The lawsuit, which landed on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, argues that Trump’s 1 May executive order violates the first amendment by targeting NPR for news coverage the president considers “biased”.
The executive order instructs federal agencies to “cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and eliminate indirect sources of public financing.
The White House defended the move, claiming NPR and PBS “have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars”.
NPR says its funding structure has evolved since its 1970 founding.
Today, member station fees comprise 30% of its funding, corporate sponsorship provides 36%, while just 1% comes directly from federal sources.
In a federal lawsuit against Donald Trump’s administration, National Public Radio, the US public broadcaster that supplies news and cultural programming to over 1,000 local stations, argues that an executive order that withholds federal funding from the public broadcaster violates press freedom.
Targeting NPR for news coverage the president deems “biased,” the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Washington on Tuesday, contends that Trump’s executive order dated May 1st violates the first amendment.
Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, stated in a statement on Tuesday that the executive order is intended to penalize the organization for news and other programming that the president finds objectionable. The first amendment is being violated by this retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination. “”.
In an effort to have the order permanently blocked and ruled unconstitutional, three public radio stations in Colorado joined NPR, which Maher characterizes as non-partisan news.
Federal agencies are directed by the executive order to “cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and to stop using indirect public funding sources. By asserting that NPR and PBS “have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars,” the White House justified the action. The White House listed a few instances of purported bias, such as editorial choices regarding the coverage of transgender issues, the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the beginnings of COVID-19.
Trump’s attacks on public broadcasting significantly increased after a former longtime NPR editor wrote a widely shared article in the Free Press accusing the organization of being too left-leaning and progressive. Part of the article’s content also made it into the executive order. Maher herself has also been caught in the crossfire; prior to her career in journalism and her tenure as NPR’s host, she had posted on social media about the “white silence” that followed the George Floyd murder.
Threatening “the existence of a public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information,” the lawsuit characterizes the order as “textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination.”.
According to NPR, since its establishment in 1970, its funding structure has changed. Currently, corporate sponsorship provides 36% of its funding, member station fees account for 30%, and only 1% is directly derived from federal sources. In addition to being a member of the White House press corps, the non-profit media organization now employs hundreds of journalists whose work is aired by local stations across the United States. This brings local news stories with context and reporting from the ground to a national audience.
The statement said, “NPR has a first amendment right to be free from retaliation intended to punish and chill protected speech, as well as from government attempts to control private speech.”.
