CONWAY, AR — (BrooklandNews.com) — May 5, 2025 — The future of Arkansas PBS remains in limbo following a federal funding cut and the passage of a state bill that dissolved the boards overseeing public broadcasting services.

On May 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS.” In Arkansas, Senate Bill 184 eliminated the governing boards of Arkansas PBS and placed the agency under the state Department of Education.

Trump said the order was meant to “end taxpayer subsidizing of biased media.” He has publicly criticized both NPR and PBS on multiple occasions. In a Truth Social post written in all caps, he stated: “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is challenging the president’s authority. “CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” the corporation said in a statement Friday morning. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”

The executive order comes as CPB is already suing the Trump administration over a separate order directing the removal of three of its five board members.

State Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro), the sponsor of SB 184, said during a February hearing, “I think they function better under the Department of Education and are more aligned with what the goals and missions of the legislative and executive branches [are].”

During the hearing, Arkansas PBS CEO Courtney Pledger and Chief Financial Officer Jason Kunau raised concerns about the bill’s impact.

“The bill threatens these essential services by transferring us to a department that, by nature, must have and does have other priorities,” Pledger said. “It weakens resources for public safety and civic engagement. We’re a lot more than television.”

Kunau noted logistical challenges, adding, “Each one of the 10 transmitters is licensed individually, and each of those call signs would have to be amended. Each one of those applications would have to be reprocessed, so there would be a period of time necessary to process all of that.”

After passing the state Senate, SB 184 now awaits action in the House, where it has been referred to the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Following the hearing, Pledger announced she would step down as CEO of Arkansas PBS later this month.

“I have had more than eight extraordinary years at Arkansas PBS, building a phenomenal team eager to take on new challenges and collaborating with some of the very best independent creators and community partners in Arkansas,” she said in a statement. “It has been my great honor to lead Arkansas PBS through a transformative time that points to the limitless potential of our statewide public media network.”

Arkansas PBS did not respond to a request for comment.