The Assault on Public Media: Trump’s Decline of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board of Directors and the Corporation’s Claims
She believes that public media should be able to stay relevant because of the wide variety of coverage of different issues.
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” the nation’s primary public broadcasters. News coverage by PBS and NPR contains a left-wing bias, according to Trump. The federal funding for NPR and PBS is appropriated by Congress.
“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the executive order says. “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens.”
President Trump opened up a new front in his assault on public media on Monday, asserting that he was removing three of the five board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The corporation filed a lawsuit on Tuesday morning, claiming that Trump does not have the power to take actions.
The NPR-PBS Networks: Lobbying the CPB to End to Federal Funding for NPR and PBS, and a Case Study involving a Performer in Drag
PBS offers a heavy amount of educational fare; NPR relies more on news and music. Both provide locally grounded content and reach more than 99% of the population, at no cost. And in many states and communities, the stations serve as a key component of emergency and disaster response systems.
The networks say they have been encouraged repeatedly by the agency and Congress to develop private financial support and have worked assiduously for years with the FCC to ensure that its content falls within FCC guidelines.
Federal funding for public media flows through the congressionally chartered Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Congress allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year – an amount affirmed in a recent stop-gap bill passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate.
The chiefs of both networks spoke at the hearing of their mission to provide nonpartisan news and programming to the American public.
Congress approved the CPB’s budget in two years in order to insulate it from political pressure, according to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp, Managing Editor Gerry Holmes and Managing Editor Vickie Walton-James. NPR requires that no corporate official or news executive review stories before they are posted on the NPR website.
NPR and PBS are under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission, which says that their corporate ads violate laws banning commercial advertising.
PBS’s Paula Kerger found herself queried about a video involving a performer in drag singing a variation on a children’s song for a young audience. Kerger testified that the video was posted on the website of PBS’s New York City member station and never aired.
Tune in to the Up First newsletter: Trump orders end of NPR’s federal funding. And, judge blocks use of Alien Enemies Act
Maher was assailed for her past political postings on social media and the network’s news judgment almost entirely based on tweets and stories that preceded her March 2024 arrival at the network by years.
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Trump announced yesterday that he’s nominating his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, as his ambassador to the United Nations. This is the first big shake-up of top aides since the president began his second term. The move was in response to Waltz unintentionally adding a journalist to a Signal group chat where top officials discussed plans to strike Yemen. On social media, Trump said that Marco would be his interim national security adviser. Rubio will also continue to do his job as secretary of State.
Source: Trump orders end of NPR’s federal funding. And, judge blocks use of Alien Enemies Act
The Public Library: Why Donald Trump’s Alien Enemies Act is a Misogynistic Indictment of the Constitution
A federal judge ruled yesterday that Trump’s usage of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan immigrants from South Texas was “unlawful.” U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, made the first of its kind ruling. Rodriguez concluded that the president’s invocation of the act was contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.
Children are being exposed to an unprecedented amount of online pornography, much of which is violent and misogynistic. A study from 2023 found that the average age at which children first view pornography was around 12, and 15% of kids saw it at age 10 and younger. The majority of the most popular pornographic videos show violence or aggression towards women, according to researchers in the United Kingdom. Scientists believe early exposure to this content may hinder children’s understanding of consent and respect in relationships. Here’s a list of things parents can do to keep porn from their home.
The Public Library, a new PBS film, examines the value of libraries in the past and makes a convincing case for the importance of the American public library system.
The show focuses on the ballet companies in New York and Paris, which are dealing with falling ticket sales. To help save the art form, the companies decide to swap their most valuable members for a season.
Source: Trump orders end of NPR’s federal funding. And, judge blocks use of Alien Enemies Act
The Fate of the Day: An Overview of Popular Songs From the American Revolution to the 00th Anniversary of the Second Reionization
The second book in the trilogy about the American Revolution, “The Fate of the Day,” is out this week. There is also a graphic memoir, short fiction and “the secret life” of a cemetery.
🎵 Music: Many artists, including Aly & Aj, Pink Floyd, Car Seat Headrest, and Eric Church, released new music at midnight. Catch up on your favorite musicians and discover new ones with this playlist of the best songs from each album.