Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford has joined a group of 22 attorneys general in filing a court brief supporting lawsuits brought by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to stop proposed federal funding cuts. The lawsuits challenge an executive order signed by President Trump on May 1 that directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and related agencies to end federal funding for NPR, PBS, and their local affiliates.
“Public media is a vital tool to keep our communities informed — not only of local news, but of critical emergencies and missing persons reports,” said AG Ford. “In a state like ours, where many members of our Nevada family live in rural or frontier areas, the reach of these outlets into both these rural areas and into our tribal communities is essential. I am proud to stand with my colleagues to defend this necessary funding from unlawful attacks.”
The lawsuits were filed after the executive order was issued. On May 27, NPR along with Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT—serving southwestern Colorado’s tribal communities—sued to prevent the funding cuts from taking effect. PBS and an affiliate in Minnesota filed another lawsuit earlier in May.
The coalition of attorneys general argues that public broadcast stations play an important role in providing information to the public. They say that ending federal support would put Americans at risk by disrupting emergency notification systems such as the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which many states—including Nevada—use for broadcasting emergency messages during crises. The coalition also notes that public broadcasters are key sources for Amber Alerts, Blue Alerts for incidents involving law enforcement officers, Silver Alerts for missing older adults or people with developmental disabilities, and Missing Indigenous Person Alerts critical to tribal communities.
According to the court brief filed by the attorneys general from states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin—as well as Washington D.C.—the loss of funding would have especially serious effects on rural and tribal areas where public broadcasters often serve as primary sources of news and educational programming.
The coalition’s brief emphasizes: “Each of the [states] contain rural population areas that support economic and cultural contributions far bigger than their population density alone might indicate…”
