"It is not clear that the president has the authority to make such orders to CPB under the law.

PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger called it a "blatantly unlawful Executive Order, issued in the middle of the night."

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"CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President's authority," the corporation wrote in a statement issued Friday morning. "Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government."

The CPB noted that the statute Congress passed to create it "expressly forbade 'any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors."

Congress said that recipients of such funds "may be used at the discretion of the recipient" for producing or acquiring programs to put on the air."

First they came for Public Broadcasting....