Public broadcasting chiefs vow to fight Trump's executive order cutting federal funding for PBS, NPR

We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public,

Katherine Maher said

The President’s blatantly unlawful Executive Order, issued in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years. We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans,

PBS President Paula Kerger wrote

CPB allocates the appropriation mostly to public television and radio stations, with some assigned to NPR and PBS to support national programming,

PBS' website states

NPR should regain its respect by doing something no one ever does in American life: Turn down government support. Get ahead of the game and say, We’ll survive without it. In other words: Become truly independent,

Berliner wrote in "The Free Press" in March

This is not about balancing the federal budget,

NPR said

WABE has never been more VALUABLE or more VULNERABLE,

the WABE donation page reads

We will be calling for the complete and total defund and dismantling of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

she said in closing remarks

NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM! EDITOR SAID THEY HAVE NO REPUBLICANS, AND IS ONLY USED TO 'DAMAGE TRUMP.' THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote

The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS. Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens,

the order said

Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,

the White House said

REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT “MONSTERS” THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!

Last month, he blasted both broadcasters on Truth Social, stating

At the very least, 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,

it added

There’s nothing more American than PBS, and our work is only possible because of the bipartisan support we have always received from Congress,

she added

Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts, and public safety information."

In a statement last month, in response to a draft memo to Congress outlining the funding cut, an NPR spokesperson said

Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,

the Thursday night executive order reads

The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding,

the order says

Katherine MahernPR CEO

I think that it's important for public media to be able to continue to be relevant in a time where there is a lot of coverage of different issues and areas of interest,

NPR's President and CEO Katherine Maher said in a recent interview