Broadcasting

No News Media for Rural Areas?

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Public Media are NOT state-controlled media

Article in Common Cause by Staff, 8/6/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Funding Cuts Are Already Gutting Rural Public Media Stations Across the Country”

Subhead:  “Trump signed a bill cutting $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, putting local NPR and PBS stations at risk, especially in rural areas.”

“Trump just signed a bill to cancel $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in a move that jeopardizes local NPR and PBS stations across the country, especially in rural areas.

“In their latest attack on public media, Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have cancelled over a billion dollars in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS.

“While federal funding makes up 2% of NPR’s annual budget and 15% of PBS’s, some stations will be hit much harder by these cuts. Member stations in rural areas disproportionately rely on federal funding, since they have fewer donors and sponsors that can contribute to their operating budgets. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commoncause.org/articles/trumps-funding-cuts-are-already-gutting-rural-public-media-stations-across-the-country/

Hands up, Media!

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Article in Daily Kos by TheBradBlog, 8/6/25

Headline:  ” ‘Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens’: Media Giants Continue Trump Capitulation: ‘BradCast’ 8/6/2025″

“. . .The corporate capitulation is worse than you think. And it strikes right at the heart of what this nation’s founders saw as perhaps the most important protection for freedom from monarchs and tyrants. Ya know, like the one we ended up with anyway. . .”

“Following Donald Trump’s gutting of the 80-year old Voice of America earlier this year, his and the Republican Congress’ ending of federal funding for NPR and PBS a week or so ago, and the absurd $16 million dollar settlements of ridiculous defamation lawsuits filed by Trump against the corporate owners of Disney/ABC and Paramount/CBS, the largest media conglomerates in the nation continue to rollover in fear, in hopes of placating and/or currying favor with our press-freedom hating, tyrannical man-baby President. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/8/6/2337193/-Ain-t-Nobody-Here-But-Us-Chickens-Media-Giants-Continue-Trump-Capitulation-BradCast-8-6-2025?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

We Used to Trust the Media

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Article in Poynter by Amaris Castillo, 8/6/25

Headline:  “Walter Cronkite signed off — and trust in the press steadily eroded”

Subhead: “Once a voice of authority, the decline of trust in the press has mirrored the rise of a more fragmented, polarized media world”

“. . .Cronkite was often cited as “the most trusted man in America.” For millions of viewers, his farewell symbolized the pinnacle of journalistic trust. He was the man they relied on, the one who shaped how they saw the world. But that trust didn’t last forever.

In the four decades since, trust in the media has been in steady decline. Cronkite’s departure is seen in hindsight as one of the last moments when Americans collectively turned to a single, authoritative news source. Whether that’s true or just a convenient fable, there’s no doubt that trust is much lower now. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/walter-cronkite-most-trusted-man-america-poynter-50/

Impact on Native Americans

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Article in Indian Country Today by Kevin Abourezk, 8/2/25

Headline:  “Radio silence? Public media braces for impact of federal budget cuts” 

Subhead:  “Tribal communities will be impacted by $1.1 billion in federal budgets cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to dozens of tribal community radio stations, plus funding cuts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency “

Article ins waves of snow battered the Rosebud Indian Reservation in December 2022, John Miller went to work alerting his community about closed roads, closed tribal programs and places where people could take shelter. Residents learned about the storm’s extent from the radio, which broadcast National Weather Service alerts, from people they knew and trusted.

Many residents of the South Dakota reservation lived in remote places that had become cut off by impassable roads, and some were cut off for as long as two weeks and ran out of propane to heat their homes. Miller, station manager for KOYA 88.1 FM, answered phone calls from people seeking help and directed them toward programs that could help. . .”

“Even though there were other ways people learned about the storm and where they could find help, many still relied on their local radio station, KOYA 88.1 FM, to provide them with constantly changing weather information and resources. . .”

“ ‘People may see media such as radio as something that is very dated, but it’s absolutely not,’ Edsitty said. ‘They are the first and foremost for these communities providing news and community updates, cultural programming, emergency alerts given circumstances that a lot of Indigenous communities experience’. . .”

” ‘Most of our stations are going to lose most of their funding’ he said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/news/radio-silence-public-media-braces-for-impact-of-federal-budget-cuts/

Losing Public Media

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Public media are not state-controlled media

Article in Daily Kos by Eclift, 8/4/25

Headline:  “Mourning the Loss of Public Service Media”

“. . .Following PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was established in an act of Congress. Its mission, along with that of PBS, was to provide quality programming often overlooked by commercial broadcasters. It focused on education, history, culture, nature, science, public affairs, and children’s content. PBS has been going strong all these years, and the thought of losing it is painful. . .”

“In July the Trump administration declared that it was ending funding for CPB, which funds PBS and NPR. The Senate passed the measure supporting that goal immediately. Followers of public broadcasting, editors, and journalists were stunned, and deeply troubled, at the thought that over a billion dollars, which had been appropriated by Congress for two years, would disappear. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/8/4/2336835/-Mourning-the-Loss-of-Public-Service-Media?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Authoritarians Hate Free Speech

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Daniel Golden, 8/4/25

Headline:  “Joseph McCarthy’s War on Voice of America”

Subhead:  “A largely forgotten campaign of harassment and persecution from the 1950s that still echoes today.”

“In nationally televised hearings, Senate Republicans denounce Voice of America. They accuse the government’s international broadcasting arm of harboring saboteurs, misspending taxpayer funds, condoning anti-Semitism, compromising security by relying on foreign-born workers, and denigrating the country it is supposed to serve. . .”

“These hearings that gripped the country were not part of the Trump administration’s recent campaign against VOA. They took place in 1953, and the committee chair running them was none other than Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, then at the peak of his power. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/joseph-mccarthy-voice-of-america.php

Public Media – Gone Now

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Public Media are NOT state-controlled media

Article in The Guardian by Joseph Gedeon, 8/1/25

Headline: “Corporation for Public Broadcasting to close after US funding cut”

Subhead:  “Closure of public broadcasting group follows House Republicans’ decision to strip $1.1bn in funding over two years”

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday it will shut down operations after losing federal funding, delivering a blow to America’s public media system and the more than 1,500 local stations that have relied on its support for nearly six decades.

“The closure follows the Republican-controlled House’s decision last month to eliminate $1.1bn in CPB funding over two years, part of a $9bn reduction to public media and foreign aid programs.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said Patricia Harrison, corporation’s president and chief executive. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/01/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-closure

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Article in The Hill by Aris Folley, 8/1/25

Headline:   “Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it is beginning to shut down “

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) said Friday it will begin “an orderly wind-down of its operations” after seeing its budget cut through GOP-led legislation. . .”

“The CPB said most of its employees jobs would conclude at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, while a small transition team would work through January “to ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations. . .”

“Less than 5 percent of the nonprofit’s funding goes toward its operations, while more than 70 percent “goes directly to local public media stations,” the CPB states on its website. And almost half of its “total 544 radio and TV grantees are considered rural. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/media/5432389-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-shutting-down/

Where Legacy Media Dare Not Go

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Article in Comic Sands by Amelia MAvis Christnot, 7/28/25

Headline: ” ‘South Park’ Creators Reveal How They Got Uncensored NSFW Joke About Trump On Air”

“While speaking at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone revealed how they were able to expose MAGA Republican President Donald Trump’s alleged micropenis on the season 27 premiere of their Comedy Central cartoon.”

“The much-anticipated return of South Park—after a two-year hiatus—took on the show’s bosses at Paramount over the decision to settle a frivolous lawsuit with Trump over a CBS News 60 Minutes episode for $16 million. The move was criticized as both extortion by Trump and a bribe by Paramount to secure FCC approval for their deal with Skydance Media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.comicsands.com/stone-parker-uncensored-penis

Mapping the Media Bias

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 7/31/25

Headline:  “The media’s geographic bias strikes again”

Subhead:  “A lone shooter in New York leads to nonstop coverage, while other shootings are ignored.”

“The big news networks like to claim that they cover the entire country. That no matter where you live in the United States, they’re operating with you in mind. Sure, they might be broadcasting from New York City, but really they’re focused just as much on you as they are on their metropolis.

“Then comes a day like Monday.

“A horrible shooting in New York City did not just lead the big cable news networks in prime time; it overtook much or all of them. A lone gunman who killed four people and then himself was, to these networks, the country’s top story.

“The same cannot be said for Reno, Nevada, where a man killed three people outside the largest casino that same day. Nor the gas station in Detroit where two people were killed.

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-medias-geographic-bias-strikes

Subsaharan VOA impact

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Article in Reporters without Frontiers by Partager, 7/30/25

Headline:  “Sub-Saharan Africa: community radio programmes shut down, access to information in jeopardy after Voice of America suspension”

“Disrupted programming, journalists sacked from their jobs: the US government’s suspension of Voice of America (VOA), whose programmes were broadcast in all sub-Saharan African countries via over a thousand local partners, undermines access to reliable and diverse information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this major setback for the right to reliable information on the African continent, and urges the international community to find alternative solutions to remedy the situation.”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/sub-saharan-africa-community-radio-programmes-shut-down-access-information-jeopardy-after-voice