PBS chief decries Trump’s executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR as unlawful

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer The head of PBS disclosed Friday that President Donald Trump s executive order aiming to slash community subsidies to PBS and NPR was blatantly unlawful Related Articles White House comes out with sharp spending cuts in Trump s budget plan Americans see more overreach from the president than from judges an AP-NORC poll finds Trump vows to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status China says it s evaluating US overtures for business talks but tariffs remain an obstacle Trump signs executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR Community Broadcasting Utility CEO Paula Kerger announced the Republican president s order threatens our ability to serve the American residents with educational programs as we have for the past -plus years We are now exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans Kerger revealed Trump signed the order late Thursday alleging bias in the broadcasters reporting The order instructs the Corporation for Population Broadcasting and other federal agencies to cease Federal funding for PBS and National Citizens Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of general financing for the news organizations The White House in a social media posting announcing the signing declared the outlets receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical woke propaganda disguised as news The Corporation for Citizens Broadcasting which funnels community funding to the two services commented that it is not a federal executive agency subject to Trump s orders The president earlier this week announced he was firing three of the five remaining CPB board members threatening its ability to do any work and was this instant sued by the CPB to stop it The vast majority of population money for the services goes directly to its hundreds of local stations which operate on a combination of governing body funding donations and philanthropic grants Stations in smaller markets are particularly dependent on the populace money and most of threatened by the cuts of the sort Trump is proposing Community broadcasting has been threatened frequently by Republican leaders in the past but the local ties have largely enabled them to escape cutbacks legislators don t want to be seen as responsible for shutting down stations in their districts But the current threat is seen as the majority serious in the system s history It s also the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with Since taking office in January for a second term Trump has ousted leaders placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists libraries museums theaters and others through takeovers of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities Trump has also pushed to withhold federal research and instruction funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agree to eliminate diversity programs and other measures he has exposed objectionable Just two weeks ago the White House reported it would be asking Congress to rescind funding for the CPB as part of a billion package of cuts That package however which budget director Russell Vought stated would likely be the first of several has not yet been sent to Capitol Hill The move against PBS and NPR comes as Trump s administration has been working to dismantle the U S Agency for Global Media including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty which were designed to model independent news gathering globally in societies that restrict the press Those efforts have faced pushback from federal courts which have ruled in a few cases that the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority in holding back funds appropriated to the outlets by Congress AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this analysis