CNN’s Stelter Pulls His Hair Out Over Trump's EO Defunding PBS/NPR

Nicholas Fondacaro
May 2nd, 2025 4:01 PM

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Despite repeatedly calling Fox News “state TV” during President Trump’s first term (when he still had his show, so-called Reliable Sources), CNN’s Brian Stelter decried Trump’s executive order defunding the actual state-media outlets of PBS and NPR. In his appearance on Friday’s Inside Politics, Stelter argued that Trump didn’t have the authority to strip funding but he ignored the literal tower of evidence to show public broadcasting was not following their mandate to be neutral.

“Today, America's two biggest public broadcasters are facing a possible halt in federal funding after an overnight executive order by President Donald Trump,” fretted host Dana Bash near the end of the show. “But there is a sticking point: the corporation is a private entity that is supposed to be protected from government interference. That would include executive orders.”

Waving around a stack of papers, Stelter touted his “prop.” “I went ahead and read the entire law for you. The 1967 Public Broadcasting Act. There is nothing in this law that gives any president the ability to strip away the funding for PBS and NPR,” he proclaimed.

“Congress was really specific back 50 plus years ago. They wanted to create an entity that was free of government control. They wanted to make sure no president could ever pressure PBS or NPR,” he declared. “So, this is going to be a legal fight, like so many others that we've seen. And I suspect President Trump probably wants it that way.”

Of course, Stelter ignored the evidence the White House provided that proved public broadcasting was not living up to the law’s mandate to be unbiased. The White House cited three NewsBusters studies (among other evidence) to prove that point:

  • In 2023, a study found that congressional Republicans saw 85% negative coverage while congressional Democrats saw 54% positive coverage on PBS’s flagship news program.
  • According to a 2024 study, PBS news staff used 162 variations of the term “far-right,” but only six variations of “far-left.”

(…)

  • A 2024 Media Research Center study found that PBS’s coverage of the Republican National Convention was 72% negative, while coverage of the Democratic National Convention was 88% positive.

 

 

Instead, Stelter touted the defiance from the tax-payer funded left-wing news outlets and threats of legal action:

You know, look at the statement that we've received this morning from the head of PBS, Paula Kerger. She says this is a “blatantly unlawful” move overnight by President Trump. She says this is going to hurt people around the country because it “threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programing.”

The line at the end is key: “We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue.” NPR is saying the exact same thing.

“But I don't think we should overlook the fact that there is no legal authority for the president on this particular case,” he continued to suggest as he whined about Trump still winning:

He tried to fire three board members this week. There's no authority for that. He's done the same thing with congressional allocations of funds for U.S. funded international broadcasters. There's all these court fights going on, and the international broadcasters keep winning, but they've already been laid off. The staffers have already been laid off. Radio Free Europe today shutting down half of its stations. So even though Trump loses in court, he wins no matter what.

Stelter had previously claimed Trump wanted to defund NPR and PBS for “simply covering the news,” and described the desire to defund them as part of Trump’s “autocratic playbook.”

The Media Research Center has a literal tower of examples of NPR’s and PBS’s liberal bias dating back 15 years.

 

 

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

CNN’s Inside Politics
May 2, 2025
12:50:51 p.m. Eastern

DANA BASH: Today, America's two biggest public broadcasters are facing a possible halt in federal funding after an overnight executive order by President Donald Trump. It said that PBS and NPR will no longer receive direct funding to the, quote, “maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding” from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.

But there is a sticking point: the corporation is a private entity that is supposed to be protected from government interference. That would include executive orders.

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter joins me now. Brian, what do we make of this?

BRIAN STELTER: I brought props with you today, Dana.

BASH: I love a prop.

STELTER: I went ahead and read the entire law for you. The 1967 Public Broadcasting Act. There is nothing in this law that gives any president the ability to strip away the funding for PBS and NPR.

Congress was really specific back 50 plus years ago. They wanted to create an entity that was free of government control. They wanted to make sure no president could ever pressure PBS or NPR. So, this is going to be a legal fight, like so many others that we've seen. And I suspect President Trump probably wants it that way.

BASH: He definitely does.

STELTER: You know, look at the statement that we've received this morning from the head of PBS, Paula Kerger. She says this is a “blatantly unlawful” move overnight by President Trump. She says this is going to hurt people around the country because it “threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programing.”

The line at the end is key: “We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue.” NPR is saying the exact same thing.

Now, we know that President Trump was already planning on sending a rescission package to Congress, trying to claw back the next two years of funding for PBS and NPR. That's already in the works. It seems to me he wants to have a fight very publicly with these networks, and he may well get one.

BASH: Yeah, no, that's a 100% what this is.

STELTER: But I don't think we should overlook the fact that there is no legal authority for the president on this particular case.

BASH: Yeah.

STELTER: He tried to fire three board members this week. There's no authority for that. He's done the same thing with congressional allocations of funds for U.S. funded international broadcasters. There's all these court fights going on, and the international broadcasters keep winning, but they've already been laid off. The staffers have already been laid off. Radio Free Europe today shutting down half of its stations. So even though Trump loses in court, he wins no matter what.

(…)

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