Posted on 05/02/25
| News Source: CNBC
President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday to end public funding of National Public Radio and PBS to stop what he called “biased and partisan news coverage.”
The order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS” to the extent allowed by law. The order could be challenged in court.
The White House said in a Friday statement that both organizations had received “tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”
“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,” the executive order reads. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
Trump and his loyalists, including Elon Musk, have long complained that NPR and PBS are biased and promote left-wing causes, an allegation staunchly denied by executives at both organizations. Last month, Trump called for their defunding on Truth Social, calling them “RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”
To date, NPR and PBS receive roughly half a billion dollars each in public money and earn money from sponsorship. NPR says less than 1% of its funding comes from public sources.