Trump sues Corporation for Public Broadcasting directors who refused to be fired

When contacted by Ars today, the CPB did not offer any comment on the Trump administration’s lawsuit but referred us to its June 8 statement on Moss’s ruling. “We are very pleased that the Court recognized CPB is an independent, nonprofit corporation, free from governmental control or influence,” CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said at the time.

Although Moss denied the request for an injunction, the CPB said the board members would continue in their offices. “Consistent with the Court’s decision and the authority provided under the governing statute, Harrison has today taken steps to affirm that the three individuals whom the President purported to remove, Laura G. Ross, Thomas E. Rothman, and Diane Kaplan, are, remain, and shall continue to be directors of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” the June 8 statement said.

Senate debates Trump budget cut

This week, the Senate is debating Trump’s rescission requests, including one to rescind $1.1 billion previously allocated to the CPB. The White House has claimed that NPR and PBS “spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.'” The $1.1 billion is two years’ worth of funding.

“More than 70 percent of CPB’s annual appropriation goes directly to more than 1,500 public television and public radio stations… The annual appropriation also funds TV and radio programming, as well as projects that benefit the entire public media system,” the CPB said in a statement in May.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, last week released a report detailing the potential effects that approving Trump’s funding cut could have on public safety.

“The operations of 79 public radio and 33 TV stations across 34 states and territories are considered vulnerable to federal funding cuts,” the report summary said. “Nearly 13 million Americans live in communities under threat of losing their local public broadcast stations. What’s worse, these stations serve large swaths of the Western, Midwestern, and Southeastern United States at risk of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other public safety emergencies.”