A court settlement has called for National Public Radio (NPR) to receive approximately $36million in government funding following the broadcaster’s row with President Donald Trump.
The grant money will allow the US organisation to operate under the terms set out by the court. As The Detroit News reports, the settlement was made with the federal government’s steward of funding for public broadcasting stations.
It partially resolves a legal dispute in which NPR accused the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) of bowing to pressure from Trump to cut off its funding.
Earlier this year, the POTUS signed an executive order to end the federal funding of what he described as “biased media” outlets NPR and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Seemingly accusing the two broadcasters of having a left-wing bias, the order stated: “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.
“At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.”
Trump had previously said he would “love to” defund NPR and PBS because he believed they were biased in favour of the Democrats.
The new settlement states that both NPR and CPB agree that the executive order is unconstitutional, and that the latter won’t enforce it unless a court orders it to do so.
Katherine Maher, NPR’s president and CEO, said the settlement was “a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the First Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system”.
Patricia Harrison, the corporation’s CEO, called it “an important moment for public media.”
NPR has accused the CPB of violating its First Amendment free speech rights when it moved to cut off its access to grant money appropriated by Congress. NPR has also accused Trump of wanting to punish it for the content of its journalism.
In April, the CPB’s board initially approved a three-year, approximately $36million extension of a grant for NPR to operate the “interconnection” satellite system for public radio.
NPR has been operating and managing the Public Radio Satellite System since 1985.
However, the CPB reversed course amid growing pressure from the President’s administration, according to NPR.
It added that the agency redirected federal interconnection funds away from NPR to an entity that didn’t exist, which wasn’t statutorily authorised to receive the money. CPB’s attorneys denied that the agency had retaliated against NPR to appease Trump – arguing that NPR’s claims were factually and legally meritless.
The settlement does not end a lawsuit in which NPR is seeking to block any implementation or enforcement of the POTUS’ executive order. US District Judge Randolph Moss is scheduled to preside over the next hearing for the case next Thursday (December 4).
Over the summer, Gwar vocalist Blöthar The Berserker hit out at the proposed cuts to public media in the US. Last week, it was announced that .