US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to slash taxpayer funds to PBS and NPR, two media outlets the White House accused of being biased.
The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.” It further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organisations. NPR is a non-commercial radio network, and PBS is a non-commecial TV netwsork.
“[President Trump] just signed an executive order ending the taxpayer subsidization of NPR and PBS – which receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” the White House posted in a statement on X.
The broadcasters get roughly half a billion dollars in public money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and have been preparing for the possibility of stiff cuts since Trump’s re-election.
Congress allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year – an amount affirmed in a recent stop-gap bill passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate.
The CPB’s budget is approved by Congress on a two-year cycle in large part to insulate it from political pressures; according to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Congress has fully funded it through Sept 30, 2027.
