NPR and stations file lawsuit against Trump, arguing ending federal funding is illegal
NPR and stations file lawsuit against Trump, arguing ending federal funding is illegal
apnews.com
Highlights: NPR and stations file lawsuit against Trump, arguing ending federal funding is illegal
National Public Radio and three local stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, arguing that an executive order aimed at cutting federal funding for the organization is illegal.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington by NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KUTE, Inc. argues that Trump’s executive order to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR violates the First Amendment.
Where in the first amendment does it guarantee funding for state media?
NPR folks can’t seem to make up their minds. Does it need the government funding or not? Because every time this comes up, the NPR defenders diminish the impact by saying only a small fraction of funding comes from the government, but now it’s somehow a showstopper if the funding stops?
The corporation for public broadcasting has been manufacturing consent for made up wars since their inception. I’ve heard them read CIA press releases verbatim on-air without even minimal pushback. And their corporatization for the past few decades has only exasperated the problems, while cutting out any content of value. Fuck’em.
Funding is not guaranteed by the first amendment, but trump retaliating against them because he doesn’t like their content is a violation of free speech and that’s what the lawsuit is alleging. From the article:
“The Order’s objectives could not be clearer: the Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country.”
That is an extremely weak legal argument with potentially disastrous precedent being set that no government entity could be defunded for their policies.