A major court settlement has pushed back against President Donald Trump’s attempt to strip public broadcasters of government support, with National Public Radio now set to receive roughly 36 million dollars in federal funding after months of political and legal tension.
The Detroit News reports that the agreement was reached with the federal steward responsible for distributing money to public broadcasting stations. It partially resolves NPR’s claim that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting caved to pressure from Donald Trump when it moved to cut off funding earlier this year.
The move came after the President signed an executive order aimed at ending federal support for what he called “biased media,” naming both NPR and PBS directly. The order framed the cuts as a matter of neutrality, arguing that “government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.” It continued, “Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.”
Trump had openly signalled his desire to “love to” defund both organisations, insisting they favoured Democrats.
New settlement
Under the new settlement, both NPR and the CPB agree that the executive order is unconstitutional, CPB will not enforce it unless a court forces their hand. For NPR, the ruling lands after months of arguing that the agency violated its First Amendment rights and attempted to punish it for its journalism. NPR also accused CPB of redirecting money to an entity that “didn’t exist” and was not authorised to receive federal funding, something the agency’s lawyers deny.
NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher called the decision “a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the First Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system.” CPB CEO Patricia Harrison described it as “an important moment for public media.”
The settlement does not close NPR’s broader lawsuit, with US District Judge Randolph Moss set to preside over the next hearing on December 4th.
Outside the courtroom, the fight over public media has spilled into pop culture, GWAR’s Blöthar The Berserker criticised the proposed cuts earlier this year, while John Oliver is currently auctioning a Blöthar-signed bidet to raise funds for public broadcasting. Trump, meanwhile, says he still plans to sue the BBC for “between 1 billion and 5 billion dollars” and is reportedly pushing for a new Rush Hour film.
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