Are NPR, PBS Funding Cuts a First Amendment Violation?

In spring 2025, the Trump administration issued executive orders cutting federal funding to media outlets, including National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, that reach both U.S. and international audiences. And in July 2025, Congress passed a bill rolling back all federal funding for NPR, PBS and their member stations for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Some of these outlets and their employees have filed legal challenges, including NPR, PBS and some of their local stations, which are claiming that the order violates the First Amendment.,

Some of these First Amendment claims are based on past cases that indicate the government cannot require an organization to give up its First Amendment rights, like freedom of speech and freedom of the press, as a condition of getting funds. These cases also suggest that the government cannot take away funds in retaliation against those organizations exercising these rights.

The future of these lawsuits is now cloudy. In particular, rooting these cuts in a larger rescission package — a proposal to rescind funds previously approved by Congress — may weaken the claim of First Amendment retaliation in favor of a justification that Congress was simply exercising its general power to spend or not spend.

The actions have sparked significant public conversation around that topic — but also around whether the U.S. government should be funding news organizations in the first place.

This article looks at the state of government-funded media. We explore current conflicts and why the government provides financial support for news organizations and other media outlets. We also discuss whether government-funded media raises First Amendment concerns and if the First Amendment is violated when that funding is removed.

How does the U.S. government fund news organizations?

The U.S. government has provided funding for several media outlets that broadcast news, information and entertainment inside and outside the U.S. — although Congress cut much of that funding in July 2025 for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Domestic media

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 to promote and support public broadcasting, specifically, “to ensure universal access to content and services that educate, inform, foster curiosity, and promote civil discourse essential to American society.” Its annual budget has historically come almost entirely from federal funding, although Congress’ new bill cuts $1.1 billion that was meant to fund the CPB for the next two years.

The CPB does not produce programming and does not own or control any networks or individual stations. It simply distributes the money it receives from Congress to PBS, NPR and more than 1,500 local stations.

PBS, NPR and individual stations also raise their own money through public donations and sponsorships; federal funding makes up about 15% of public broadcasting’s revenue in the U.S. With the funding they receive through the CPB, these organizations have certain financial and other obligations to ensure they are being fair and equitable in their news coverage, including a requirement that they provide nonpartisan news coverage. If the CPB finds that a station or outlet is violating any of these requirements, then the CPB can cut funding to that outlet, though the outlet will have the opportunity to seek review of this decision.

Initially, the White House ordered the CPB to cut off this funding via executive order, claiming that PBS, NPR and their affiliates receiving CPB money are violating the nonpartisanship requirement and, as a result, the CPB is failing the statutory requirement that it “may not contribute to or otherwise support any political party or candidate for elective public office.”  The White House later sent what’s known as a rescission package to Congress, suggesting where spending should be cut across government, including the cuts to public media funding. Both the House and Senate approved these cuts.

Overseas media

Congress also funds six U.S. broadcast networks with overseas audiences through independent government agency called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, whose mission is “to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.”

These six networks receive all or almost all their funding from the government (according to these outlets’ tax forms) but enjoy independence from government interference through several requirements, including a clear prohibition on political intervention in newsgathering and publication.

Two of these federal networks are part of the of the U.S. government, with leadership and staff who are government employees:

• Voice of America: Established in 1942, this is the largest U.S.-funded international broadcaster, reaching more than 350 million people in nearly 50 languages via radio, television and the internet.
• Office of Cuba Broadcasting: Better known as Radio Martí and TV Martí, its mission is to provide objective news and information to the people of Cuba.

The remaining four government-funded networks under the USAGM are nonprofit media outlets:

• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: It broadcasts in 27 languages to 23 countries and reaches more than 47 million people, most of whom live in countries where a free press does not exist.
• Radio Free Asia: It broadcasts to some Asian countries with challenging media environments and few protections for the press, like China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
• Middle East Broadcasting Networks: An Arabic-language news organization, it reaches 33.5 million people in the Middle East and North Africa, where press freedom is generally considered very limited, and journalists often face physical threats.
• Open Technology Fund: Originally a part of Radio Free Asia, this became its own entity in 2019. Its purpose is to support and fund digital security and privacy protections for journalists around the world.

Current conflicts over government-funded media

The Trump administration has taken steps to remove funding from both domestic and international media that the U.S. government has supported for decades, with Congress approving the cuts in July 2025 for 2026 and 2027 funding to domestic media.

Domestic media

In early May 2025, the administration issued an executive order directing the CPB to stop providing federal funds to PBS and NPR, which affects funding for all their local affiliates as well. The order claims that government funding of news media is “outdated” and that neither PBS nor NPR present “a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

On May 27, NPR and three of its local stations filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in federal court, arguing that the order violates the First Amendment. PBS filed its own lawsuit three days later, relying on similar arguments as the NPR suit.

“The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR’s and the Local Member Stations’ freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion,” the NPR lawsuit claims.

Congress approved the administration’s plan in July 2025, cutting all funding for the CPB from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2027.

As of July 23, 2025, the lawsuits are still pending, despite the congressional spending cuts.