This week, PBS launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that their First Amendment rights to free speech are being infringed. This follows a nearly identical suit filed by NPR last week.
The claim is absurd. No one is trying to stop people at these networks from speaking, we just don’t want to fund them with tax dollars. It’s funny, we have been told for years that federal tax dollars make up a small portion of their funding, but when a Republican president finally decides to yank it, they act like it’s the end of the world.
Axios reports:
PBS sues Trump administration over funding cutsThe nonprofit Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and one of its local affiliates on Friday said they sued the Trump administration over the executive order seeking to cease all federal funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and PBS.Why it matters: The lawsuit follows a similar complaint filed by NPR earlier this week.
- PBS CEO Paula Kerger had alluded to the broadcaster’s willingness to take legal action in an interview with Axios last month, saying she would would “vigorously” defend PBS’ board from any political interference.
State of play: The complaint, which was filed in a U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., argues the president doesn’t have the authority to serve “as the arbiter of the content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”
- It argues the president lacks the power to influence funding decisions made by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a non-government entity. (CPB allocates around $535 million in federal funding annually to NPR and PBS.)
- It also says the president’s executive order violates PBS’ First Amendment rights.
- With the complaint, PBS is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from Trump’s executive order and asks the court to declare that the order violates the Constitution.
What they’re saying: “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,” a spokesperson said.
When talking about NPR’s lawsuit, CEO Katherine Maher actually claimed that they are “a non-partisan news organization,” which is laughable.
FOX News reported:
NPR CEO rips Trump order to defund as ‘retaliation,’ insists media outlet is ‘non-partisan’In an interview on “PBS NewsHour,” the NPR boss trashed Trump’s executive order to “cease Federal funding for NPR,” calling it “viewpoint discrimination” and saying that Trump is just taking it out on NPR because it goes against his views.“And so, it is a textbook example of viewpoint discrimination from a First Amendment standpoint,” she said, adding, “Essentially, by blocking funding to NPR and PBS, it is a form of retaliation against our organizations for airing editorial programming that the president might disagree with.”…Maher responded to the critiques, declaring, “Well, first of all, I respond by saying we’re a non-partisan news organization. We seek to be able to provide a range of different viewpoints in terms of who we bring on air, the stories that we tell.”
Watch this clip:
Yes, non-partisan. Of course…
It’s ironic for Maher to hide behind the First Amendment on this, considering she once derided it.
Frankly, I don’t see why my tax dollars should fund this.
Featured image via Twitter video.
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