PBS has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration challenging his executive order targeting public broadcasting.
PBS’s lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Washington, accuses the administration of unlawfully interfering in the operations of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and committing multiple violations of the First Amendment – viewpoint discrimination, illegal retaliation against the network and encroachment of PBS’s press freedoms. The suit also alleges the administration has violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
In this photo illustration, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.
Rafael Henrique/Sopa Images via Sipa USA via AP
The suit is filed by the network and its member station in Northern Minnesota, Lakeland PBS. It follows legal actions by NPR and the CPB, each of which seeks to block Trump’s efforts to dismantle federal support for public radio and television, support that began with the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.
“The EO 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 speech,” the lawsuit states. “That is blatant viewpoint discrimination and an infringement of PBS and PBS Member Stations’ private editorial discretion.”
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 May 1.
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. 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.”
If allowed to take effect, the executive order “would have profound impacts on the ability of PBS and PBS Member Stations to provide a rich tapestry of programming to all Americans,” the PBS complaint states.
Trump alleged in the executive order that NPR and PBS have failed to provide “fair, accurate, unbiased and nonpartisan news.” The two networks vehemently deny the charge.
