NPR Is Under Delusion It Has Constitutional Right To Your Money

NPR filed a delusional lawsuit on Tuesday against the Trump administration, arguing that it has a constitutional right to your hard-earned money.

The suit, brought by NPR and three Colorado-based public radio stations, alleges that Trump’s executive order cutting federal funding to the left-wing NPR and PBS violates their right to free speech, as well as provisions of the Public Broadcasting Act.

“The [Executive] Order’s objectives could not be clearer: the Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radios across the country,” the suit states.

But as Texas Rep. Brandon Gill countered in a post on X: “NPR has a right to free speech. It doesn’t have a right to our tax dollars.”

Trump issued an executive order earlier this month directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease federal funding” to NPR and PBS.

“Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage,” the order stated, with the White House adding that PBS and NPR “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”

“No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize,” the order continues.

But NPR argues that it does have a right to your hard-earned dollars.

The suit argues the order is unconstitutional and violates the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. That law established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to “‘facilitate the full development of public telecommunications in which programs of high quality’ and ‘creativity’ will be ‘obtained by diverse sources’” among other things. As stated in NPR’s lawsuit, the act explains “how the Corporation must allocate its general appropriation from Congress.” Twenty-five percent of the appropriation goes toward public radio, while 75 percent goes to public television.

According to the suit, “Congress has appropriated $535 million in general funding for the Corporation for Fiscal Years 2025, 2026, and 2027,” while NPR, in fiscal year 2024, spent roughly $11.1 million in total in grants from the CBP.

Trump “is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement. “The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective.”

Despite NPR’s claim that it “ensures the integrity and high standards of its journalism through multiple, rigorous safeguards,” the outlet has a well-documented history of pushing a leftist agenda.

Notably, NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

“We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions,” NPR Managing Editor for News Terence Samuel said in a statement back in October 2020. A newsletter published by NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride claimed that “there are many, many red flags in that New York Post investigation.”

As The Federalist’s Assignment Editor Elle Purnell noted, NPR “falsely claimed demonstrators outside the White House were tear-gassed by U.S. Park Police” in June 2020. “Park Police Tear Gas Peaceful Protesters To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op,” one NPR headline stated. A Twitter post from NPR Politics similarly claimed: “Police in Washington, D.C. used tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters to clear them away from St. John’s Church, which suffered a small fire.” (The “small fire” was apparently an act of arson.) 

But the supposedly “peaceful” protesters actually threw “projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids,” according to acting Park Police Chief Gregory T. Monahan. Monahan also stated Park Police did not use tear gas but rather smoke canisters — which, as noted by Purnell, “lack the irritant used in tear gas.”

In addition, NPR portrayed the Declaration of Independence as “offensive” on multiple occasions. “This story quotes the U.S. Declaration of Independence — a document that contains offensive language about Native Americans, including a racial slur,” read a July 8, 2022, “Editor’s note.”

NPR also apologized for calling illegal aliens “illegal.” “Sorry, that was a mistake,” NPR said, referencing a deleted tweet. “NPR’s policy is not to characterize people as ‘illegal.’ We slip up from time to time, but we’ll keep working hard to get it right.”

The idea that NPR is entitled — via the Constitution — to your bank account is risible and delusional.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2