Trump doesn’t have power to cut off public broadcasters, despite order – Las Vegas Sun

Trump doesn’t have power to cut off public broadcasters, despite order, Federal funding a fraction of budget for PBS, NPR

BEHIND THE NEWS

Editor’s note: “Behind the News” is the product of Sun staff assisted by the Sun’s AI lab, which includes a variety of tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT.

PBS and NPR leaders have strongly contested President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut public funding for both organizations.

Paula Kerger, CEO of PBS, described the order as a threat to their educational programming mission, stating that they are “exploring all options” to continue supporting their member stations and American audiences.

Trump justified the order, which he signed Thursday with claims of biased reporting from the public broadcasters. NPR’s leadership has also indicated they plan to challenge this decision. How much do the outlets receive? PBS and its member stations receive about 15% of their total revenue from federal sources, primarily through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is funded by Congress [6][7][16][20].

NPR itself receives a much smaller share directly — about 1% of its budget comes from federal grants, with an additional 8-10% of funding reaching NPR member stations via CPB grants, which those stations may use to purchase NPR programming [2][3][6][7][20].

The CPB’s annual federal appropriation is about $535 million, most of which is distributed to local public radio and television stations [3][14][20].

Can Trump cut funding without the approval of Congress?

No, the president cannot unilaterally cut funding. While Trump signed an executive order instructing the CPB to halt federal funding to NPR and PBS “to the fullest extent permissible by law,” the actual appropriation of funds to the CPB is determined by Congress [4][5][7][15][20].

The CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress and funded on a two-year cycle to insulate it from political interference [5][20]. Any permanent change to its funding would require congressional approval.

The executive order may face legal challenges, and its immediate impact is unclear since much of the CPB’s budget is already allocated for upcoming years [5][7][20].

The majority of both networks’ budgets come from private donors, sponsors and local fundraising [6][14][20].

Allegations of bias and content

The Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers allege that NPR and PBS promote “left-wing” or “woke” perspectives, particularly in their news coverage [1][3][5][7][15][20].

The White House has cited coverage of topics such as COVID-19, the Biden family and social issues as evidence of alleged bias [5].

Congressional DOGE hearing

In March, NPR and PBS CEOs testified before the House Oversight Committee’s Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee in a hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. The hearing centered on accusations from House Republicans that both public broadcasters exhibit systemic bias against conservatives and misuse taxpayer funds.

The people who founded the United States were trying to leave behind that entanglement and corruption. They embraced the First Amendment to keep the government out of religious life and to keep religion out of government. For taxpayers to fund a religious school would pull us back toward tyranny.

Republican criticisms

■ House Republicans accused NPR and PBS of being “radical left-wing echo chambers,” alleging biased news coverage and promoting progressive content to children[21, 22].

■Specific grievances included NPR’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story, COVID-19 origins coverage, and the “Russian collusion hoax.” NPR CEO Katherine Maher acknowledged editorial mistakes, while PBS CEO Paula Kerger clarified that controversial content was produced by local affiliates, not broadcast nationally[21, 22].

■Republicans questioned taxpayer subsidies for what they described as partisan media serving a narrow audience[21, 22].

Democratic response

Democrats largely mocked the hearing, calling it a political stunt to deflect attention from Trump administration controversies[21, 22].

History of PBS and NPR

PBS was founded in 1969 following the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which established the CPB to fund noncommercial, educational programming [9][18].

NPR began broadcasting in 1971, launching with “All Things Considered.”

Its format was a departure from commercial radio, focusing on in-depth reporting and storytelling [10].

Both organizations were created to provide educational, cultural and public affairs programming not typically offered by commercial broadcasters [9][10][18].

What type of programming do the networks offer?

■ News and public affairs: “PBS News- Hour,” “Frontline,” “All Things Considered,”

“Morning Edition”

■Educational: “Sesame Street,” “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” “NOVA,”

“Nature,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”

■ Arts and culture: “Masterpiece,”

“Great Performances,” music and history documentaries

■Local and emergency coverage: Many stations provide local news and serve as critical emergency information sources, especially in rural areas [14][20]

Why is programming valuable?

■Educational impact: PBS is regarded as America’s largest classroom, offering free, high-quality educational programming for children and adults [11][19].

■Civic engagement: Both networks provide noncommercial news coverage, fostering an informed citizenry and supporting democracy [11][19].

■Cultural enrichment: They offer arts, science and cultural programming that is often unavailable elsewhere, especially as commercial media reduces such content [11][14][19].

■Community service: Public broadcasting is especially vital in rural and underserved areas, where commercial media presence is limited [2][14][20].

■ Emergency information: Local stations play a key role in disseminating urgent information during disasters [14][20].

Educational and informational analysis

Public media’s model — a mix of federal, local and private funding — ensures broad access to educational and civic programming at a very low per-capita cost (about $1.60 a year per American, compared with much higher rates in countries like Germany or the UK) [14].

NPR and PBS programming is widely used as a model for effective educational storytelling and civic education, as they prioritize communication and engagement over commercial imperatives [12].

Loss of federal funding would disproportionately affect local and rural stations, potentially leaving millions without access to educational and emergency services, and reducing diversity in news coverage [2][14][20].