The nonprofit corporation that oversees National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service is firing back at President Donald Trump’s executive order to pull funding for the two popular media outlets.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting pointed out that Congress controls its funding, not the president.
“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the CPB, said in a statement Friday. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”
She continued, “In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors.'”
Trump signed the executive order instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease direct funding to NPR and PBS” on his way to Florida aboard Air Force One on Thursday
The order blocks federal funding to NPR and PBS to the maximum extent allowed by law, according to a fact sheet from the White House. It also prevents 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 the organizations.
The headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) is seen in Washington, April 15, 2013.
Charles Dharapak/AP, FILE
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. Additionally, it instructs the Federal Communications Commission and relevant agencies to investigate whether NPR and PBS have engaged in unlawful discrimination.
In the fact sheet, the White House claims the two news organizations “have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars.”
In an interview with ABC News on Friday, PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger said a loss in federal funding would hit audiences in rural communities hard. Kerger said that their access to stations has been historically dependent on government funding and that content from children’s programming to backup emergency alerts could be negatively impacted by cuts.
“They formed PBS as a way that we could bring the dollars together from around the country from all of our stations,” Kerger said. “That would help us create the kids content that people have loved for many decades and that have really raised generations of children.”
For some stations, the situation could be dire, she said.
“For a number of smaller stations, it really could be an existential challenge,” Kerger said. “That means the existence of those very stations.”
Kerger and the head of NPR testified at a House hearing in March about their funding.
“I hear, respect and understand your concerns regarding bias and whether public media is relevant in a commercial landscape,” NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said at the hearing. “It is critical for NPR’s newsroom to operate with the highest journalistic standards. That means they do their jobs independently, and as CEO I have no editorial role at NPR.”
NPR and PBS are primarily funded through a combination of public and private sources. The CPB, a federal agency, provides a portion of the funding, along with private donations from individuals, foundations and corporations. The CPB oversees dozens of media organizations in addition to NPR and PBS, including everything from American Public Media to Native Public Media and Public Media in Mid-America.
President Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., May 1, 2025.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Those in the Senate and House quickly responded along party lines.
“The fact that taxpayers are forced to subsidize far-left propaganda outlets like NPR is an outrage,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X. “I commend President Trump for his common-sense order ending taxpayer funding for liberal media outlets.
“President Trump is once again walking us towards authoritarianism, by eliminating funds for PBS and NPR, claiming it will stop ‘biased and partisan news coverage,'” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., wrote on X. “NPR and PBS is how 160 million Americans find their fact-based, impartial news each month.”
“These organizations were created under an act of Congress, and therefore cannot be eliminated in an executive order,” he continued. “We need these programs and must challenge this ruling in the courts.”
ABC News’ Max Zahn, Lalee Ibssa and Docquan Louallen contributed to this report.