(The Guardian) 'This wolf comes as a wolf': NPR sues Trump administration over 'retaliatory' order to cut taxpayer funding for NPR and PBS
Public broadcaster NPR and three Colorado public radio stations have sued the Trump administration over the president’s executive order to cease federal funding for NPR and fellow broadcaster PBS, calling the order an “affront to the first amendment”.
An extract from the broadcasters’ lawsuit, filed earlier today in the District of Columbia, reads: It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. ‘But this wolf comes as a wolf. The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President’s view, their news and other content is not ‘fair, accurate, or unbiased’.
Per NPR, “the lawsuit says the administration is usurping Congress’ right to direct how federal money will be spent and to pass laws. It calls Trump’s early May executive order ‘textbook retaliation’ and an existential threat to the public radio system ‘that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information’.”
NPR’s chief executive Katherine Maher said in a statement: The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press. This is retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has ruled numerous times over the past 80 years that the government does not have the right to determine what counts as ‘biased’.
NPR will never agree to this infringement of our constitutional rights, or the constitutional rights of our Member stations, and NPR will not compromise our commitment to an independent free press and journalistic integrity.
The three stations joining in the suit are the statewide Colorado Public Radio, based in Denver; Aspen Public Radio which broadcasts throughout the Roaring Fork Valley; and KSUT, originally founded by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and now serving four federally recognized tribes in the Four Corners region in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
Public broadcaster NPR and three Colorado public radio stations have sued the Trump administration over the president’s executive order to cease federal funding for NPR and fellow broadcaster PBS, calling the order an “affront to the first amendment”.
An extract from the broadcasters’ lawsuit, filed earlier today in the District of Columbia, reads: It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. ‘But this wolf comes as a wolf. The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President’s view, their news and other content is not ‘fair, accurate, or unbiased’.
Per NPR, “the lawsuit says the administration is usurping Congress’ right to direct how federal money will be spent and to pass laws. It calls Trump’s early May executive order ‘textbook retaliation’ and an existential threat to the public radio system ‘that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information’.”
NPR’s chief executive Katherine Maher said in a statement: The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press. This is retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has ruled numerous times over the past 80 years that the government does not have the right to determine what counts as ‘biased’.
NPR will never agree to this infringement of our constitutional rights, or the constitutional rights of our Member stations, and NPR will not compromise our commitment to an independent free press and journalistic integrity.
The three stations joining in the suit are the statewide Colorado Public Radio, based in Denver; Aspen Public Radio which broadcasts throughout the Roaring Fork Valley; and KSUT, originally founded by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and now serving four federally recognized tribes in the Four Corners region in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
