New England Public Media’s president is calling a federal judge’s ruling this week against President Donald Trump’s attempt to cut funding for public broadcasting a win for free speech.
“This is a victory for the First Amendment, and our commitment and recognition that the government cannot punish people for what they say,” Matt Abramovitz said in a phone interview.
His remarks follow a decision Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, who ruled that Trump’s order to end funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service was unlawful and unenforceable, citing First Amendment protections.
Moss wrote that the First Amendment right to free speech “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type,” referring to Trump’s executive order issued last May titled, Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.
The order led to Congress approving a funding package which cut $1.1 billion from the private, nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting that funnels funds to NPR and PBS — which have networks of 1,500 member stations across the United States.
Public broadcasting leaders across the country have shared similar sentiments to Abramovitz, who sees local news providers like Springfield-based NEPM as vital parts of communities.
Those feelings are shared by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who oversees the Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District where NEPM resides.
“I am pleased with the court’s decision to reaffirm the foundational role of independent journalism in our democratic system, ensuring the American people have access to information free from political interference,” Neal said in a statement. “I suspect this case will be appealed by the Trump administration, and it is my hope that today’s decision will prevail.”
NEPM provides local news and music productions such as “The Fabulous 413,” “Jazz à la Mode” and “The Rundown,” while also providing emergency broadcasting services.
“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” wrote Moss, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, according to AP News.
The impact of Moss’ decision was not immediately clear from the ruling, since the decision will likely be appealed.
Though as Moss ruled, the defendants fail to cite a single case in which a court has ever upheld a statute or executive action that bars a particular person or entity from participating in any federally funded activity based on that person or entity’s past speech.
“The Executive Order sweeps beyond the CPB,” Moss continued. “It also directs that all federal agencies refrain from funding NPR and PBS — regardless of the nature of the program or the merits of their applications or requests for funding.”
While seeing the ruling as a victory for the First Amendment, Abramovitz said it doesn’t change the fact that the funding has already been taken from NEPM, and all NPR and PBS stations.
Abramovitz said NEPM was able to avoid staffing cuts and major reductions in services, but the station lost approximately $875,000, necessitating the end of the Asparagus Festival in Hadley. That federal funding through the Community Service Grant provides more than 10% of NEPM’s budget each year.
The station was able to renegotiate some vendor fees with NPR and PBS to close the funding gap.
NEPM currently has 44 full- and part-time employees and had to keep several vacant roles open after the cuts as well. Abramovitz said he would gladly welcome the funding lost to be restored but he is not overly optimistic that will happen.
“Any congressional appropriation at this point would need to be signed by the president,” he said. “And knowing his thoughts on public broadcasting, that does not seem likely in the near future.”
According to the court ruling, Trump’s rationale for defunding public broadcasting is that “NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars.”
The AP reported that White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Moss’ decision is “a ridiculous ruling by an activist judge attempting to undermine the law.”
“NPR and PBS have no right to receive taxpayer funds, and Congress already voted to defund them. The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue,” Jackson said in a statement to AP.
“The message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their ‘left wing’ coverage of the news,” Moss wrote.
Whatever decisions are made in the future regarding NEPM’s funding, the ruling highlighted something Abramovitz has long known — “This ruling doesn’t change the fact that we need to be 100% community supported.”
“We’ve been really fortunate our community has stepped up to support us and we’ve been able to keep going and not have any cuts in services thanks to community support,” he said.
Abramovitz said this is a challenging time for anyone in media “whether you’re a public broadcaster like NPR or Jimmy Kimmel.” But he is confident NEPM is ready for what comes next.
“I’m not specifically concerned about being defunded again because that already happened but the beauty of what we do is that we’re rooted here in the community … we’ve been able to weather this storm pretty well,” he said. “I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to take on what comes next.”
Material from AP News was used in this article.
