The US President Donald Trump is cutting off funding to the countryʼs two largest public broadcasters: National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). All because they allegedly fail to provide citizens with fair, accurate, and impartial coverage of current events.
This is stated in the decree on the White House website.
National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). According to the president, in todayʼs media market, where there are many news opportunities, government support for such organizations is outdated and undermines journalistic independence.
No media body has a constitutional right to government subsidies, and the government has the right to decide which areas to fund. The statute of the Commission for Public Broadcasting (CPB) enshrines the principles of impartiality: the CPB cannot support any political party.
However, CPB does not adhere to these principles when it subsidizes NPR and PBS. It does not matter what ideas these organizations promote. What matters is that they do not provide citizens with accurate, fair, and unbiased coverage of events.
The CPB board must end all funding for NPR and PBS, including through other organizations that receive federal money. To do this, the board must change its rules to prohibit all funding for these media outlets by June 30, 2025. They must also take all measures to reduce or completely end support for NPR and PBS.
Also, all other government agencies should cease all funding to NPR and PBS to the extent permitted by law.
All agency heads should review whether there are any unspent funds or contracts with NPR and PBS and verify that they are complying with the terms of those contracts. If it is found that the terms are not being met, the agency head should take appropriate action.
The Minister of Health and Human Services must review whether NPR and PBS comply with requirements for non-discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, etc. If there are violations, the Minister must correct them.
The document states: if the court overturns any part of this order, the remaining provisions will remain in effect. The order does not change the powers of other agencies and is implemented only within the limits of existing law and available funding. It also does not give anyone the right to sue or demand anything from the government, the White House noted.
What preceded
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and several senior officials of his administration on April 28, challenging attempts to fire three members of the CPB board of directors.
In February 2025, NPR defended its editorial independence after Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called on the CEOs of NPR and PBS to appear before a DOGE subcommittee hearing to address allegations of "systemic bias" in the content of federally funded radio and television companies.
In April 2025, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. government is proposing to cut more than $9 billion in spending on PBS, NPR, and foreign aid in its new budget. The cuts, dubbed the “reduction package”, are intended to reduce spending to levels set by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Trump and the media shutdown
On March 14, the US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce the activities of seven government agencies, including USAGM. It is in charge of foreign broadcasting and oversees, among others, the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This was followed by an announcement that the US Congress approved a grant that finances the activities of these media outlets.
All Voice of America employees were placed on administrative leave. After that, Voice of America employees sued the US Agency for Global Media. They stated that the closure of media outlets funded by the US government violates the right to freedom of speech and journalism, which is guaranteed by the US Constitution. In mid-April, a US court ordered the Trump administration to restore Voice of America.
Earlier, American billionaire and head of the new US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk called for the closure of Radio Liberty and Voice of America. At the time, he said that no one listens to Radio Liberty and Voice of America, and called these media outlets “crazy left-wing radicals who talk to themselves, burning $1 billion a year of US taxpayer money”. The US government has historically presented Voice of America as a counterweight to foreign propaganda and a model of free, honest, truthful news coverage.
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