By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to cut funding to news outlets NPR and PBS, the White House said, marking the U.S. president’s latest attempt to use federal funding as leverage against institutions he does not view favorably.
The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding to PBS and NPR stations, to “cease direct funding” to them, according to the order’s text released by the White House late on Thursday. It labeled the news outlets as partisan and biased.
“The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding,” the order says.
Both NPR and PBS have previously said that Trump’s effort to cut their funding would disrupt essential media service and have a “devastating impact” on Americans who rely on them for credible local and national news, including during emergency situations.
The Trump administration has labeled multiple institutions in academia and the media industry – from Harvard and Columbia universities to NPR and PBS – as being leftist, Marxist, biased and woke, and threatened funding cuts. Human rights advocates have raised concerns over free speech and academic freedom.
The CPB sued the White House on Monday after Trump sought to fire three of its five board members. The nonprofit corporation was created by Congress in 1967 and provides funding for more than 1,500 locally managed public radio and TV stations.
Several media outlets have reported the White House plans to ask Congress to rescind $1.1 billion in funding for the CPB, with the amount being two years’ worth of funding.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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