ENDING TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZATION OF BIASED MEDIA: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ending the taxpayer subsidization of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
- NPR and PBS receive tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year, primarily from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
- The Order ceases federal funding to NPR and PBS to the maximum extent allowed by law.
- It also ceases indirect funding to PBS and NPR by prohibiting local public radio and television stations and any other recipients of CPB funds from using taxpayer dollars to support these organizations.
- The Order mandates that the CPB revise its 2025 General Provisions to explicitly prohibit direct or indirect funding to NPR and PBS.
- It directs all federal agencies to terminate any direct or indirect funding to NPR and PBS and to review existing grants and contracts for compliance.
- The Order instructs the FCC and relevant agencies to investigate whether NPR and PBS have engaged in unlawful discrimination.
EXPOSING BIAS IN PUBLIC BROADCASTING: NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers’ money, as President Trump has stated.
- Unlike in 1967, when CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options, making government funding of news media outdated, unnecessary, and corrosive to journalistic independence.
- Moreover, while the CPB is legally mandated to be “nonpolitical [in] nature” and not “contribute to or otherwise support any political party,” both NPR and PBS make significant in-kind contributions to the Democrat party and its political causes.
- An NPR editor found that registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans 87 to zero in the newsroom’s editorial positions.
- NPR’s President and CEO admitted that she regards “truth” as a harmful “distraction” from NPR’s objectives.
- To illustrate its partisan capture, NPR management asked its editors to avoid the term “biological sex” when discussing transgender issues.
- NPR has run stories defending looting and suggesting that crime fears are racist and has described its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices as “inseparable” from its content.
- NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story, calling it a waste of time and a distraction, despite that it was highly relevant to the presidential election.
- NPR repeatedly insisted COVID-19 did not originate in a lab and refused to explore the theory.
- The FBI, CIA, and Department of Energy have all since deemed the lab-leak theory the likely cause.
- NPR ran a Valentine’s Day feature around “queer animals,” in which it suggested the make-believe clownfish in “Finding Nemo” would’ve been better off as a female, that “banana slugs are hermaphrodites,” and that “some deer are nonbinary.”
- Research shows that “congressional Republicans faced 85% negative coverage, compared to 54% positive coverage of congressional Democrats,” on PBS’s flagship news program.
- Over a six-month period, PBS News Hour used versions of the term “far-right” 162 times, but “far-left” only 6 times.
- A PBS station featured drag queen Lil Miss Hot Mess on a program meant for kids ages 3-8.
- PBS produced a movie titled “Real Boy” which celebrates a transgender teen’s transition.
- PBS show Sesame Street partnered with CNN for a town hall aimed presenting children with a one-sided narrative to “address racism” amid the Black Lives Matter riots.
- PBS’s coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention was 72% negative, while its coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention was 88% positive.
- No media outlet has a Constitutional right to taxpayer subsidized operations, and it’s highly inappropriate for taxpayers to be forced to subsidize biased, partisan content.
SAFEGUARDING TAXPAYER DOLLARS: President Trump is working to ensure taxpayer dollars are no longer wasted on progressive pet projects, but rather used to benefit hardworking Americans.
- President Trump established the “Department of Government Efficiency” to examine how to streamline the federal government, eliminate unnecessary programs, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiency.
- President Trump launched a 10-to-1 deregulation initiative, ensuring every new rule is justified by clear benefits.
- President Trump terminated DEI discrimination in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.
- The Trump Administration is aggressively investigating Biden-era programs that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on inefficient and politically-driven projects, including canceling unnecessary government contracts and grants that do not serve the national interest.