in effect
Executive Order 14290, signed May 1, 2025, is a presidential directive instructing federal agencies and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to stop providing funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The order states the reason as a determination that NPR and PBS do not present fair, accurate, or unbiased news coverage, making their federal subsidies inconsistent with the CPB’s statutory requirement of impartiality.
The CPB Board of Directors must stop sending direct funding to NPR and PBS and cancel existing direct grants to the maximum extent the law allows. By June 30, 2025, the CPB must also revise its 2025 Community Service Grant rules for both radio and television to prohibit local member stations and other CPB grant recipients from using federal funds to pay NPR or PBS. All other federal agencies must identify and terminate any direct or indirect funding to NPR or PBS through contracts, grants, or other instruments. The Department of Health and Human Services is separately directed to review whether NPR and PBS are complying with the federal employment non-discrimination requirement under 47 U.S.C. 398(b) and take corrective action if they are not.
NPR and PBS stand to lose both direct CPB grants and the indirect federal funding that flows to them through local member stations. Local public radio and television stations that receive CPB Community Service Grants would be prohibited from passing any of those federal dollars to NPR or PBS for programming, membership dues, or other purposes. The general public, particularly listeners and viewers of public broadcasting, could see changes to the programming and services those outlets provide if alternative funding does not replace the lost federal support.