PBS Sues Trump Administration Over Funding Cuts

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on May 30 sued President Donald Trump and several federal departments over an executive order directing officials to cut funding to PBS and National Public Radio (NPR), which rely in part on taxpayer money to operate.

“Our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS,” the lawsuit from PBS, filed in federal court in Washington, states.

Trump on May 1 in an executive order directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to cut direct funding for NPR and PBS.

The president said at the time he wanted to end taxpayer money from supporting “biased media” and said that no media outlet “has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies.”

White House officials have pointed to how PBS featured a drag queen on a children’s program and produced a movie that positively portrays a teenager transitioning to a different gender.

PBS lawyers said that Congress through multiple laws have protected federal funds for public television by filtering the money through CPB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, and noted that in one law Congress specified that there was a prohibition against any federal officials or departments exercising direction, supervision, or control over the corporation or its grantees.

In addition to violating the law, the order runs afoul of the Constitution’s First Amendment because of how it targets PBS over its programming, PBS lawyers said, describing it as “blatant viewpoint discrimination.”

NPR offered similar arguments in a suit lodged earlier in the week.

“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 PBS spokesperson told news outlets in a statement.

The White House on Friday offered the same statement it issued in response to the NPR filing.

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime. Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS,” a White House spokesman said. “The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective.”

CPB President Patricia Harrison has said that the organization is “firmly committed to our congressional mandate to ensure funding for local communities to receive accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news and information” and declined further comment because of being named as a defendant in the cases.