Trump administration ends funding for NPR, PBS in executive order

Chicago area’s public broadcasters to be affected

American public networks PBS and NPR are exploring legal options after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday night, eliminating federal funding for both. The moves are certain to impact Chicago’s WTTW and WBEZ, and Merrillville’s Lakeshore Public Media, which consists of WYIN and WLPR-FM (89.1 FM).

The order comes as no surprise since Republicans have long accused both of liberal bias, as they have been wanting to cut funding since at various times going back to the Reagan administration. Trump’s order is more for show than law; Congress controls funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and critics say it actually violates the law. 

“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” the corporation said in a statement. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.” CPB is suing the Trump Administration after it fired three of the five members of its board recently. 

PBS head Paula Kruger called the action a “blatantly unlawful Executive Order, issued in the middle of the night.”

WTTW and Chicago Public Media, the owner of WBEZ, have undergone cuts in recent years, with WTTW reducing its Public affairs show Chicago Tonight to a half-hour and merging its Black Voices and Latino Voices shows into the program, while CPM has laid off staffers at WBEZ, shuttered Vocalo, and reduced its local programming to an hour a day. WBEZ has also been accused of pandering to the far left during the Matt Moog era – a complaint Trump and conservatives have made repeatedly about NPR. 

In an interview on WBEZ yesterday, Chicago Public Media CEO Melissa Bell said she doesn’t know what the future holds. 

“It’s hard to tell what the long-term impact will be”, she said. “You know, I do believe that one of the things that we’re really trying to focus on is finding the sustainable future that is really tied to our membership support.” She said six percent of WBEZ’s budget comes from federal funding. 

WTTW officials have yet to comment on Thursday night’s executive order. 

The cuts would have more of an impact on smaller outlets, especially Lakeshore Public Media, which serves Northwest Indiana. WYIN once had a nightly newscast called Lakeshore News Tonight, but it was reduced to a weekly show in 2014 and renamed Lakeshore Focus, and was canceled in 2016 due to decreased funding. It continues to produce public affairs programming and has a small news team that covers the region on its website. 

In downstate Peoria, WTVP was nearly foreclosed on in 2008, and Bradley University’s WCBU-FM was taken over by Illinois State in nearby Normal six years ago due to financial difficulties and after its home at Jobst Hall was demolished. WCBU’s news department consists of five employees, typical for a small-market public radio station. 

Cuts to public broadcasting have long been opposed by voters, no matter what political affiliation they are affiliated with, as it provides a service and has quality children’s programming, such as the long-running Sesame Street. But Trump has made it clear he wants to end federal funding, and his allies will go along with him, no matter what their constituents say. Public broadcasters would have to find another stream of revenue to replace the money lost, via increasing donors, attracting corporate sponsorships, or holding more pledge drives. And as the economy continues to falter, it’s easier said than done.