Oregon Democrats on Friday condemned President Donald Trump’s order to defund NPR and PBS, accusing the president of acting beyond the scope of his authority in an effort to silence the press.
The president’s order, issued Thursday night, told the board of directors with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop taxpayer funding NPR and PBS, two of America’s largest public broadcasters. He claims their reporting is biased, inaccurate and unfair.
It’s not clear what effect — if any — the president’s order will have on public broadcasting funding. The order will likely lead to a lengthy court battle.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, the senior member of Oregon’s Congressional delegation, said Friday that the president “has made it his personal obsession to label impartial facts and fair reporting as enemies, so it’s no wonder he’s targeting public outlets that inform and educate all Americans.”
“As the son of a journalist and a proud defender of the First Amendment, I strongly oppose this latest Trump assault on information and will work to keep PBS and NPR on the air and free of Trump’s illegal interference,” Wyden said in a statement.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley echoed Wyden’s sentiment.
“Trump and his unelected billionaire sidekick Elon Musk want to defund public broadcasting, gutting critical sources of news that provide free, unbiased reporting, educational and arts programming, and critical emergency broadcasting,” Merkley said. “This abandonment of a free and independent press is just plain wrong. I’ll fight like hell to oppose these cuts.”
Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, is appropriated by Congress. CPB leaders said Friday that the president lacks the authority to issue such an order, adding: “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”
“In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors,” Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB, said in a statement.
Trump order infringes on First Amendment, Democrats say
The order is the latest of Trump’s many efforts to suppress what the administration sees as unfair and biased news coverage. It also could ramp up pressure on Republicans seeking to stop public support for public broadcasting.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, Oregon’s lone Republican member of Congress, was not available for comment Friday afternoon, a spokesperson said.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Portland, said the president’s effort “threatens the freedom of the press, a Constitutional right that is an essential part of Democracy.”
“These are the actions of authoritarian leadership and must be stopped,” Bonamici said in a statement. “The executive order to block funding for NPR and PBS must be challenged in the courts. I will do all I can to continue advocating to support public broadcasting and a free press.”
The order does not specifically call for stopping public funding to local radio and television stations nationwide, though the administration is poised to do that, according to NPR.
“This administration seems intent on undermining a free press, and public broadcasting has become a convenient target,” U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, said in a statement Friday.
Hoyle said public radio is especially important for rural communities, and that cutting funding could harm Americans’ access to “accurate and reliable information.”
“In Oregon, we know the importance of a free press — it’s part of our core values,” Hoyle said. “This isn’t a partisan issue, it’s an issue of protecting the truth and making sure local journalists are able to report without fear or favor. We cannot allow these cuts to stand and we must continue to defend public broadcasting from these attacks.”
U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Portland, called the order “a blatant attack on truth and the free flow of information.”
“We’ll fight this in Congress and in court because every Oregonian deserves access to the educational, cultural, and fact-based programming public broadcasting gives our communities,” Dexter said in a statement.
Local outlets fear Trump cuts
Halting public broadcasting funding could impact several public media organizations in Oregon at a time when local journalism is declining statewide.
In Eugene, federal funding from CPB makes up about 10% of the operating budget for KLCC, which covers Lane County and surrounding areas.
Jim Rondeau, the station‘s general manager, said in a web post that the consequences of rescinding federal funding would “ripple through every part of the public media system,” weakening outlets’ ability to report news.
“Communities that already lack reliable news coverage would fall even further behind. KLCC is determined not to let that happen,” Rondeau said. “We believe that just as KLCC was built by Oregon, it can be sustained by Oregonians like us.”
In Southern Oregon, Jefferson Public Radio gets about 14% of its annual revenue from the CPB. That’s $525,521 for the current fiscal year. The outlet noted that about “40% of CPB grantees are considered rural, based on population density.”
“This funding provides a foundation of support that helps us serve the mostly rural communities in our listening area with local fact-based news, national and global news from NPR, music not provided by commercial radio and emergency alerts,” the outlet said.
Federal funding makes up about 9% of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s operating budget. In a statement Friday, OPB leaders said: “The full scope and immediate impact of the executive order is unclear. This is an evolving situation.
“While OPB is funded largely through the support of our generous members, federal funding plays a critical role in helping OPB provide universal access to factual information — especially in often overlooked rural communities.”