2025-05-30T21: 23: 44z
- PBS filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on an executive order to reduce public media financing.
- The lawsuit said that the matter violates the first amendment and targets a TV program for its content.
- CPB grants constitute 16 % of the PBS budget; NPR submitted a similar complaint.
The public broadcasting service is sued the Trump administration regarding an executive order that eliminates federal funding for the public media.
Non -profit organizations filed a lawsuit on Friday in a local American court in Washington, DC. The lawsuit argues that the administration has violated the first amendment by targeting a television program and lacks the authority to influence the financing decisions taken by the Foundation for the public broadcasting.
“EO does not try any attempt to hide the fact that it cuts the flow of money into a TV program due to the content of the TV program programming and getting out of the desire to change the content of speech,” according to the lawsuit.
The complaint came: “This is the blatant discrimination in the point of view and the violation of the special editorial appreciation of PBS and PBS stations.”
According to the complaint, CPB grants constitute about 16 % of the annual budget of $ 373.4 million.
CPB allocates about $ 535 million of federal financing annually for NPR and PBS. PBS seeks to obtain an advertising and judicial mitigation from Trump’s executive order and the court asked to declare the unconstitutional order. NPR has already submitted a similar complaint.
“After accurate deliberations, PBS reached a conclusion that it was necessary to take legal measures to protect the editorial independence of public television and protect the independence of the PBS members,” PBS said in a statement for Business Insider.
The lawsuit is part of the ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and the public media. Last month, CPB sued Trump about attempts to remove members of the Board of Directors.
“The Public Broadcasting Corporation (CPB) is creating the media to support a specific political party about ten taxpayers,” Harrison Fields, Deputy Commissioner for Business Insider said in a statement. “Therefore, the president exercises his legal authority to reduce funding for NPR and PBS.”
