The PBS chain, the American public television, announced Friday that it filed a lawsuit against the Donald Trump government for the decree of the president who ordered to cut his federal funds and those of the NPR public radio.
The lawsuit, filed in the Federal Court of the Columbia district, argues that the president has no authorities to act as a “arbitrator of the content of PBS programming” nor can it influence the decisions of the Corporation for Public Radiodice (CPB), an organism that depends on Congress.
He also considers that Trump’s plan violates the first amendment of the Constitution, which enshrines freedom of expression in the country, so he asks the court to suspend the executive order of the president in a precautionary way.
PBS’s demand adds to the one presented last Tuesday NPR and several of their affiliated stations against Trump’s government for the same reason.
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Trump ordered the CPB at the beginning of May to minimize the current NPR and PBS budget, which he has repeatedly accused of maintaining a leftist bias.
The Executive Order also includes denying any “future financing” for both broadcasters, whose public funds are managed directly by Congress.
The CPB, created by Congress in 1967, is the main distribution agency of federal funds for public media and has a budget of about 535 million dollars for the current fiscal year.
Although federal funds represent about 1% of the NPR total budget, they represent between 8% and 10% for their more than 1,300 affiliated stations. In the case of PBS and its associated stations, approximately 15% of its income come from the CPB.
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The attack against NPR and PBS is not the first of the administration against public media. In March, Trump ordered the closure of the US agency for the global media (USAGM), which meant the suspension in the operations of the Voice of America and the cessation of more than 1,300 employees, who also demanded the government.
With EFE information
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