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Trump signs order to end government funding for NPR and PBS: ‘Outdated and unnecessary’

Both NPR and PBS receive partial funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which the president says is unnecessary in the current media environment.

NPR offices in Washington, D.C.

NPR offices in Washington, D.C.AFP

Juan Peña
Published by
Juan Peña

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order ending federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

"Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence," the president asserted after signing the executive order.

Both NPR and PBS receive partial funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which the president said is unnecessary in the current media environment.

Trump deemed that "neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens."

Left-leaning media

Both media outlets, especially NPR, were accused over the past few years of excessive left-wing bias in their newsrooms. At NPR, it was even reported that a large portion of its executives were registered as Democratic voters, while hardly any Republicans held positions of the same importance.

Over the years, a progressive ecosystem has been fostered at NPR and PBS that has favored Democratic Party narratives, according to criticism from several of the platforms’ workers opposed to this ideological bias.

Among the most notable scandals was the lack of rigor and coverage in the case of Hunter Biden's laptop, which NPR dismissed and labeled as fake news. Later, Katherine Maher acknowledged before Congress that it was a mistake to have discredited and ignored the story.

The CPB's budget through 2027 has already been approved by Congress, raising questions about the scope of Trump's executive order.

More than 40 million Americans listen to NPR radio each week and 36 million watch a local PBS network channel each month, according to estimates by those outlets.

NPR's Katherine Maher estimated in March that the radio station would receive about $120 million from CPB in 2025, which represents "less than 5% of its budget."

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