NPR is considering ‘full range of options’ for response to Trump executive order, says board chair
Ted Eytan / via Creative Commons
NPR is considering its response to President Trump’s executive order that directs CPB to eliminate funding to NPR and PBS, network board chair Jennifer Ferro said during a board meeting Friday.
“We are still reviewing the legal interpretation of the order and the full range of options for response,” Ferro said during the meeting.
The executive order, issued Thursday night, aims to end CPB’s direct and indirect support to NPR and PBS. CPB President Pat Harrison said in a statement that CPB “is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority.”
“Public radio will endure,” added Ferro, who is president of KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif. “We will solve the problems that we are collectively facing because we are all committed to our core mission: Serving our communities, reflecting the culture, the information, and the spirit of the places we live in and love. NPR was formed to reflect the voices of America. We know our mission and our purpose. Our challenge that we will solve is to find the right business model and formations that allow us to continue serving our communities as we have been.”
During the meeting, CEO Katherine Maher reiterated a Friday NPR statement that responded to the executive order. “We intend to challenge the executive order as appropriate using the means available to us,” Maher said.
Maher did not provide specifics about how the network will challenge the order. She added that NPR “intends to vigorously defend our right to and our mission to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public, in partnership with our member stations.”
Maher also addressed congressional threats to federal funding, including a rescission package that Trump is expected to send to Congress. The package would aim to claw back CPB funding that has already been appropriated by Congress.
“We’re continuing to track the ongoing congressional budget process and the possibility of a rescission package, which we of course take very seriously,” Maher said. “We’ve been encouraged by some positive comments by members of Congress about the importance of public media to their constituents, and continue to encourage our member stations and the broader public to engage your elected representatives on the importance of funding for public media.”
Despite the executive order and funding threats, Maher said she’s looking to the future and hinted at new strategic plans.
“Although it’s important to speak to the challenges in front of us at this moment, we can’t allow them to obscure our vision of a successful and strong future,” she said.
Public radio leaders will meet at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., in two weeks “for a series of conversations about our future work together,” Maher said.
“We have significant strengths and successful traits that we must hold on to and invest in further. But we also have to be willing to let go of the things that hold us back,” she said. “… In recent weeks, I’ve shared updates with my senior leadership team and with the board about where I see NPR today and where I’d like to direct NPR into the future. … We need to adopt a new competitive approach with a skill set, business model and services that really responds to where our audiences are, wherever they may be.”
I strongly agree that CPB vigorously defend their rights to flourish under the Constitution. They do unparalleled work throughout the United States and their rights to do so must be brought to the Highest Court to be validated. I cannot function without PBS. It is the tying bind for our divided country.