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Trump to PBS and NPR: I’m cutting you off…

Y2kTheNewOldies said:

PBS News Weekend signs off for Good and John Yang leaves WETA-TV as part of the cut.
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It’s being replaced by two different shows, one on Saturdays and one on Sundays:
www.pbs.org

PBS News to Launch New Weekend Programming for Broadcast and Streaming Audiences

Arlington, VA (December 15, 2025) — PBS News senior executive producer Sara Just today announced the January 2026 debut of two new 30-minute weekend programs – “Horizons from PBS News," which will focus on science, health, and technology and will be hosted by William Brangham, and “Compass...
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org
 
www.yahoo.com

Former Arkansas First Ladies fighting to keep PBS on Arkansas TV

A battle over the future of public television in Arkansas continues on as two former Arkansas first ladies are leading a new group trying to keep PBS on Arkansas airwaves with a deal with Arkansas TV ...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

arktimes.com

PBS KIDS exec helps rally support for saving PBS access in Arkansas - Arkansas Times

Sara DeWitt, vice president and general manager of PBS Kids, came to town to discuss the importance of PBS educational programming, even as viewers in the state will lose access to it in July.
arktimes.com arktimes.com

arkansasadvocate.com

Arkansas Explained: What’s happening to public television in the state? | Arkansas Advocate

The PBS station has been rebranded as Arkansas TV, and officials say they’re preparing to launch in-house productions to replace many beloved programs.
arkansasadvocate.com arkansasadvocate.com

Here is the current status on Arkansas TV as parts of the state fight to provide the Arkansas with PBS affiliation.
 
arkansasadvocate.com

UPDATED: Arkansas public television commission pauses state plan to break off from PBS | Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas' public television commission voted Thursday to pause efforts to become the first state to cut ties with PBS after hearing almost two hours of frustrated public comments from opponents including the head of the national network.
arkansasadvocate.com arkansasadvocate.com

Here is the meeting between Arkansas TV management and the CEO of PBS about their affiliation in the state.

Arkansas TV CEO Carlton Wing, who assumed the role in September, again said Thursday that the station could not afford to pay more than $2 million in PBS dues. Only PBS member stations can purchase PBS programs, and the station used about half of a $2.5 million community service grant for this purpose before CPB shuttered.

PBS CEO Paula Kerger told the commission it needed to consider all its options and hear from the public before making PBS programs unavailable over the air, especially to rural parts of Arkansas with poor broadband access. Opponents who spoke also included former Arkansas first ladies Gay White and Barbara Pryor, who co-chair a group formed to oppose the disaffiliation.

About 20 people spoke at the meeting, the first time commissioners could remember anyone signing up for the public comment portion of its meeting. People with signs supporting PBS filled an overflow space in the Allen Weatherly Atrium.
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Only PBS member stations can purchase PBS programs, and the station used about half of a $2.5 million community service grant for this purpose before CPB shuttered.
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This is an improper use of the community service grant. That money was never intended to pay for PBS. It was granted to the station for service to the local community. That's why it's called a Community Service Grant. In other words, hiring local staff or buying local studio equipment. Not paying for PBS.

Membership money is supposed to be used to pay for PBS. The stations say that on the air when they fundraise. They tell the viewers that they are paying so they can watch these TV programs from PBS. So what the state of Arkansas did was commit fraud. They fraudulently told their viewers to become members, and used their money for other things. Now they're taking away PBS programming from the very people who paid for it. The viewers of Arkansas Public TV should sue for fraud.
 
This is a separate issue from the recission of CPB funds, because that was done by Congress. After that, CPB disbanded. That came up during the hearing:

The judge agreed with government attorneys that some of the news outlets’ legal claims are moot, partly because the CPB no longer exists.

“But that does not end the matter because the Executive Order sweeps beyond the CPB,” Moss added. “It also directs that all federal agencies refrain from funding NPR and PBS — regardless of the nature of the program or the merits of their applications or requests for funding.”
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By other federal agencies, that would mean FEMA or the National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities.

My expectation is that if this ruling is upheld, there would be litigation over the CPB recission, because the president used the same argument in his request to rescind funding. If that argument is unconstitutional, it throws out the entire justification.
 
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desertaire said:
And if the Gov't has to fund PBS..then they will have a say on what PBS will be showing.
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Read the public broadcasting act. Congress was very concerned about government control of PBS.

The "say" that the government has was spelled out in the act. Part of that is the president has no role.

BTW, the ruling doesn't require the refunding of CPB. That's a congressional action. This is aimed at various agencies. So FEMA funds the emergency broadcasting that NPR & PBS do. There's nothing controversial there. Other agencies issue grants to NPR & PBS. The rules over how that money is spent is spelled out in the grant. PBS is an independent company that receives money from lots of places, not just the government.
 
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only1moore said:
This just in…
variety.com

Judge Rules Trump’s Order to End Funding for PBS, NPR Was an Illegal First Amendment Violation

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump's executive order to end funding for NPR and PBS public media was an illegal violation of the First Amendment.
variety.com variety.com
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This is likely to be appealed, not because it has any practical effect, since Congress rescinded, and won't restore, CPB funding, but to get an objective court to review this which didn't happen at this level.

Nothing changes, there just may be more court action on this. CPB is dead and buried. PBS really needs to focus on fundraising and continuing to optimize their operation to align with the funding they do have.
 
TheBigA said:
My expectation is that if this ruling is upheld, there would be litigation over the CPB recission
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There will be no successful litigation in this regard because Congress, which Constitutionally controls the funding, voted to rescind it and not to include it in a subsequent fiscal year appropriation.
 
umfan said:
This is likely to be appealed, not because it has any practical effect, since Congress rescinded, and won't restore, CPB funding, but to get an objective court to review this which didn't happen at this level.
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Of course there will be an appeal. There is no such thing as an "objective court," according to this president. When the supreme court ruled against him in the tariff case, he attacked them as being corrupt, disloyal, and unfair. That's the way he sees it. Courts are good when they rule in his favor. They're bad when they don't. The media is fake when it doesn't report what he wants. Regardless of who it is. He's welcome to his opinions. But he can't use his office to restrict free speech.

As the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have observed on more than a dozen occasions, the government ‘may not deny a benefit to a person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected . . . freedom of speech even if he has no entitlement to that benefit.’
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