Attorney General Ellison leads support for NPR, PBS in lawsuits challenging Trump funding cuts
Cuts would have wide-ranging impact on Minnesota, especially Greater Minnesota
June 20, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that he has co-led a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing a court brief in support of two lawsuits brought by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) that seek to block a May 1 Trump executive order purporting to cut federal funding to their organizations and local affiliates. The cuts would have wide-ranging impacts on Minnesota, especially Greater Minnesota.
“The emergency notification services and essential local news coverage provided by public television and radio are essential to the fabric of life in Minnesota, and I will not sit back and watch as they come under attack by the Trump Administration,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison. “Those emergency notifications can include everything from Amber Alerts to alternative phone numbers to call for emergency help during 911 outages in an area, and any budget cuts that reduce the coverage of this essential information would jeopardize the safety of families across Minnesota.”
“These public stations also help tell the story of Minnesota by providing reliable and joyful local news coverage all over our state, especially in rural and Tribal communities,” added Ellison. “When public television and radio stations lift up local heroes or celebrate the achievements of local athletes, they bring people together and help us build community with one another. We need that now more than ever. I am proud to have filed this brief defending public television and radio stations from Donald Trump’s relentless campaign to censor information he dislikes or fears.”
At issue in the case is an executive order signed by President Trump on May 1 directing the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and executive branch agencies to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. On May 27, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations—Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and tribal-serving KSUT in southwestern Colorado—sued to block the proposed cuts. PBS and a Minnesota-based affiliate filed a separate lawsuit on May 30.
The coalition of attorneys general that Attorney General Ellison led along with the attorneys general of Colorado, Arizona, and Rhode Island argue that public broadcast stations serve a critical role in delivering information to the public and the proposed cuts would gravely harm Americans. The coalition says the funding cuts would create risks to public safety and erode trust by threatening coverage of local news, creating disruptions to the distribution of emergency notifications, reducing critical educational services, and limiting public media’s unique reach to rural and tribal audiences.
Wide-ranging impacts on Minnesota, especially Greater Minnesota
In the brief, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition outline some of the harms people in Minnesota and other states will face if the cuts move forward. These include threats to emergency notification systems like the Emergency Alert System, or EAS. Like many states that rely on public broadcast stations to relay messages to the public during emergencies, Minnesota’s emergency alert system relies on infrastructure and communication relays maintained by Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities PBS. Because MPR’s extensive broadcast coverage spans 95 percent of the state through its 45 stations and 41 translators and reaches nearly one million listeners weekly across its regional services, it is uniquely situated to relay emergency information quickly and accurately to those who need it most.
Additionally, other infrastructure provided by public radio stations and public television stations serve as important backups for emergency notifications in the event of electrical or internet outages. For example, one public radio station servicing a large region in Northern Minnesota has, on multiple occasions within the past several years alone, served as a critical back-up during county-wide 911 system outages affecting both landline and cell-phone emergency calls. During those outages, the station has repeated a message notifying listeners of the outage, and providing an alternative number for emergency calls until the outage was resolved. Another public radio station (which, in many areas of Northern Minnesota, is the only radio signal reachable by traditional radio equipment) served a critical role in providing a centralized source of information regarding containment efforts, road closures, evacuations, and other resources in response to the May 2025 wildfires.
Other emergency notifications disseminated via public media include Amber Alerts for abducted children, Blue Alerts for notifying the public of suspects who have killed or seriously injured law enforcement officers, Silver Alerts used when older people or people with developmental disabilities go missing, and Missing Indigenous Person Alerts that are critical for tribal communities.
The brief also outlines how public broadcasters serve important educational roles, particularly for early-childhood programming. Because public broadcasting’s content for children is produced without commercials and made freely available, the brief highlights its critical role in providing early-childhood programming to children in low-income homes and rural areas across the country where paid media sources may be cost-prohibitive and broadband is often less reliable. The brief highlights as an example Twin Cities PBS (TPT)’s show Skillsville, an animated series focused on child development for those aged four to eight. Since its launch in 2025, Skillsville has been viewed 43 million times on streaming services and on the PBS KIDS app, ranking it in popularity shortly behind Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and The Wild Kratts.
As noted in the brief, public broadcasting’s role in publicly beneficial programming goes beyond childhood educational content and extends to a range of subjects which enrich and inform the community. Particularly in “news deserts” where local newspapers either do not exist or lack local reporting staff, public radio stations and public television broadcasters are often the only sources of media covering local contested elections or providing forums for candidate interviews and debates.
Finally, the brief highlights the disproportionate threats to rural and tribal areas posed by the cuts, noting that each of the states signing on to the brief, “contain rural population areas that support economic and cultural contributions far bigger than their population density alone might indicate.” In Minnesota, 27% of the population resides in rural areas accounting for a majority of the state’s land area, and Minnesota is also home to 11 tribal nations . Public broadcasters in Minnesota spotlight rural school athletics, local business news, and regionally specific ecological and agricultural updates. Local stations whose coverage areas extend to each of Minnesota’s 11 Tribal Nations, and Minnesota Public Radio’s Native News Project ensure the availability of programming which reflects and preserve their language and culture.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
