A long running standoff between National Public Radio and the Trump administration has taken a sharp turn, with a new court settlement directing the federal government to give NPR roughly 36 million dollars in funding.
It’s a major moment in a dispute that began when President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed squarely at public media earlier this year.
The settlement, reported by The Detroit News, was reached with the federal body responsible for allocating money to public broadcasting. It represents a partial resolution to NPR’s accusation that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting caved to political pressure when it moved to cut off the broadcaster’s access to grant funding.
The conflict escalated when Trump signed an executive order calling to end federal support for what he labelled “biased media,” naming NPR and PBS specifically. The order claimed that “government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” adding that “Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.” He had previously said he would “love to” defund the networks, arguing they favored Democrats.
The new agreement
Under the new agreement, both NPR and CPB state that the executive order is unconstitutional. CPB has agreed not to enforce it unless a court specifically requires it. NPR maintains that the agency violated its First Amendment rights and attempted to punish the organisation for its reporting. The broadcaster also said CPB redirected interconnection funding to an entity that “didn’t exist,” something CPB lawyers reject, calling NPR’s claims factually and legally baseless.
NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher welcomed the decision, calling it “a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the First Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system.” CPB’s CEO Patricia Harrison described it as “an important moment for public media.”
The settlement doesn’t shut the door on the larger legal fight, NPR is still pushing to block any implementation of Trump’s order, with US District Judge Randolph Moss scheduled to hear the next phase of arguments on December 4.
Public media funding has become a cultural flashpoint outside the courtroom as well, GWAR vocalist Blöthar The Berserker condemned the proposed cuts earlier this year, and John Oliver is currently auctioning off a Blöthar-signed bidet to help raise cash for public broadcasting. Trump, meanwhile, says he still intends to sue the BBC for ‘between 1 billion and 5 billion dollars’ and is reportedly trying to revive the Rush Hour film franchise.
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