The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump on Friday, challenging his executive order to eliminate federal funding for the public broadcaster. The legal action, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., accuses the president of retaliating against PBS due to “perceived political slights in news coverage” and violating constitutional protections and federal law.
The lawsuit, joined by a PBS member station in Minnesota, follows a similar suit filed by National Public Radio (NPR) three days earlier. Both nonprofit media organizations seek to invalidate Trump’s May 1 executive order, which directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and all executive agencies to halt federal funding for PBS and NPR. PBS argues that the order threatens to “upend public television” and undermines its editorial independence, as well as the autonomy of its member stations.
The White House defended the executive order, with spokesman Harrison Fields stating that the CPB was “creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime.” Fields added, “The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective.”
Trump’s order described government-funded media as “outdated and unnecessary” and “corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.” It also claimed that PBS and NPR fail to provide “a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.” PBS lawyers rejected these assertions, arguing that the president is legally prohibited from interfering with the broadcaster’s funding or content.
The lawsuit cites the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, which established the CPB to distribute federal funds to public broadcasters. The law explicitly states that no federal department, agency, or official may “exercise any direction, supervision, or control” over public telecommunications or the CPB’s grantees, including their programming content. PBS also contends that Trump’s order violates First Amendment protections of speech and press freedom by engaging in “blatant viewpoint discrimination” and attempting to alter the content of its programming.
The CPB’s fiscal year 2025 budget of $545 million primarily supports local public TV and radio stations, covering a portion of their budgets, which are supplemented by station dues, donations, foundation grants, and corporate sponsorships. For example, “PBS News Hour” relies on CPB appropriations and station dues for about 35% of its funding, with the remainder from private sources. NPR, meanwhile, receives just 1% of its revenue directly from the federal government, with 30% from member station fees and 36% from corporate sponsorships.
PBS lawyers emphasized that the executive order “smacks of retaliation” and infringes on the broadcaster’s editorial discretion. The lawsuit underscores the broader implications for public media, which has long provided educational programming like “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” as well as news and cultural content.
As the legal battle unfolds, the outcome could significantly impact the funding model and editorial independence of public broadcasting in the United States. Neither the White House nor PBS provided further comment on the ongoing litigation.
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