“After careful consideration, PBS reached the conclusion that it was necessary to take legal action to safeguard public television’s editorial independence, and to protect the autonomy of PBS member stations,” a PBS spokesperson said in a statement.
PBS has filed a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump and administration officials of breaking the law by issuing, and enforcing, an executive order designed to strip public funding from public broadcasting.
In court documents, lawyers for PBS stated that the station’s lawsuit “challenges an unprecedented presidential directive attacking PBS and its member stations … in a manner that will upend public television.”
“The [executive order] makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of the speech. That is blatant viewpoint discrimination and an infringement of PBS and PBS Member Stations’ private editorial discretion.”
Attorneys for PBS argue that President Trump has overstepped his authority and, by attempting to defund PBS and related outlets, engaged in a form of “viewpoint discrimination” by lambasting the network’s alleged bias against conservatives.
“PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,” PBS lawye r Z.W. Julius Chen wrote in the lawsuit. “But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”
PBS has since said that one of its local stations, Lakeland PBS in Minnesota, has joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff. In its own statement, Lakeland PBS indicated that strong legal action is necessary to “underscore the dire consequences on local member stations and our programming.”
Together, they say that Trump’s executive order poses an “existential threat” to public broadcasting.
“After careful consideration, PBS reached the conclusion that it was necessary to take legal action to safeguard public television’s editorial independence, and to protect the autonomy of PBS member stations,” a PBS spokesperson said in a statement.
About one-fourth of PBS’s revenue is received directly from the federal government; additionally, about 61% of its budget is funded through local station dues, such as those provided by Lakeland PBS.
If Trump is permitted to enforce the order, PBS claims, it “would have profound impacts on the ability of PBS and PBS member stations to provide a rich tapestry of programming to all Americans.”
The White House responded to PBS as well as NPR, which is litigating a separate but similar claim against the administration.
“[T]he President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
Sources
PBS and Minnesota public TV station sue Trump White House
PBS Sues Trump Over Order to Cut Funding
PBS suing Trump administration over defunding, three days after NPR filed similar case
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