Article in Poynter by Paul Farhi, 10/20/26

Headline:  “Public broadcasting found a lifeline after defunding. How long will it last?”

Subhead:  “A surge of ‘rage giving’ and philanthropy helped stave off widespread closures, but many public media organizations remain vulnerable”

“. . .President Donald Trump was urging Congress to wipe out almost all federal funding of public broadcasting — some $1.1 billion in subsidies. As many Republicans had before him, Trump demonized PBS and NPR as biased against conservatives. But the ‘rescission,’ or formal clawing back of funds appropriated by a previous Congress, would be a historic reversal: the first time Washington had withdrawn the financial support. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/public-broadcasting-federal-funding-cuts-donations/