The Trump White House issued an executive order Thursday night requiring stamps of all federal funds from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR), saying both organizations are involved in "biased and partisan news coverage."

The order directs the Public Broadcasting Corporation’s board of directors to “stop funding directly to NPR and PBS” to “the maximum extent permitted by law.”

The government notes that under the CPB's regulatory regulations, the organization may not "for or otherwise support any political party." The White House also accused the administration of funds for news media "not only outdated and unnecessary, but also corroded news independence", believing that the media landscape has become more "rich" and "diversified" since the founding of the CPB.

The CPB allocates funds to local public radio and television stations, and then pays licensing fees to AIR NPR and PBS programming. Trump's order claims to instruct CPB to use CPB funds to stop local radio funding for NPR and PBS.

CPB and three board members - Tom Rothman, Diane Kaplan and Laura Ross - sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to block an order claiming to fire three members. The lawsuit argues that the CPB was created as an independent institution to isolate it from politics and that the board members were not federal officials whose president was removed or controlled.

The lawsuit states: “CPB board members cannot be affected, controlled or disturbed by government actions.”

President Biden appoints three board members for six years. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled to be held on May 14.

“The board members of CPB are crucial to the governance of CPB, a private, nonprofit company that fundes more than 1,500 independent, local and operating public television and radio stations across the country to provide us with universal access to free, high-quality content to educate, inform our U.S. stories and tell us American stories,” a CPB spokesperson said Tuesday.

Since taking office in January, President Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders, with the most such enacted records issued by the newly elected president during his initial 100-day term.