Why public media giants NPR and CPB are fighting in court this week
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The chasm is widening between NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that funneled federal dollars to public media until Congress killed that funding earlier this year.
NPR's legal team privately questioned the CPB's longtime chief executive, Patricia Harrison, under oath earlier this month, according to the radio network's legal filings, and is scheduled to do so publicly at a court hearing Tuesday morning.
In court documents, NPR has presented evidence to bolster its case that the board of the nonprofit corporation first approved a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract for NPR to operate a satellite distribution system for public radio stations. Then, NPR alleges, CPB unlawfully yielded to political pressure by yanking the contract just days after President Trump warned that NPR should receive no more federal dollars. NPR contends it is yet one more example of a major institution yielding to the president's whim.
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CPB rejects that, saying that it awarded the contract to a different group to better serve the nation's diverse array of public radio stations.
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