NPR seeks restraining order against CPB distribution grant
NPR is asking a U.S. district court to grant a temporary restraining order that would prevent CPB from distributing funds for satellite interconnection to an entity other than NPR.
CPB announced Friday that it would provide $57.9 million over five years to Public Media Infrastructure, a new nonprofit created to provide distribution of public radio content. The group consists of American Public Media Group, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, New York Public Radio, PRX and the Station Resource Group.
NPR, which has managed the Public Radio Satellite System since 1979, argued in a filing in an ongoing case Friday that by providing funding to another entity for distribution services, CPB is carrying out President Trump’s May executive order “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization Of Biased Media,” which prompted a legal challenge from NPR and a handful of stations. The order directed executive agencies and CPB’s board to stop federal funding for NPR and PBS.
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Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
Democracy and politics | Signalgate | The CBS submission | Voiceless America
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