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 explained Friday that President Donald Trump s executive order aiming to slash citizens subsidies to PBS and NPR was blatantly unlawful Related Articles Rubio takes on dual national assurance roles after embracing Trump s America First vision Trump re-ups his threat to strip Harvard University s tax-exempt status 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 China says it s evaluating US overtures for transaction talks but tariffs remain an obstacle Community Broadcasting Function CEO Paula Kerger commented the Republican president s order threatens our ability to serve the American constituents with educational programs as we have for the past -plus years We are as of now exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans Kerger disclosed Trump signed the order late Thursday alleging bias in the broadcasters reporting The order instructs the Corporation for Society Broadcasting and other federal agencies to cease Federal funding for PBS and National Inhabitants Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of society financing for the news organizations The White House in a social media posting announcing the signing commented the outlets receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical woke propaganda disguised as news The Corporation for Community Broadcasting which funnels constituents funding to the two services disclosed 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 straightaway sued by the CPB to stop it The vast majority of residents money for the services goes directly to its hundreds of local stations which operate on a combination of regime funding donations and philanthropic grants Stations in smaller markets are particularly dependent on the masses money and most of threatened by the cuts of the sort Trump is proposing Masses 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 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 mentoring funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agree to eliminate diversity programs and other measures he has unveiled 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 announced 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 specific 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