National Public Radio on Tuesday sued President Donald Trump over his executive order to cease all federal funding for the nonprofit broadcaster.
Trump’s May 1 order violates the First Amendment’s protections of speech and the press and steps on Congress’ authority, NPR and three other public radio stations wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
NPR and three of its member stations — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT Public Radio — want Trump’s order permanently blocked and declared unconstitutional.
Now, the CPB sends federal money to local member stations, who then buy NPR programming.
“Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS.
On Tuesday, National Public Radio filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for his executive order that stopped the nonprofit broadcaster’s access to federal funds.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., NPR and three other public radio stations claimed that Trump’s May 1 order stepped on the authority of Congress and violated the First Amendment’s protections of speech and the press. C.
Millions of Americans nationwide depend on public radio for essential news and information, and the order “threatens the existence of a public radio system,” the lawsuit against Trump and a few other high-ranking officials and federal agencies states.
NPR and three of its affiliated stations, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio, are calling for Trump’s order to be ruled unconstitutional and permanently blocked.
The news outlets’ lawyers wrote that it “expressly aims to punish and control Plaintiffs’ news coverage and other speech the Administration deems ‘biased.’”. “It can’t continue.”. “”.
Trump’s directive, which claims that government support for the news is “not only out-of-date and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” was met with opposition from NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS. “”.
More than 1,000 local stations broadcast the work of hundreds of journalists who work for National Public Radio, which was founded in 1970. Although the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, received the majority of its original funding from Congress, the arrangement was altered in the 1980s when the Reagan Administration attempted to reduce funding for public media.
These days, local member stations receive federal funding from the CPB to purchase NPR programming. Just 1% of NPR’s revenue comes directly from the federal government, whereas 30% of its funding comes from member station fees, the organization claims. NPR reports that corporate sponsorship accounts for the largest portion of its funding, or 36%.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told CNBC that the CPB “is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime.”.
The President is thus using his legitimate power to restrict funding to NPR and PBS. Fields stated, “The President will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that goal. He was elected with the mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”.
According to the lawsuit, Congress has long acknowledged that the speech it funds with public funds “remains private—and thus fully protected from censorship, retaliation, or other forms of governmental interference.”. “.”.
“Yet the President—critiquing what he views as ‘bias’ in the award-winning journalism and cultural programming offered by NPR—has issued an Executive Order that thwarts Congress’s intent and the Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to be free from retaliation aimed at punishing and chilling protected speech, journalistic activities, and expressive association,” the attorneys wrote.
They wrote, “The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”.
A request for comment on the lawsuit from CNBC was not immediately answered by the White House.
