Dear MoveOn member,
The assault on public media has escalated to a fever pitch.
Last week, Donald Trump signed an executive order trying to block all federal funding to PBS and public radio, outrageously accusing the organizations of spreading “radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.'”1
As early as this week, Republicans in Congress could force a vote to claw back $1.1 billion in previously approved funding for public media.2
And, now, we’ve learned that Trump’s Department of Education has terminated its grant to PBS that’s helped create children’s programming for more than 30 years.3
We all need to speak out to stop the Trump and MAGA attacks on public media. That’s why MoveOn just printed a big batch of these “Save PBS” stickers and are giving them away for free, while supplies last!
Click here now to get your free “Save PBS” sticker.
Trump’s war on public media is part of a larger, coordinated effort to silence independent news and control what Americans see and hear.
Alarmingly, Trump has been using lawsuit after lawsuit as weapons against private media—a tactic to extort money and chill their future coverage. In December, ABC News paid Trump $16 million, setting a troubling precedent.4 That was followed by settlements from Disney and Meta.5 And, now, Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is reportedly on the cusp of settling another lawsuit that hands Trump even more millions.6
Last Sunday, Trump was asked whether he needs to uphold the Constitution, and he responded, “I don’t know.”7
Without an independent media, who will report on Trump’s abuses and hold him accountable for statements like these? Who will report his actions accurately? Who will speak truth to power?
MoveOn is leading a multifaceted campaign to stop the attacks on public media. The time is now, and we need your help.
–Julia, Britt, Evelyn, Cheryl, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. “Trump signs executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR,” PBS News, May 2, 2025
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-directing-federal-funding-cuts-to-pbs-and-npr
2. “White House to Ask Congress to Claw Back Funding From NPR and PBS,” The New York Times, April 14, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/business/media/trump-npr-pbs-funding.html
3. “Breaking: VPM loses funding from federal ‘Ready to Learn’ grant,” VPM News, May 5, 2025
https://www.vpm.org/news/2025-05-05/vpm-media-corporation-pbs-kids-ready-to-learn-richmond-petersburg
4. “Media Giants Settling With Donald Trump Are Setting a ‘Dangerous’ Precedent,” Vanity Fair, February 7, 2025
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/media-donald-trump-paramount-disney-meta
5. Ibid.
6. “Paramount Board Clears Possible Path for Settling Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit,” The New York Times, April 29, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/business/media/paramount-cbs-60-minutes-trump-lawsuit.html
7. “When asked if he needs to uphold Constitution, President Trump says ‘I don’t know,'” NPR, May 56, 2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5386643/when-asked-if-he-needs-to-uphold-constitution-president-trump-says-i-dont-know
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