National Public Radio and three Colorado-based public radio stations have filed a lawsuit against President Trump, contesting an executive order that seeks to cut federal funding to public broadcasters, including NPR and PBS. 

The lawsuit was lodged in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The plaintiffs are seeking to block implementation of the order, claiming it infringes upon public broadcasters’ constitutional rights and jeopardizes their mission to provide fair, independent reporting. 

“The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press,” NPR’s CEO, Katherine Maher, said in a statement. “It is an affront to the rights of NPR and NPR’s 246 Member stations, which are locally owned, nonprofit, noncommercial media organizations serving all 50 states and territories. Today, we challenge its constitutionality in the nation’s independent courts.”

The executive order, issued on May 1, directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to halt federal funding for NPR and PBS. The order further instructs agencies to eliminate indirect sources of public funding for these broadcasters.

Mr. Trump justified the move, alleging bias in NPR and PBS’s reporting. 

“Neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens,” the president’s executive order said. “The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”

On social media platforms, Mr. Trump blasted the two public broadcasting networks, saying, “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”

Key allegations in the lawsuit include claims that the executive order serves as retaliation for content critical of Mr. Trump, thereby threatening the media outlets’ First Amendment rights. “The 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 radio stations across the country,” the lawsuit says.  

The suit also describes the executive order as “textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination,” and asserts that it interferes with the editorial independence and freedom of public broadcasters. 

“NPR has a First Amendment right to be free from government attempts to control private speech as well as from retaliation aimed at punishing and chilling protected speech,” Ms. Maher said in her statement. “By basing its directives on the substance of NPR’s programming, the Executive Order seeks to force NPR to adapt its journalistic standards and editorial choices to the preferences of the government if it is to continue to receive federal funding.”

A joint statement from the plaintiffs highlighted the order’s implications for press freedom. “This is not about politics; it is about principle. When the government tries to limit press freedom or control the flow of information, we have not only the right, but the obligation, to speak out and defend our rights that make independent journalism possible,” the statement reads. 

Colorado Public Radio, Roaring Fork Public Radio (Aspen Public Radio), and KSUT Public Radio have joined NPR as plaintiffs in the case. The lawsuit alleges that the order unlawfully disregards congressional legislation related to public broadcasting funding by violating the separation of powers and the spending clause of the Constitution. 

Notably, the lawsuit also highlights restrictive measures outlined in the executive order, including barring local community stations or networks that receive CPB funding from using those funds to purchase content from NPR or PBS.