Article in Indian Country Today by AP & Kevin Abourezk, 7/18/25

Headline:  “Native public media reels after federal budget cuts”

Subhead:  “Congress approves Trump’s $9 billion cut to public broadcasting and foreign aid”

Francene Blythe-Lewis spent Friday morning crying at her desk, trying to assess how the loss of nearly half of her organization’s $2.8 million annual budget would impact its ability to support public media by and about Native people.

“ ‘It’s been very stressful,’ she said. ‘I don’t know 100 percent how it’s going to affect us. It’s not going to close Vision Maker Media.’

“Vision Maker Media’s woes were realized early Friday when the U.S. House approved President Donald Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid . . .”

“The package cancels about $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and nearly $8 billion for a variety of foreign aid programs, many designed to help countries where drought, disease and political unrest endure. . .”

The cancellation of $1.1 billion for the CPB represents the full amount it is due to receive during the next two budget years. . .”

The corporation distributes more than two-thirds of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/news/native-public-media-reels-after-federal-budget-cuts/