{"id":22090,"date":"2025-05-27T11:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ksut-colorado-public-radio-npr-sue-trump-over-funding-cuts-restrictions\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T17:45:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:45:43","slug":"ksut-colorado-public-radio-npr-sue-trump-over-funding-cuts-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ksut-colorado-public-radio-npr-sue-trump-over-funding-cuts-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"KSUT, Colorado Public Radio, NPR sue Trump over funding cuts, restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tami
Tami Graham, KSUT executive director, and Clark Adomaitis, news reporter with KSUT, talk Tuesday in a studio at the radio station in Ignacio. KSUT has received a grant to expand news coverage in coming years. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

NPR and a group of Colorado-based public radio stations including Colorado Public Radio and KSUT in Ignacio filed suit Tuesday against the Trump administration in an effort to block planned federal funding cuts or restrictions to the broadcasters.<\/p>\n

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., points to remarks President Donald Trump<\/a> has made claiming that public broadcasting is biased against him as evidence that he is using the threat of funding cuts to chill the First Amendment rights of the broadcasters, including National Public Radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. \u2018But this wolf comes as a wolf,\u2019 \u201c the suit says, referencing language from prior court decisions. \u201cThe Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President\u2019s view, their news and other content is not \u2018fair, accurate, or unbiased.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of NPR, the plaintiffs are all Colorado-based, including CPR, Roaring Fork Public Radio of Aspen and KSUT Public Radio of Ignacio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about politics \u2013 it is about principle,\u201d reads a joint statement posted this morning from CPR, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio. \u201cWhen the government tries to limit press freedom or control the flow of information, we have not only the right, but the obligation, to speak out and defend our rights that make independent journalism possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado Public Radio reported<\/a> that federal grants make up about 5% of its projected revenue for fiscal year 2025, $1.4 million. The lawsuit says that rural or remote stations though receive 50% or more of their revenue from federal grants.<\/p>\n

NPR, meanwhile, receives little direct federal support. Grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting instead go to local stations, with some of that money going to NPR to pay for flagship news programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.<\/p>\n

The suit takes aim at an executive order signed by Trump on May 1, directing federal agencies to withhold funding from NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service and restricting local stations or networks that receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from spending any of it to acquire programming from NPR or PBS.<\/p>\n

\n

A joint statement by KSUT Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and Colorado Public Radio:<\/h4>\n

KSUT Public Radio, at 15150 Colorado Highway 172 in Ignacio, seen here on July 12. (Durango Herald file photo) \u201cAs nonprofit public media organizations, each of our stations exists to serve the people of our communities and Colorado with independent, fact-based journalism. We take our role very seriously. Our mission \u2014 and our responsibility \u2013 is grounded in the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press and protects our ability to hold those in power to account without interference. This includes protection against government interference in our editorial decisions as well as in purchasing, acquiring, producing, and broadcasting information. Aspen Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio have joined this important lawsuit because we believe the recent executive order threatens that core constitutional protection. This is not about politics\u2014it is about principle. When the government tries to limit press freedom or control the flow of information, we have not only the right, but the obligation, to speak out and defend our rights that make independent journalism possible. These participating Colorado stations reflect the diversity of public radio across the country \u2013 we are each independent, nonprofit organizations that represent rural, mountain, and urban communities and together serve every district of Colorado. We also share a deep commitment to providing local, fact-based news and information without government interference. We stand with NPR in invoking the First Amendment to protect the vital role that independent journalism plays in a healthy, functioning democracy. This is active litigation. Therefore, no additional comment is available at this time. 24001600<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Executive order 14290<\/a> says that since the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was established in 1967 the media landscape has changed, and there is now \u201cabundant, diverse, and innovative news options.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,\u201d reads the executive order.<\/p>\n

The executive order says that CPB is prohibited from contributing to or supporting any political party, and fails to abide by these principals by subsidizing biased news produced by NPR and PBS.<\/p>\n

NPR and the Colorado stations, however, argue that the Trump Administration is attempting to circumvent congressional authority to silence news organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe order is unlawful in multiple ways,\u201d the suit alleges. \u201cIt flatly contravenes statutes duly enacted by Congress and violates the separation of powers and the spending clause by disregarding Congress\u2019s express commands. It also violates the First Amendment\u2019s guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice immediately responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

During the presidential campaign last year, Trump called NPR a \u201cLIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE\u201d on his Truth Social media account. \u201cNO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit points out that there are a number of protections against political interference built into the law that created the CPB: \u201cIn enacting the Public Broadcasting Act, one of Congress\u2019s overriding goals was to guarantee the Corporation, and the public broadcasting entities that receive federal funds from the Corporation, \u2018maximum protection from extraneous inference and control.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The act says<\/a> no department, agency, officer or employee of the United States can exercise any \u201ccontrol over the content or distribution of public telecommunications programs and services.\u201d<\/p>\n

When then-President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967<\/a>, he remarked that while funding will come from the federal government, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting \u201cwill be carefully guarded from Government or from party control. It will be free, and it will be independent \u2013 and it will belong to all of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit also claims the Trump order represents \u201ctextbook retaliation,\u201d against the stations and networks, by targeting the alleged bias of NPR and PBS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe order refers to NPR programming as biased, and it\u2019s quite clear that it is motivated as retaliation for what the administration considers unflattering news coverage,\u201d said Steve Zansberg, lead attorne<\/a>y for the Colorado stations and Ballantine Communications Inc., who is providing his services pro bono. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s so clearly a violation of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018This is not about politics \u2013 it is about principle,\u2019 says joint statement <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1718,29,315,1719],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-ksut","tag-newsletter","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-public-radio"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22090"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}