President Trump issued an executive order last night directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” claiming ideological bias.
In the U.S., public broadcasting comprises the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Public Television, and National Public Radio (NPR).
Public Television is comprised of 350 local TV stations nationwide grouped under Public Broadcast Service (PBS), which was established in 1969, while NPR comprises 1,000 local radio stations. Created in 1970, NPR functions as a national syndicator and it is funded by radio stations’ membership fees. CPB is a publicly funded non-profit corporation created in 1967 to financially support public broadcasting. Private, tax-deductible donations also finance individual local stations. The federal government provides CPB’s $535 million a year budget, of which 95 percent goes to local stations.
CPB responded dismissing the validity of the new order and said in a statement, “CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”
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