Congress two years in advance to insulate it from short-term political priorities. A PBS spokesman said in a statement that the network '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.' In its lawsuit, PBS argues that Congress — not Mr. Trump — has the power to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The lawsuit also says that the First Amendment prohibits the president from deciding which organizations should receive funding based on the views they express. Mr. Trump's executive order is one of several efforts taken by Republicans to weaken public media. The White House has signaled that it will ask Congress to rescind funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and it has attempted to fire members of the corporation's board of directors. There are also efforts underway in Congress to pass bills that would take away funding for NPR and PBS.
Axios
6 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Trump asking Congress to help with $9.4 billion in DOGE cuts
The White House is planning to send a $9.4 billion rescissions package to Congress next Tuesday, giving lawmakers the opportunity to codify some of the potential cuts identified by DOGE, according to an administration official. Why it matters: The White House wants a big public fight over funding for NPR, PBS and foreign aid. They are likely to get it. The formal transmission of the package to Congress will start a 45-day clock for lawmakers to claw back funding that has previously been appropriated. The future of NPR, PBS, the USAID and United States Agency of International Development are hanging in the balance. Trump has been clear that he wants to defund those organizations, but he may need Republicans in Congress to supply the votes to cut off their money supply. Zoom in: The proposed cuts would trim $1.1 billion from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and $8.3 billion in foreign assistance, from both USAID and the African Development Foundation. NPR and PBS receive the bulk of their funding from nongovernmental sources, but Corporation for Public Broadcasting allocates about $535 million in federal funding annually to them. The Office of Management and Budget has identified foreign aid grants that it's convinced will bolster its case for cutting funding for USAID and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Officials will identify grants like $882,000 for social media mentorship in Serbia and Belarus or $1 million for voter ID in Haiti to make their case against USAID, according to an administration official. Zoom out: On May 1, Trump signed an executive order to end "taxpayer subsidization of biased media," which directed the CPB to end its funding for NPR and PBS, the country's two biggest public broadcasters. PBS CEO Paula Kerger told Axios at News Shapers event April 30 that she was prepared to "vigorously" defend the independent broadcaster's board. NPR sued the White House on Tuesday, citing the First Amendment and alleging Trump's effort to starve them of their funding amounted to a "clear violation of the Constitution. NPR's CEO Katherine Maher was grilled by GOP lawmakers at a hearing in March including 2020 tweets where she described Trump as a "racist" and "sociopath." Speaker Mike Johnson told Axios back in April that it was fair for elected representatives to evaluate whether something is a "good use of taxpayer dollars." The intrigue: Trump's efforts to shutter the U.S. Institute of Peace have been challenged in the courts, with a federal judge ruling last week that the ousted president had a right to return after DOGE staffers took over the building earlier this
