Non-profit TV broadcaster PBS has just sued the Trump administration, following through on threats to push back against massive cuts to its funding with legal action. Specifically, the complaint—filed in a U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.—targets a recent executive order from the White House ordering the Corporation For Public Broadcasting to cease giving public money to both PBS and NPR, allegedly because both organizations are “biased.”
PBS’s argument hinges on the fact that Trump doesn’t actually have authority to do any of this stuff, so it’s worth taking a second to step back and remind ourselves how funding for PBS works. Although it gets money from member stations, donations, and pledge drives, PBS—a non-government organization—gets a decent chunk of its operating budget from the CPB. Which is also not a government body, but does get the vast majority of its own operating funds (a little more than half a billion dollars, as of 2025) from an annual appropriation from Congress. (Meanwhile, the CPB’s board is appointed by the White House, although it’s worth noting that the organization is, itself, suing the Trump administration over his decision to try to fire several members of the board; as with a similar situation with the Kennedy Center earlier this year, the CPB argues that Trump has authority to appoint—in consultation with Congress—but not fire, sitting board members.)
Basically, PBS is arguing that Trump has no say over how the Corporation doles out its funds, which the EO—which explicitly has a section titled “Instructions to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”—runs in direct contradiction to. Per Axios, the complaint is “seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from Trump’s executive order and asks the court to declare that the order violates the Constitution.” In a statement to press, a PBS spokesperson said “After careful deliberation, 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.”
