Just three days after members of the National Public Radio network sued the federal government over proposed cuts, PBS – the Public Broadcasting System – has filed a similar lawsuit against the current White House administration for cutting funds to the point of eliminating the service all together. There are 330 stations in the PBS network.
The White House has been very vocal over their opinions on what NPR and PBS carries; calling it “woke” and “biased against conservatives”.
Following NPR, PBS states in their lawsuit that the move “oversteps authority and is engaging in ‘viewpoint discrimination’.”
Lawyer Z.W. Julius Chen filed the suit with the U.S. District Court in Washington, saying the, “PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms. But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”
The PBS suit is just the latest in a growing list of media organizations filing suits against the White House administration.
Lakeland PBS serves the rural areas of northern and central Minnesota; joining the suit they noted, “Trump’s order is an “existential threat” to the station.”
A spokesperson for PBS stated, “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.”
Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the 330 member PBS stations were allotted a total of $325 million by Congress for 2025; 22 percent of the total funding with 61 percent of PBS’ budget is funded through individual station dues and subscriptions obtained through their “fundraising drives”.
White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields claims, “the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Adding, “therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS. The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective.”
Lawyer Chen also noted that the administration’s order, “would have profound impacts on the ability of PBS and PBS member stations to provide a rich tapestry of programming to all Americans.”
PBS added, “the U.S. Department of Education has canceled a $78 million grant to the system for educational programming, used to make children’s shows like ‘Sesame Street’, ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’, and ‘Reading Rainbow’”.
The lawsuit names several members of the current administration including the president himself, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Homeland Security is included since PBS maintains the Emergency Broadcast System that keeps citizens informed during times when the normal channels of broadcast communications are not available.