President Trump issued an executive order that directed the corporation for public broadcast and public television stations to retain PBS funds. On Friday, PBS, directed by Paula Kerger (right), and Lakeland PBS or Minnesota Sed.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, Nathan Posner/Anadolu through Getty Images
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, Nathan Posner/Anadolu through Getty Images
PBS and a public television station in the rural areas of Minnesota filed a lawsuit on Friday against President Trump in his executive order that requires the Corporation for Public Transmission to matte all funds for the network.
The demand alleges Trump order It is illegal, there is his authority as president and violating the constitutional protections of freedom of expression because he has not liked the coverage and programming of PBS news.
“This action challenges an unprecedented presidential directive that attacks PBS and its member stations … in a way that public television turns,” says the demand.
It continues: “The EO does not try to hide the fact that it is cutting the flow of funds to PBS due to the content of the PBS programming and by the desire to alter the speech content. That is the brazen point of view or the intermediate or the intermediate or the insight or infringing or infringing or infringing or infringing or infringing or infringing or infringing ignore or infringing. Discretion.” Discretion “.
The president and executive director of PBS, Paula Kerger, declined to comment on Friday.
In a statement, the network said: “After careful deliberation, PBS concluded that it was necessary to take legal measures to safeguard the editorial independence of public television and protect the autonomy of the member stations of PBS.”
The Minnesota station echoed the PBS logic, saying that it joined the demand “to underline the serious concentities in the local member stations and our programming.”
In response, the White House said CPB is “creating means to support a particular political party in the Taxpayers’ penny.”
“Therefore, the president is exercising his legal authority to limit the funds to NPR and PBS,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields, in a statement. “The president was elected with a mandate to guarantee the efficient use of taxpayers’ dollars, and will continue to use their legal authority to achieve that goal.”
The batteries of the executive order of Trump NPR and PBS not to provide “just, precise, impartial and non -partisan news.” They claim that there are many media options for people to choose today.
“The financing of the government of the media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary, but corrosive for the appearance of journalistic independence,” says the order. It prohibits CPB from sending any money to PBS and NPR, and prohibits local stations from sending any federal money to the networks.
In social media platforms, Trump has criticized the capital of capital letters: “Republicans must disorder and dissociate completely from NPR and PBS, the radical” monsters “that hurt our country so much!”
The two networks reject that characterization.
Beyond that, the lawsuit filed by PBS and the Minnesota Lakeland PBS affiliate argues: “Regardless of political disagreements on the role of public television, our Constitution and laws prohibit the president’s programming, including the loss of PBS loops.”
PBS follows NPR and CPB to the Court
The legal action of PBS follows the parallel litigation presented on Tuesday by NPR and three Colorado Public Radio stations against the Trump administration for the same reasons.
The presentations of the Public Television Court say that PBS would lose $ 81 million per year in federal subsidies and “a substantial portion” of the $ 227 million that public television stations pay it to manage programs ranging from children’s documentaries. A day after Trump issued his order, the United States Department of Education canceled A subsidy to CPB and PBS that paid for an important education initiative, around $ 31 million annually.
Lakeland PBS serves a region in the north and center of Minnesota that includes some of the poorest counties of the state and several tribal reserves. The station offers the only nightly television news program that covers the region and offers curricular videos, lessons plans and other resources for local educators, according to the demand.
Although PBS member stations receive, on average, approximately 15% of funds directly from CPB, PBS Lakeland depends on federal CPB subsidies for 37% of their annual income. He says that all the money paid PBS for programming and other services come from those federal funds.
PBS shows make up more than half or the alignment of Lakeland PBS.
The demand argues that Lakeland PBS does not have enough restrictions simply to change other money to pay the cost of PBs programs. And he says that the financial support of local companies is decreasing, not increasing. Local philanthropic money has been difficult to achieve.
“Lakeland PBS cannot easily replace such content and services,” says the demand. “The EO indirect financing bar raises an existential threat to Lakeland PBS, the only local source of television programs for hundreds of thousands of thousands of minnesotanos.”
The lawsuit was filed by Akin Gump Strauss, an important law firm based in Washington.
Trump’s order, issued on May 1, has been rejected by the Board of the private CPB incorporated, through which the federal money assigned by the Congress flows to public broadcasters, mainly local stations. CPB has not adopted the president’s decree. He is demanding about another executive order that aims to fire three of its five members.
Like the demands of NPR and PBS, the demand for CPB points to the protections written in the Law Congress that safeguards the CPB and the public issuers of the political pressure applied by federal officials. They argue that it includes the president.
Congress expects the request to recover funds
According to the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson and other legislators, Trump intends to send a formal request to Congress in early June to terminate the $ 1.1 billion assigned to the public transmission for the next two years.
This expense was approved by the United States Chamber and Senate led by Republicans earlier this year and signed by Trump. It is not clear when the camera and the Senate will take the measure, but Johnson recently mentioned the termination package as part of an approach to promulgate more expenses. He promised to “act quickly.”
The Congress would have 45 days to address the application for termination, once received, to enter into force.
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by the NPR Media correspondent, David Folkenflik, with contributions from the correspondent of the NPR Deirdre Walsh Congress. She was edited by the attached business editor Emily Kopp, the managing editor Vickie Walton-James and the managing editor Gerry Holmes. According to the NPR protocol to report on ITELF, no corporate or news executive official reviewed this story before it is publicly published.