Trump’s PBS defunding order deemed ‘unlawful’

US president Donald Trump’s executive order to end federal funding for public broadcaster PBS has been ruled “unlawful” by a US judge.

The move comes nine months after the Trump administration issued an executive order to cut more than $1bn ($840m) in public media funding, which the broadcaster said would be “devastating” for audiences.

Trump’s executive order has now been blocked, however, after US federal judge Randolph Moss said that the First Amendment - defending free speech - would not “tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.”

Of Trump’s comments against what he saw as PBS bias and the subsequent order, Moss said: “It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the president does not like and seeks to squelch.”

The order was “unlawful and unenforceable”, Moss continued, but the impact of the ruling remains unclear as the Trump administration will likely appeal and it was the US Congress, not the president, that ultimately cut off the funds.

Last year’s executive order was acted upon by Congress, which cut public media funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which has since closed.

The CPB had overseen the financing of PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) for decades, distributing state financing to the various public service entities. That, in turn, led to cuts across the public service media organisations including a defunding of PBS’s children’s content, with a third of PBS Kids staff let go.

Federal funding makes up around 15% of PBS’s annual budget, with the organisation primarily supported by donations from foundations and members of the public.

NPR described the ruling as “a decisive affirmation of the rights of a free and independent press - and a win for NPR, our network of stations, and our tens of millions of listeners nationwide.”

A White House spokesperson countered: “This is a ridiculous ruling by an activist judge attempting to undermine the law. NPR and PBS have no right to receive taxpayer funds, and Congress already voted to defund them. The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

PBS has been a frequent collaborator on international projects, with shows such as Ages of Ice with Australia’s ABC and ITV Studios, and Channel 4’s car crash experiment series.

Its Masterpiece drama strand has also partnered with ITV on upcoming drama Winter, while it has also picked up Blink Films’ docuseries Terror on the Space Station and a four-part show about the Orient Express from Rumpus Media.