After attempting to bend the knee to the Trump administration, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has agreed to restore its $36 million, three-year contract with NPR and fund its satellite distribution service for local radio stations. Per NPR, the settlement ends litigation between NPR and the CPB over the Corporation’s refusal to distribute congressionally allocated funds for “interconnection purposes,” i.e., the distribution system. NPR accused its decades-long partner of reneging on the contract days after Trump ordered the defunding of public media; CPB claimed it canceled the contract with NPR to award it to Public Media Infrastructure (PMI), a new consortium of public radio organizations. The judge wasn’t buying what CPB was selling and decided it hadn’t made a credible argument for breaking the contract.
“The settlement is a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the First Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system in our legal challenge to [Trump’s] Executive Order,” Katherine Maher, President and CEO of NPR, said in a statement. “While we entered into this dispute with CPB reluctantly, we’re glad to resolve it in a way that enables us to continue to provide for the stability of the Public Radio Satellite System, offer immediate and direct support to public radio stations across the country, and proceed with our strong and substantive claims against this illegal and unconstitutional Executive Order. We look forward to our day in court in December.”
Trump issued Executive Order 14290 (“Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media”) on May 1, ordering CBP to cease funding NPR and PBS. Of course, executive orders aren’t laws, so there’s no legal reason for the CPB to adhere to them, especially when they might be unconstitutional. After all, Congress established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to funnel congressional funds to public media and prevent the government from, well, doing exactly what it’s attempting to do. The goal of his order came to fruition in Congress, when Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill passed over the summer and rescinded $1.1 billion previously allocated to public media. NPR, along with three Colorado public radio stations, has filed suit against the White House, claiming the executive order violates the First Amendment. Hearings will begin in December.
