LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Late last night, President Trump issued an executive order that attempts to end federal funding for NPR and PBS, accusing the organizations of political bias.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's the latest in a string of attacks on public media by the administration and Republican leaders in Congress. The move bans direct federal funding for the public broadcasters. It also bans local public radio and television stations from using taxpayer dollars to support them. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR executive reviewed this story before it airs.
FADEL: With us to talk about all of this is NPR's Ryland Barton. Hi, Ryland.
RYLAND BARTON, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So tell us exactly how Trump is trying to defund NPR and PBS through this executive order.
BARTON: Well, Trump is directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, to stop sending money to NPR and PBS, saying that federal funding should not support what he calls biased and partisan news coverage. NPR and PBS have repeatedly said they are fair in their coverage. CPB is this independent nonprofit created by Congress in 1967 to partially fund public broadcasters. And currently, NPR receives about 1% of its funding directly from CPB, and PBS gets about 15%. But the other part of this executive order tries to get at the indirect ways that the news organizations get federal dollars, and that's through local stations. They are banned from using CPB funds to pay for NPR or PBS content under the order.
Now, I should say - CPB is also fighting a different move by the president earlier this week to fire board members, so it's unclear how they will respond to this order. They sued, saying they're not a federal agency and that board members don't serve at the pleasure of the president.
FADEL: OK. So what have NPR and PBS said about this executive order and what they plan to do?
BARTON: So not a whole lot so far. But in a statement, NPR said the Constitution gives the power to Congress over these funding decisions, not the president, and that the executive order will, quote, "have a devastating impact on local communities across America that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, lifesaving emergency alerts and public safety information."
FADEL: OK. This appears to be the most direct attack on public media, but we all know this has been building for a while.
BARTON: Yeah. Leila, listeners might remember that back in late March, the heads of NPR and PBS testified at this House hearing called Anti-American Airwaves - Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable. It was headed up by Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Here she is speaking to NPR CEO Katherine Maher.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Let me inform you in that - so that your - that your federal funding is also paid for by the other half of the country, the 77 million Americans who voted for President Trump - someone you called a deranged, racist sociopath.
BARTON: Greene was referring to a social media post Maher made before she became NPR's CEO. Maher said she regretted the post and wouldn't have made it today. And Maher and her PBS counterpart rejected accusations that their coverage is biased.
FADEL: OK. Tell us about how this would affect local stations.
BARTON: Yeah. So stations like Louisville Public Media, where I happen to be based and I'm sitting right now...
FADEL: Yeah.
BARTON: ...They get an average of 8% to 10% of their revenue from CPB. That number is much, much higher for smaller, rural stations - sometimes over 50% of their funding. Stations have been sounding the alarm on this in recent months. You can hear it in their fund drives, saying it's an existential threat to their operations and their communities. And it's unclear what this executive order means for them, but a lot of content on stations is national NPR and PBS programming. NPR relies on these member stations to cover breaking news and provide context that national reporters just can't always do. And they're sometimes the only news option for people in remote places, providing lifesaving emergency alerts about things like severe weather.
FADEL: NPR's Ryland Barton. Thank you, Ryland.
BARTON: Thank you.
FADEL: In a statement, CPB said that is, quote, "not a federal executive agency subject to the president's authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government." The head of PBS is now calling the executive order blatantly unlawful. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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