PBS closes DEI office, citing a Trump executive order
Courtesy of PBS
PBS President Paula Kerger at the 2024 PBS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.
PBS has closed its diversity, equity and inclusion office in order to comply with a recent executive order from President Donald Trump.
In a memo first shared publicly by New York Times media reporter Benjamin Mullin, PBS President Paula Kerger said the organization had been working with legal counsel in recent weeks to determine how Trump’s executive order could affect PBS. This led to PBS closing its DEI office and dismissing the two employees in charge of DEI work.
Cecilia Loving, SVP and head of DEI, joined PBS in the summer of 2021, less than a year after filmmakers pushed PBS to improve its DEI practices. Gina Leow, director of DEI, was hired in late 2021.
“Our mission to educate, engage and inspire the wide variety of American communities we serve will continue to be at the center of our work, and we’ll also continue to ensure that PBS remains a welcoming place for everyone,” Kerger wrote in the memo.
A statement from PBS echoed Kerger’s memo: “In order to best ensure we are in compliance with the President’s executive order around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion we have closed our DEI office. The staff members who served in that office are leaving PBS. We will continue to adhere to our mission and values. PBS will continue to reflect all of America and remain a welcoming place for everyone.”
After his inauguration, Trump signed three executive orders aimed at weakening and ending DEI programs: “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” PBS did not specify which order prompted their decision.
The “wasteful government” order requires the Office of Management and Budget to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
Trump sought to cut public media funding in his first term as president. Brendan Carr, Trump’s appointee as FCC chair, has requested an investigation into PBS, NPR and member stations regarding underwriting. Last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) asked Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher to testify in a March hearing that would examine public media’s journalism and federal funding.
NPR has not responded to a question from Current about whether it is considering similar changes. The network employs a chief diversity officer and a VP of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Current reporter Tyler Falk contributed to this article.
The Fuhrer has spoken and the minions are cowtowing.
After learning what was taught in school in the 50’s and 60’s I thought the world would be more aware of the possibilities of a fascist leader. I was wrong as we are seeing in the first 20 days of the Trump takeover of what was perceived as the American Democracy.
So much for that idea~
I’m confused. One of the first questions a reporter should ask is some version of; “so PBS is not a Federal Government agency or department, why does the executive DEI order impact an independent non-profit.” If the answer is “we get some CPB funding”. (which is also not within the Fed gov’t), then probe further. Are there direct government grants to PBS which would impact this? Guessing there is an answer, but this article didn’t pursue it. Thanks.
Hi Tim — as our article notes, “PBS did not specify which order prompted their decision.” We asked them directly and they declined to answer. They also declined to explain what specific language in the order led to their decision. — Mike Janssen, Digital Editor
As an ex-public TV professional who was always a big fan of Kerger, I am very disappointed in her for bending the knee to Orange Julius Caesar. Whether or not PBS remains an organization that values diversity is besides the point; it is clearly no longer a “welcoming place for everyone.”
I am an American citizen and I have long relied on PBS for news and information. Paula Kerger and the PBS organization should know that their decision to close their DEI office does not reflect my values or wishes. PBS no longer feels like a welcoming place for me.
What happened to PBS? What does the organization stand for now? PBS is not living up to its mission statement of: “using media to educate, inspire, entertain and express a variety of perspectives. PBS empowers individuals to achieve their potential and strengthen the social, democratic, and cultural health of the U.S.”
I implore those in positions of power within the PBS organization to have the courage to stand up for what is right. I rely on PBS to demonstrate journalistic integrity, but the recent decision to close your DEI office has caused me to lose confidence in the organization.
Bold leadership by PBS. DEI was an unworkable, abstract concept that did little than to rally support from those who felt a moral imperative, but never bothered to evaluate its strategic, financial or operational pragmatics. What did it achieve? Did the increasingly biased and left-leaning programming fundamentally change the state of systemic racism in America? (No.) What about non-white audiences, did those grow? (No.) What’s happening should be a wake-up call to all in the public media system that it is, in fact, extremely liberal-leaning and far from representative of the views and lived experiences of the majority of Americans – many of which who want a more diverse and inclusive society, but are unwilling to be talked down to and made to feel responsible for the state of American society. Or, as was the case in so many stations, held hostage by young activist content creators with a clear agenda to right the wrongs of history by hyper-focusing on a select handful of minority groups at the exclusion of the countless others. Great job!
“Countless others” = white males. My God, won’t anyone think of the white men?
To the Leadership of PBS,
I am writing to express my profound disappointment and outrage at your decision to cancel the DEI program, a move that signals a deep betrayal of the very values that once made PBS a beacon of truth, integrity, and public service journalism. For decades, I was a proud supporter of PBS, believing in its mission to inform, educate, and provide a counterweight to the corporate media landscape. However, as I have watched your journalistic integrity erode, my support has turned to dismay.
Your coverage of international affairs—whether reporting on Russian and Turkish elections as if they were legitimate or failing to adequately address the growing autocracy here in America—has demonstrated a dangerous unwillingness to tell the truth when it matters most. The slow erosion of PBS as one of the few remaining voices of freedom in this country has directly contributed to the conditions that led to Trump’s election and the perilous state of our democracy today.
The cancellation of the DEI program is not merely a retreat from your responsibility—it is an abdication of it. It signals to your audience, and to the nation, that PBS has chosen appeasement over principle, cowardice over courage. This decision is not neutral; it actively reinforces the systemic inequities and the chilling effect that right-wing authoritarianism seeks to impose on public institutions.
You have lost my donation permanently. More than that, I will actively work to ensure that those who once supported you see clearly the direction you have chosen and withdraw their support as well. I used to say that public media raised me, shaped me, and made me who I am. That relationship is over.
PBS was once a pillar of truth in a sea of misinformation. Now, you have chosen to crumble rather than stand. I mourn the institution you once were, and I grieve for the people who will no longer find a voice in your programming.
I was/am shocked and saddened by PBS’s decision to close its DEI office. The cross- cultural, historical and variety of programming has been an educational pillar for my family. My longstanding sustaining membership and volunteer work must now come to an end. I’ve tried to research if government funding was a motive for PBS’s decision. Regardless, why would PBS put its private membership and donations from the public it serves at risk , by making such a decision. Is this the beginning of the end?
Am very disappointed that PBS is cutting DEI programs in deference to a dictator. Resist!