PBS eliminates DEI office to comply with Trump's policies

PBS is closing its diversity, equity and inclusion office after President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting all government programs related to DEI. Trump signed multiple orders on his first day in office to end the programs throughout the government.

According to Deadline, a memo sent to employees by PBS President Paula Kerger at the public organization said, "to ensure that we are complying with the president’s executive order we have closed our DEI office, and Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow are leaving PBS." Loving was the Chief Diversity Officer at PBS and Leow was VP over the department.

"Our mission to educate, engage and inspire the wide variety of American communities we serve will continue to be at the center of our work, and we’ll also continue to ensure that PBS remains a welcoming place for everyone," the memo added.

Last month, Brendan Carr, who is the newly appointed FCC Chairman put in place by Trump, opened up investigations in the public communication programming at PBS as well as NPR over their sponsorship programs.

"I believe this FCC investigation may prove relevant to an ongoing legislative debate. In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” Carr said at the time.

PBS' DEI initiatives were announced in 2021, and the organization said it would require producers to have their own DEI plans for "all new agreements, series renewals and direct-to-PBS programs."

The cuts to DEI have taken place across the federal government with Trump's order as well as with many entities in the business world. Although not subject to the orders from Trump, corporations such as Amazon, Walmart, and Meta all rolled back their DEI programs in the weeks leading up to Trump's return to the White House.