"It would be an honor for me to put an end to them": Trump's hatred of the American media

At the end of April, the Trump administration published a list with the telling title "Trash Public Radio Reporting." It contains what the White House considers to be the most tacky reports of all time from the public radio network NPR (National Public Radio). First place in the parade of "trash radio" was a report on Valentine's Day 2024. The focus was on "Cayenne and Manny," two amorous anteaters at the zoo in the American capital. The two are gay. Same-sex love, according to the subtext of the report, is normal in the animal world.

The eleven minutes of airtime are certainly not a prime example of the quality journalism that has made NPR internationally renowned. Rather, it is likely a reporter's attempt to address an annual event in an original way. However, she unwittingly provided Trump with the fuse he now intends to use to blow up the U.S. public radio and television network he hates.

In a communiqué dated May 1, 2025, the Trump administration described reports like those about Cayenne and Manny as "radical, woke propaganda disguised as news." Speaking from his desk in the Oval Office, Trump added: "The public media is pushing a very biased view, and it would be my honor to put a stop to it." He then signed an executive order in front of live cameras to cut off federal funding from the national public radio network NPR and its partner television network PBS.

The aforementioned trash list includes, among other things, a documentary series about potential reparations for descendants of slaves and NPR's refusal to cover the Hunter Biden laptop controversy. Trump believes that public radio stations deliberately suppress conservative values ​​and opinions.

Katherine Maher, CEO of the public broadcaster NPR, takes issue with this. "According to surveys, NPR is one of the most credible media organizations," says Maher, who attended a symposium in St. Gallen last week. However, compared to the financing model of public broadcasters in Europe, NPR's share of government funding is negligible. They receive $300 million in subsidies annually. "For every dollar we receive from the American government, seven dollars comes from donations and partnerships with private companies." Nevertheless, Trump's announcement is risky, she says, especially for local reporting and educational programs for children, such as "Sesame Street" on PBS, which are directly funded by the government.

Trump is not the first American president to attempt to attack and defund public media in the United States. Every Republican president except Gerald Ford has attempted to withdraw funding from NPR and PBS, according to the American podcast "On the Media" (which is also part of the public broadcasting network). These attempts have each failed due to audience opposition from local TV and radio stations affiliated with the public network.

But President Trump is more persistent and serious about his work than his predecessors. And his sights are not just on public broadcasters, but on all US media outlets that don't report to his liking. "Fake news," "public enemy number one": Trump used these slogans during his first election campaign in 2015 to describe established media outlets like CNN and the "New York Times." While he had already filed defamation lawsuits against media companies as a businessman before his political career, it wasn't until 2015 that Trump seemed to become passionate about the fight against "legacy media," as traditional media companies are known in the US: Since then, Donald Trump or organizations associated with him have triggered nineteen lawsuits against media reporting.

To name just two of the most important examples: Trump's $10 billion lawsuit in October 2024 against the private broadcaster CBS, which allegedly misleadingly edited an interview with presidential candidate Kamala Harris so that her answer made the Democratic side look better. In another example of a lawsuit, Trump turned against CNN because the news network had called his claim of a "stolen election" in 2020 a "big lie." The court dismissed the lawsuit. In the case of the allegedly manipulated Harris interview, the private broadcaster CBS voluntarily published the entire transcript of the conversation to prove that the meaning of Harris's statements had not been subsequently altered. But Trump's lawyers were not impressed. The lawsuit is still pending.

Of the remaining complaints, some ended in out-of-court settlements, others were dismissed by courts citing freedom of speech and expression. Still others, like the CBS case, are still pending.

American media law experts, however, believe that Trump's goal is not to win the lawsuits, but to intimidate journalists and publicly undermine their credibility.

However, in addition to the flood of lawsuits against the media and the issuance of executive orders, Trump has another ultimate weapon in his presidential arsenal: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the television regulatory authority that is loyal to him. Among other things, the FCC is the originator of the swear word ban. This requires, among other things, that every "F-word" on American broadcasters be masked by a whistle.

The FCC chairman is the Trump-loyal Republican Brendon Carr, who was already appointed by President Biden. Carr recently announced that he would "finally destroy" the TV network censorship cartel. This must be particularly pleasing to Trump, given his hostility toward the private broadcaster CBS. "CBS is out of control," Trump said a few months ago in response to the Harrison interview, "they should lose their license for their illegal behavior." The CBS owner, which is currently considering a sale of the network, which must be approved by the Trump administration, has already responded to the pressure. It instructed Bill Owens, host of the nationally popular news program "60 Minutes," to have any critical reporting about Trump reviewed by his supervisor beforehand. Owens subsequently resigned, amid media outcry.

It's true: Journalists don't like being told what to report on and how to report. The media outcry at any suspicion of influence cuts through the bones. This was the case in February, when the new owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, demanded that his newspaper's opinion section not only write from a left-liberal perspective against "free markets" and "personal freedoms." The fear was that Bezos wanted to steer the predominantly liberal newspaper in line with Trump's stance. If this was indeed the billionaire's idea, his plan must be considered a failure: In any case, several Washington Post writers have since criticized Trump's policies in debate pieces, and their assessment of the new wage policy was particularly devastating.

It's also now known that not every issue that comes to the fore under Trump's activism is as hot as it gets. It's unclear whether the American government even has the authority to completely cut off funding from public broadcasters. The legal basis for their funding contains several safeguards against political influence. But this issue, like so many other political matters, will one day be decided by an American court.

Contributing: Barnaby Skinner