Prof. Jane Kirtley Quoted by MPR News About the Attempt to Defund PBS, NPR

Professor Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, was quoted by MPR News about the administration’s attempt by executive order to end government support for PBS and NPR. Lakeland PBS, based in Bemidji, joined the national PBS organization in challenging the order by filing a lawsuit last Friday. Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS is receiving $325 million this year, most of which goes directly to individual stations. Prof. Kirtley said the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a private organization, not a government agency. She said, “That was done very specifically to try to ensure that both PBS and its member stations would be free from governmental interference. In fact, it says that explicitly in the Public Broadcasting Act.” She said over the years, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have affirmed the intention to keep public media independent from government control. The question before the courts will be whether the president can act alone in defunding PBS. Prof. Kirtley said, “If somebody, whether it’s the president or anybody else, doesn’t think Congress should be appropriating money to PBS, they should go to Congress and complain about it. They shouldn’t be doing it unilaterally with an executive order.”