NPR sues Trump over order to cut funding, cites free speech
Share this @internewscast.com

Background: The National Public Radio (NPR) headquarters is photographed on May 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images). Inset: President Donald Trump is attentive during the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).

National Public Radio has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump concerning his executive order to eliminate its federal funding, claiming that he is breaching the Constitution and retaliating over its news coverage of issues like Hunter Biden and the origins of COVID-19.

Trump’s May 1 executive order targets NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service, both of which receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The order alleges that neither NPR nor PBS “provides a fair, accurate, or unbiased representation of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.

The CPB already sued the Trump administration in March over the president’s attempt to fire three of its five board members. On Tuesday, NPR and three of its member stations — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT — filed their own lawsuit, arguing Trump’s order demonstrates an “overt retaliatory purpose.”

“The Order is unlawful in multiple ways. It flatly contravenes statutes duly enacted by Congress and violates the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause by disregarding Congress’s express commands,” the lawsuit reads, referring to how Congress appropriated funds for the organization. “It also violates the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press.”

The order “expressly aims to punish and control Plaintiffs’ news coverage and other speech the Administration deems ‘biased,”” the lawsuit continues.

The White House released a “fact sheet” along with the executive order, in which the administration argued the nation’s media landscape has shifted so much since the CPB’s inception in 1967 and that it is “filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options, making government funding of news media outdated, unnecessary, and corrosive to journalistic independence.”

The administration also alleged that NPR and PBS “have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars.” The White House pointed to NPR’s coverage, or lack thereof, of the COVID-19 China lab leak theory and the 2020 Hunter Biden laptop story, which NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher admitted in March that the organization should have reported on “more aggressively and sooner.”

Maher, however, maintains the order stripping NPR’s funding is “retaliatory” and a “clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press,” she said in a statement.

“The Supreme Court has ruled numerous times over the past 80 years that the government does not have the right to determine what counts as ‘biased,’” she added.

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like

Tragic Incident: Church Volunteer Killed by Homeless Individual He Sheltered, Say Police

Background: Matthew Dieringer at his court appearance on Sept. 7 (KPHO). Inset:…

Police Report: Woman Allegedly Injured Baby and Covered Bruises with Makeup

Background: Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Ark. (Google Maps). Inset:…

Adoptive Parents of 9-Year-Old Murder Victim Charged Again as Another Child Discovered Malnourished in Their Care

A Pennsylvania woman was criminally charged on Friday, a day after her…

Three Top MS-13 Leaders Sentenced to Decades in Prison

Left to right: Walter Antonio Chicas-Garcia a.k.a. Mejia, Wilson Jose Ventura-Mejia a.k.a.…

Florida Woman’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Defense Rejected by Judge

Inset: Daisy Link (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: Turner Guilford Knight Correctional…

Couple Faces Child Neglect Charges for Allowing 5-Year-Old to Roam Unsupervised in Apartment Complex

Staff report GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Two men, Craig Darnell Presley, 52, and…

Man Charged with Sexual Abuse of Five Boys in His Residence

Massachusetts police arrested a man on Monday they said sexually abused five…

“Woman’s Horrifying Experience: Man Sentenced for Rape from Decades Ago”

Warning: This story contains details and content that some readers may find…

Body Found in Tesla Owned by Emerging US Music Star D4vd

A decomposed body in a bag was reportedly found in a Tesla…

Fundraiser for Suspected Stabber Taken Down by GoFundMe

Inset left: Left to right: Decarlos Dejuan Brown, Jr. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s…

Tragic Incident: Grandson Accused in Grandmother’s Death

Background: The residence where Elizabeth Totsky was found injured by police (WITI/YouTube).…

Gainesville Woman Receives One-Year Jail Sentence for Reckless Driving in Deadly Crash

Staff report GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kenyata Markeisha Tucker, 33, has been given…