By Wesley Brown – President Donald J. Trump moved forward with a campaign promise to end funding for the National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a goal also shared by Republican lawmakers in Arkansas attempting to do the same.

At the end of a week where he celebrated his first 100 days in office, Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that “ceases federal funding to NPR and PBS to the maximum extent allowed by law.”

The order also ceases indirect funding to PBS and NPR by prohibiting local radio and television stations and any other recipients of Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) funds from using taxpayer dollars to support these organizations.

It further directs all federal agencies to terminate any direct or indirect funding to NPR and PBS and to review existing grants and contracts for compliance. “We don’t need (them), it is a waste of money,” Trump told reporters during a White House press conference in late March.

PBS, NPR executive say they will fight Trump’s order

However, PBS and NPR executives do not take the news lightly. NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement that the national public radio network with affiliate stations in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Jonesboro, and Texarkana will challenge the executive order “using all means available.”

“America’s founders knew that an informed public is essential to a functioning democracy, and that commitment to serve an informed public is the heart of NPR’s mission. (Our) independence has informed the role of public broadcasting in the American interest for more than half a century, and is core to our relentless commitment to editorial independence and integrity in our service today,” said Maher

The NPR executive also called the order “an affront” to the First Amendment rights of NPR and the 246 locally owned and operated stations that produce and air programming that meets the needs of their communities.

“This is not about balancing the federal budget,” said Maher, adding that only Congress could defund public media. “The appropriation for public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS, represents less than 0.0001% of the federal budget.”

Similarly, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger pushed back against the Trump administration’s executive order, which also included in the Project 2025 blueprint for  overhauling the federal government. That 920-page conservative playbook, which Trump disavowed during the presidential campaign, calls for removing the $535 million line-item appropriation to CPS from the annual federal budget.

“The president’s blatantly unlawful executive order, issued in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years,” said Kerger. “We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.”

Although federal funding represents less than one percent of financial backing for public radio and TV stations in Arkansas and across the U.S., public broadcasting supporters state that every one dollar of federal funding generates $7 from local sources, enabling stations to produce programing for local and national distribution.

Arkansas PBS executive steps down after state fight to defund public media

PBS and public news supporters in Arkansas have been making that argument during the past two legislation sessions, when Republican lawmakers introduced bills to eliminate the Arkansas Educational Television Commission (AETN), which oversees Arkansas PBS on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.

During the recent 95^th General Assembly, Sen. Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro sponsored Senate Bill 184, which would have eliminated both the State Library Board and AETN and transferred their power and authority to transfer the state Department of Education. After negotiations with AETN officials,

Although SB184 was approved by Senate in a 23-8 vote in February and transferred to the House for consideration, Sullivan eventually removed the public network from his bill after negotiations with AETN officials. In the last week of the session, Arkansas lawmakers introduced a new bill, Senate Bill 640, that revamped the State Library Board, removing all current members and giving the sitting governor authority to replace them. 

That bill was approved in the Senate by a 28-4 vote on April 10 and sent to the House for consideration. It was approved by a vote of 60-29 on the last day of the session and delivered to Gov. Sarah Sanders the next day. She signed the legislation, now Act  903, into law on April 22.

Although saved from elimination, Sullivan efforts to undercut PBS funding did not end after the session recessed on April 18. Two days before the session ended, the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee approved a $6.49 billion budget and another $299.5 million in surplus funds that included the PBS budget.

On April 25, Sullivan sought to amend Act 137, a nearly $9 million appropriations bill that would have slashed the spending authority for privately raised funds to $7.2 million. Although Sullivan’s bill would not have cut PBS’ personnel and operating budget, it would have reduced the network’s spending power for contributions and donations raised above that amount.

History repeats itself

This is the first time nor will likely not be the last time that state and federal officials seek to cut funding to public radio and TV stations. Going back to 1967, when the Public Broadcasting Act was enacted into law, conservative Republican lawmakers have sought to eliminate or cut funding to public media several times.

Three years before Watergate, former President Nixon wanted to halve the CPB’s budget in 1969. However, Fred Rogers of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” convinced a congressional committee to reverse the proposed cuts. Under former President Clinton, House Speaker Newt Gingrich also sought to slash funding to public media in 1995, while former President George W. Bush sought to line-item CPB out of every budget during his two terms in office.

During his first term, GOP lawmakers worked with President Trump to introduce legislation removing CPB funding from his annual budget. Before his executive order, Trump’s newly appoint Federal Communications Chairman (FCC) Brandon Carr sent a letter to Maher and  Kerger, telling them the agency was opening an investigation because the network violate federal law by airing commercials.

Carr’s letter, which was sent only nine days after Trump took office, also shared the president’s desire that PBC and NPR should be defunded. Also, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., introduced the “No Propaganda Act” that would also cut federal funding for America’s public media. That legislation, Senate Bill 5427, has been read twice and referred to the U.S. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, but no action has been taken.

However, the House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency , which oversees Elon Musk’s DOGE team, held hearings on Capitol Hill in late March where Committee Chair Rep. Marjorie Greene of Georgia called PBS and NPR programming “communist.”

In Arkansas, efforts to dismantle PBS and public media in the Natural State also go back several years. In early 2016, Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, recommended that the legislative Joint Budget Committee cut PBS funding from former Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s $5.3 billion budget to fund the state’s rainy-day account.

Also, after a state audit found issues with AETN bid contracting process, Sullivan first introduced legislation during the 2022 fiscal session to cut Arkansas PBS spending authority from the 2023 fiscal budget by 25% from $5.88 million to $4.41 million. That bill, however, was opposed by Gov. Hutchinson and Arkansas PBS’s full budget was eventually approved by the Joint Budget Committee.

However, under Gov. Sanders, Sullivan has won some of his battles to overhaul AETN’s operations. Exactly a year ago, Sanders appointed Maria Sullivan, wife of the District 21 senator, to a seven-year term on the AETN Commission that governs Arkansas PBS.

On April 17, one day before the end the 2025 legislative session, the Commission announced that longtime Arkansas PBS Executive Director and CEO Courtney Pledger was stepping down this month (May) after eight years with statewide public media network. The Commission met on April 26 to consider Pledger’s replacement, is now accepting applications and will livestream a public meeting on May 6 to discuss the top role for the public media network.

During the recent legislative session, Pledger testified during Senate hearings and told lawmakers that dismantling AETN and transferring its authority to the state Education Department would undermine its independence

Sullivan has also been the author of several new laws to end affirmation action and diversity, equity and inclusion programs and positions across state government. In the first week of the 95^th General Assembly, Sullivan introduced Senate Bill 3, his second attempt at banning affirmative action in Arkansas after a similar bill failed during the 2023 session.

However, after several heated debates during Senate and House committee hearings, the bill was approved in both chambers in February where voting split largely along party lines. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Sarah Sanders on Feb. 18 as Act 116. Sullivan also was the chief sponsor of SB520 that bans DEI “offices, officers, policies or practices” across local government in Arkansas.

That bill, now Act 747, was signed into law on the last day of the legislative session. It was approved in the Senate and House by votes of 22-7 and 68-22, respectively.