NPR CEO rips Trump order to defund as ‘retaliation,’ insists media outlet is 'non-partisan'

NPR CEO Katherine Maher assured PBS connected Wednesday that her outlet is "non-partisan" pursuing President Donald Trump’s latest enforcement bid seeking to defund the station. 

In an interrogation connected "PBS NewsHour," the NPR brag trashed Trump’s executive order to "cease Federal backing for NPR," calling it "viewpoint discrimination" and saying that Trump is conscionable taking it retired connected NPR due to the fact that it goes against his views. 

"And so, it is simply a textbook illustration of viewpoint favoritism from a First Amendment standpoint," she said, adding, "Essentially, by blocking backing to NPR and PBS, it is simply a signifier of retaliation against our organizations for airing editorial programming that the president mightiness disagree with."

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NPR CEO Katherine Maher slammed President Trump's enforcement bid to cease national backing for NPR and PBS during a caller PBS interview. (Screenshot/PBS)

Trump signed the bid earlier this period which mandated that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and different national agencies halt backing NPR and different nationalist media outlets similar PBS. 

The text of the order read, "NPR and PBS person fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with payer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper usage of taxpayers’ money, arsenic President Trump has stated."

Maher’s outlet, joined by 3 nationalist Colorado stations — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT — filed a suit against the bid successful national tribunal connected Tuesday. In a statement, the NPR CEO said, "The Executive Order is simply a wide usurpation of the Constitution and the First Amendment's protections for state of code and association, and state of the press."

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During the PBS interrogation connected Wednesday, Maher suggested that Trump’s enforcement bid violated "safeguards" established by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 that support "public media autarkic from authorities influence."

PBS has not joined NPR’s suit but said it is weighing ineligible options, among others. 

"PBS is considering each option, including taking ineligible action, to let our enactment to proceed to supply indispensable programming and services to subordinate stations and each Americans," PBS spokesperson Jeremy Gaines said earlier this week.

PBS NewsHour anchor Geoff Bennett asked Maher astir accusations that NPR promotes a wide bias, bringing up Republicans’ claims, arsenic good arsenic those of erstwhile NPR exertion Uri Berliner. 

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NPR CEO Katherine Maher has been railing against President Trump for his enforcement bid slashing payer funds to NPR and PBS. (Screenshot/CBS)

Berliner, who discontinue NPR successful 2024, blew the whistle connected the outlet successful an effort for The Free Press that aforesaid year, slamming NPR for its "absence of viewpoint diversity."

Maher responded to the critiques, declaring, "Well, archetypal of all, I respond by saying we’re a non-partisan quality organization. We question to beryllium capable to supply a scope of antithetic viewpoints successful presumption of who we bring connected air, the stories that we tell."

"My presumption is that is simply a mischaracterization of our work. We bash not question to favour immoderate governmental enactment astatine all. We question to guarantee that Americans person a wide scope of perspectives disposable to them," she added. 

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In effect to Maher's comments, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital: 

"The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is creating media to enactment a peculiar governmental enactment connected the taxpayers’ dime. Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authorization to bounds backing to NPR and PBS. The President was elected with a mandate to guarantee businesslike usage of payer dollars, and helium volition proceed to usage his lawful authorization to execute that objective."