Trump signs executive order to slash federal funding for PBS, NPR
FILE-NPR (National Public Radio) headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR.
In a social media post on the signing, the White House claimed these news outlets "receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as news," the Associated Press reported.
Pres. Trump cuts funding for NPR and PBS
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that seeks to restrict public funds to NPR. The order claims that NPR and PBS produce "biased and partisan news coverage." FOX 5 Washington DC's Melanie Alnwick further explains.
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Trump’s executive order comes as his administration works to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which were created to model independent news gathering globally in societies that restrict the press.
Trump executive order
Why you should care:
The executive order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies "to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS" and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations, the Associated Press reported.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting releases a statement
What they're saying:
Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), issued a statement Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order on public media:
"CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.
"In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors."
CPB sued Trump
Dig deeper:
According to the Associated Press, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) sued President Donald Trump earlier this week over his action to fire three members of its five-person board, arguing that the president was exceeding his authority and that the move would deprive the board of a select group required to conduct business.
Two weeks ago, the White House told reporters it would ask Congress to cancel funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) as part of a $9.1 billion package of cuts. That package has not yet been sent to Capitol Hill.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Associated Press and a statement from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting about Trump’s executive order. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.