Donald Trump has signed an executive order to end the federal funding of “biased media” outlets National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
The order, signed by the US President late on Thursday (May 1), directed the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) – which sends funds to NPR and PBS – to “cease federal funding” for the two publications.
Seemingly accusing them of having a left-wing bias, the order states: “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.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.”
Per Consequence, it also demanded the CPB revise its 2025 provisions to explicitly halt funding to NPR and PBS, direct all federal agencies to terminate existing grants and contracts with them, as well as instruct the FCC and other relevant bodies to investigate the outlets for potential unlawful discrimination.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Thursday night that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to halt all direct federal funding to the nation’s two major public broadcasting networks – the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public… pic.twitter.com/Yh9eiMNhnh
— PBS News (@NewsHour) May 2, 2025
As per The Guardian, public media are priming to fight the executive order, and, in a statement given on Friday (May 2), PBS said it was “exploring all options”.
“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,” Paula Kerger, the president and CEO of PBS, said.
“We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.”
The White House has also indicated that it will be asking Congress to rescind funding for the CPB as part of a $9.1billion package of budget cuts.
Previously, NPR received roughly 1 per cent of its funding directly from the federal government, while its 1,300 member stations get an average of 8 to 10 per cent of their support through the CPB.
Meanwhile, PBS and all its affiliated stations relied on the CPB for around 15 per cent of their revenue, with media representatives already warning the slice to the federal budget would disproportionately affect rural outlets and areas currently underserved by commercial broadcasters.
Trump has previously dubbed the media the “enemy of the people”, and previously took to the Truth Social platform to write: “Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left ‘monsters’ that so badly hurt our country!”
In other news, Trump sent a barb towards Taylor Swift earlier this week over the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss, reportedly commenting: “I was there along with Taylor Swift — how did that work out?” after she was booed by the crowd.
