President Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” the nation’s primary public broadcasters. Trump contends that news coverage by NPR and PBS contains a left-wing bias. The federal funding for NPR and PBS is appropriated by Congress.

The executive order, like many that have been signed by the president, could be challenged in court.

“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the executive order says. “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens.”

On social media platforms, Trump recently blasted the two primary public broadcasting networks, posting in all caps: “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”

NPR’s President and CEO Katherine Maher defended coverage and addressed the need for funding in a recent interview on All Things Considered.

“I think that it’s important for public media to be able to continue to be relevant in a time where there is a lot of coverage of different issues and areas of interest,” she said.

PBS’ Paula Kerger found herself queried about a video involving a performer in drag singing a variation on a children’s song for a young audience. (Kerger testified that the video was posted on the website of PBS’ New York City member station and never aired on television.)

Federal funding for public media flows through the congressionally chartered Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Congress allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year — an amount affirmed in a recent stop-gap bill passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate.

President Trump opened up a new front in his assault on public media on Monday, asserting that he was removing three of the five board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The corporation sued Trump on Tuesday morning in response, pointing to federal law and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to contend that he does not have the power to take these actions.