PBS, which receives federal funding through the Corporation of Public Broadcasters, has closed its diversity, equity, and inclusion office, multiple media outlets reported Monday.
The closure follows an executive order by President Donald Trump issued on Inauguration Day that called for terminating "to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and 'environmental justice' offices and positions (including but not limited to 'Chief Diversity Officer' positions)."
"To ensure that we are complying with the President's Executive Order, we have closed out DEI office, and Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow are leaving PBS," said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger in a statement to staff posted on X by a New York Times reporter.
Leow was director of DEI and Loving senior vice president of DEI at PBS.
"I know you join me in wishing them well in their future endeavors," Kerger said. "Our mission to educate and inspire a 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."
Amtrak and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are other federal agencies that have recently complied with Trump's DEI order.
In its second annual DEI report, released in February 2023, PBS noted that it created a DEI Office during the 2022 fiscal year and hired staff that included Leow and Loving, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the time, the company also established employee resource groups and DEI advocates and committees. The company said 44% of its workforce was comprised of Black, Indigenous, and people of color, which was a six-year high.
Last month, Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission who was appointed by Trump, announced an investigation into whether PBS and National Public Radio, also a division of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, violated government regulations with its use of sponsors.
Carr wrote a letter to the news networks announcing the investigation into whether NPR and PBS member stations violated regulations by airing information about financial sponsors, which Carr said could be considered "announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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