(Reuters) -PBS sued Donald Trump on Friday over the U.S. president’s order to cut its federal funding, calling it an unprecedented attack that would “upend public television.
In a complaint filed in the Washington, D.C. federal court, PBS, short for Public Broadcasting Service, said Trump’s May 1 executive order violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by making the president the “arbiter” of its programming content.
The order “makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech,” PBS said. “That is blatant viewpoint discrimination.”
PBS also said the order illegally blocks member stations from using federal funds to access PBS programming and services, and “smacks of retaliation for, among other things, perceived political slights in news coverage.”
Earlier this month, the White House accused PBS and NPR, short for National Public Radio, of receiving tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to spread “radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.'”
PBS and NPR rely partially on government financial support.
The order was part of Trump’s effort to sanction entities he believes are opposed to his political agenda.
PBS programming has included Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Frontline, and several Ken Burns documentaries including The Civil War.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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