As Trump sets his sights on public broadcasting, a decades-old institution frets about the future

The nation s community broadcasting system decades-long home to Big Bird Ken Burns documentaries and All Things Considered faces the biggest situation in its nearly -year history with President Donald Trump s order to slash federal subsidies A court fight seems inevitable with the heads of PBS NPR and the Corporation for Constituents Broadcasting all suggesting Friday that Trump s order is illegal We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news information and life-saving services to the American population explained Katherine Maher NPR s president and CEO We will challenge this executive order using all means available Her counterpart at PBS Paula Kerger noted Trump s order was blatantly unlawful The citizens broadcasting system dates back to the late s devised as an educational and community service-oriented alternative to commercial broadcasters available at the time In his order Trump commented the system has become politically biased and time has passed it by Currently the media landscape is filled with abundant diverse and innovative news options the president explained in his order issued just before midnight Thursday Leadership funding of news media in this atmosphere is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence The focus is on news but there could be other casualties Trump s order concentrates on news and between PBS NewsHour and a robust reporting corps at NPR that s an crucial part of their operations But residents broadcasting also has entertainment activities educational children s shows and Burns historical documentaries PBS and NPR get about a half-billion dollars a year in populace funding funneled through the private Corporation for General Broadcasting Roughly of that goes directly to the local PBS outlets and NPR stations On average PBS says of its stations budgets come from populace funding But there are wide variations stations in larger markets usually get more money through philanthropy and fund drives while smaller stations depend much more on the governing body Besides Trump s order Congress has been considering future funding levels for the citizens broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission is questioning society broadcasting efforts at corporate underwriting declared Josh Shepperd author of the book Shadow of the New Deal The Win of Population Broadcasting It s a three-pronged effort that is frankly very smart in its institutional understanding Shepperd stated They re not just going after programs that they don t like They re going after the operations and the infrastructure that makes it workable to even air the activities A ripple effect is feasible and could be local Trump s order instructs the CPB and other authorities agencies to cease Federal funding for PBS and National Inhabitants Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of community financing Separate from the CPB grant for example PBS gets a grant from the U S Department of Tuition for programs that helps build the reading math and science skills for children age to particularly in poor areas The administration s plan might not threaten your favorite scheme Burns gets plenty of corporate and philanthropic assistance but it may impact local services and promising advance Shepperd mentioned Congressional Republicans aired specific of their grievances about populace broadcasting to Kerger and Maher at a residents hearing in March Such complaints have been common over the years but the broadcasters have avoided funding cuts in large part because members of Congress don t want to be seen as responsible if a station in their district shuts down Who wants to be the citizens official who killed Sesame Street Also general pressure from constituents is minimized because most of Republicans don t watch PBS or listen to NPR disclosed Tim Graham director of media analysis at the conservative Media Research Center I have this morning habit of listening to NPR on my commute Graham commented I yell at the radio For years Graham s group has issued reports with examples of what it says is bias against conservatives For example during an -month period that ended last November his researchers counted examples of PBS journalists or contributors making reference labeling a few politicians far right or a few variation with only six called far left He noted he s not trying to shut down these stations but resists them receiving masses money Let the people who listen to it do the funding Graham stated Bias concerns are taken seriously administrators say At a board meeting Friday CPB president and CEO Pat Harrison noted her agency has taken bias concerns seriously It has increased investments in fact-based local journalism and provided a grant to NPR to make changes in its newsroom to address issues of bias The court fight over population broadcasting has already begun The president earlier this week revealed he was firing three of the five remaining CPB board members threatening its ability to do any work and was promptly sued by the CPB to stop it The executive order is also the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with particularly those related to media Since taking office in January for a second term Trump has ousted leaders placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists libraries museums theaters and others through takeovers of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities Trump has also pushed to withhold federal research and guidance funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agree to eliminate diversity programs and other measures he has identified objectionable The move against PBS and NPR comes as Trump s administration works to dismantle the U S Agency for Global Media including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty which were designed to model independent news gathering globally in societies that restrict the press Those efforts have faced pushback from federal courts which have ruled in chosen cases that the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority in holding back funds appropriated to the outlets by Congress AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this summary David Bauder writes about media for the AP Follow him at http x com dbauder and https bsky app profile dbauder bsky social Source