We wholeheartedly applaud NPR’s lawsuit against the Trump administration. This move is in addition to an executive order signed earlier this month to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting. The order requires that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting withdraw its funding to NPR and PBS. It has directed other federal agencies to follow suit. This lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., includes three local Colorado stations: Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KUTE Inc.
The executive order requires federal agencies to terminate indirect funding sources for NPR and PBS. President Trump would have us believe that such bias exists within these organizations’ reporting. He admonished the broadcasters for failing to provide adequate public notice on, among other things, how to register to vote. One big sticking point for him is the Hunter Biden laptop story. The bottom line is Trump’s moves indicate that he is at least trying to take on government-controlled news organizations. This war has already generated legal battles featuring agencies like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
NPR’s leadership insists that the executive order is more than an administrative directive. They feel that it is a direct affront to free speech. Katherine Maher, CEO of NPR, stated that the executive order constitutes “retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.” She highlighted that such coercive actions not only undermine the editorial independence of the entire network but that of its local stations.
The lawsuit argues that in issuing the executive order president is violating the First Amendment. It penalizes NPR for reporting that the President finds unflattering. NPR continues to assert that it has a First Amendment right to pursue its mission free from government meddling in its editorial discretion.
“The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR’s and the Local Member Stations’ freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion.” – NPR
This legal action has particular focus on Trump’s executive order to cut public subsidies for public broadcasting and national public radio. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a whole is effectively ordered to stop accepting federal funding today under the terms of this directive. Such cuts would be devastating for public broadcasting services across the country. They undercut these services’ capacity to provide varied and vibrant programming.
NPR’s position attunes to deeper worries about when government can exert influence over media organizations and the chilling effect that has on public discourse. The organization argues that these tactics are designed to intimidate dissenting voices that threaten the administration’s preferred narrative. They are convinced this stifling effect is corrosive to healthy discourse.
