Trump Defunds NPR & PBS

St. Croix Times Staff

President Donald Trump has finally caught up with one of his biggest media nemesis and signed an Executive Order terminating federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).  What effect the defunding might have on the local Virgin Islands NPR and PBS stations has yet to be determined.  

NPR and PBS, which have long been in the crosshairs for cuts by Conservatives, both receive partial funding through the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), which the President argued is unnecessary in the current media environment. 

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” the President wrote in the order.

“The CPB Board shall cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration’s policy to ensure that federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage,” he added. “The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”

President Trump directed the CPB to end indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by “ensuring that licensees and permitees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use federal funds for NPR and PBS.”

The President gave the CPB until June 30, 2025 to effectuate his directive.

NPR and PBS both have diverse revenue streams, including major foundation grants, advertising and voluntary viewer and listener donations, meaning that neither is likely to cease operations if they lose federal support. The CPB is set to receive $535 million in Congressionally appropriated funds annually to distribute to public broadcasters in 2025 and that same amount in 2026.

“Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR and PBS,” Trump previously posted on Truth Social. “They are a liberal disinformation machine…They are the radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country!”

A March 2025 Congressional hearing chaired by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene under a House subcommittee on DOGE, featured pointed attacks against both NPR and PBS. Greene accused NPR of promoting a “communist agenda” and said PBS was guilty of “transing children.”

“We will be calling for the complete and total defund and dismantling of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” Ms. Greene said in her closing remarks.

In recent days, NPR’s current CEO Katherine Maher expressed contrition for old tweets labeling Donald Trump a “deranged racist” and a “fascist” as she testified recently before the House committee considering yanking NPR’s federal funds. 

“Let me ask you,” said Rep, Tim Burchett, R-Tenn, “Why did you call President Trump a fascist and deranged racist sociopath in 2020?”

“I regret those tweets,” the NPR Chief Executive told the Congressman. “I would not tweet them again today. They represented a time where I was reflecting on something that I believe the President had said, rather than who he is. I don’t presume that anyone is a racist.”

Ms. Maher was also scrutinized for the same old tweets months into her NPR tenure. Nevertheless, in 2018, Ms. Maher previously tweeted “Also, Donald Trump is a racist.” The tweet has since been deleted.

An NPR spokesperson recently told the New York Times that Maher was not in the news industry when she posted the tweets and was exercising her First Amendment Rights.

The proposed funding cuts could have significant repercussions for public media outlets throughout the country. Over 70% of the CPB’s distribution goes to locally owned public radio and television stations.

“It impacts everything that we do,” one station President was recently quoted. “Losing it would present an existential dilemma. Being such a small station, it’s a huge loss. It’s going to be a huge challenge. We’re going to have to make a lot of changes, a lot of adjustments, and rethink our strategies going forward.”

Another station CEO commented, “Public media is already undercapitalized.” 

WTJX is the PBS and NPR member stations serving the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). WTJX-TV is a PBS member television station serving the USVI that is licensed to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Owned by the Virgin Islands Public Broadcasting System, it is sister to NPR member WTJX-FM (93.1 MHz). 

The St. Croix Times reached out to WTJX for comment on how the defunding might affect the stations. As of press time they have not answered the query.