Roving Periscope: Now, Trump blocks federal funding for “biased” public radios
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the world focused on his actions and forensic scrutiny by the media, US President Donald Trump has blocked all federal funding the American public media outlets—PBS and NPR—which he considers are “biased.”
In an executive order he signed on Thursday, he alleged that the two organizations—the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio—were engaged in “biased and partisan news coverage.”
The order instructs the Board of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds the PBS and NPR stations, to “cease direct funding” to the “maximum extent allowed by law,” the media reported on Friday.
The Board should “decline to provide future funding” to the two news organizations.
“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the order said, adding “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
The White House said that funding of these news media is “not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence” and that the media landscape has become more “diverse.”
However, the CPB budget has already been approved by US Congress through 2027.
More than 40 million US citizens listen to NPR public radio each week, and 36 million watch a local television station from the PBS network each month, according to their estimates.
NPR Director Katherine Maher estimated in March that the radio station would receive about USD 120 million from the CPB in 2025, “less than 5 percent of its budget.”
Both organisations have previously said that Trump’s effort to cut funding could have a “devastating impact” on those who rely on them for credible news, including during emergency situations.
Media rights group RSF warned on Friday about “an alarming deterioration in press freedom” in the United States under Trump and “unprecedented” difficulties for independent journalists around the world.
The White House said the two radio organizations receive taxpayer funds through the CPB. Unlike in 1967, when it was established, today’s media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options. Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.
At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage. No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.
The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS. 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 taxpaying citizens.
“I therefore instruct the CPB Board of Directors and all executive departments and agencies to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS,” President Trump said.
The CPB Board shall cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.
To effectuate this directive, the CPB Board shall, before June 30, 2025, revise the 2025 Television Community Service Grants General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria and the 2025 Radio Community Service Grants General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria to prohibit direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS.
To the extent permitted by the 2024 Television Community Service Grants General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria, the 2024 Radio Community Service Grants General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria, and applicable law, the CPB Board shall also prohibit parties subject to these provisions from funding NPR or PBS after the date of this order. In addition, the CPB Board shall take all other necessary steps to minimize or eliminate its indirect funding of NPR and PBS.
The heads of all agencies shall identify and terminate, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, any direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS.
