Public Media

Wounded Public Stations

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Public media is NOT state-controlled media

Article in The New York Times, 9/13/25 by Benjamin Mullin, et. al., 9/13/25

Headline:  “After Trump’s Cuts, ‘Crippled’ NPR and PBS Stations Must Transform”

Subhead:  “Radio and television stations, facing enormous budget holes, are pleading with NPR and PBS to lower their fees as they examine whether to drop national programming altogether.”

“On the windswept prairie of South Dakota, a tribal public radio station is selling off its old records to pay the bills. In Warm Springs, Ore., the NPR affiliate is considering dropping ‘All Things Considered” ‘o focus on tribal issues. . .”

“Some stations are beginning to go off the air, as Congress was warned before it went ahead and eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the taxpayer-backed company that supports public media, ultimately shutting it down. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/us/politics/public-broadcasting-cuts.html

The End of History – on the Media?

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Article in New York Times by Mike Hale, 8/27/25

Headline:  “As PBS Stations Confront Cuts, American History Takes a Hit”

Subhead:   “The documentary series ‘American Experience’ begins an abbreviated schedule this week. A victim of the federal funding take-back, it has suspended production and laid off its staff.”

“The effect of the federal assault on public broadcasting in the United States has mostly been expressed in big numbers and dire forecasts: $1.1 billion taken back; the existence of more than 100 television and radio stations at risk.”

“But the cutbacks have already had one smaller, more immediate effect. WGBH, the bellwether public TV station in Boston, has laid off the 13 people who worked on the history series ‘American Experience’ and announced that no new documentaries will be produced for the show until further notice. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/arts/television/american-experience.html

Tribal Radio Stations Need Funding

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Article in Indian Country Today by Jenifer Shutt, 8/29/25

Headline:  “Tribal radio stations wait on $9M pledged in congressional handshake deal”

Subhead:  “South Dakota Republican Sen. Rounds is trusting the Trump administration to move $9.4 million in funding from an undisclosed account to more than two dozen tribal radio stations in rural areas”

“Tribal radio stations that are supposed to receive millions to fill the hole created when Congress eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting haven’t heard anything from the Trump administration about when it will send the money or how much in grants they’ll receive.

“Unlike most government spending deals, the handshake agreement South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds negotiated with the White House budget director in exchange for Rounds’ vote on the rescissions bill wasn’t placed in the legislation, so it never became law. . .”

https://ictnews.org/news/tribal-radio-stations-wait-on-9m-pledged-in-congressional-handshake-deal/

Grassroots Radio in Trouble?

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Article in The Washington Post by Maddy Butcher, 8/25/25

Headline:  “A reality check for NPR stations in Trump country”

Subhead:  “Will rural affiliates see through the politicization and adopt a more all-embracing approach?”

“. . .People in Montezuma County [Colorado] voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024. And yet KSJD — an affiliate of NPR, that longtime target of Republican ire — has grown from an entirely volunteer operation running out of a trailer a few decades ago to a staff with four full-timers, an adjunct performing arts venue and a $580,000 budget. It is the only independently operated radio station or media outlet in the county, and it is one of hundreds of rural radio stations whose budgets will be slashed by the recent White House-requested congressional rescission of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/25/npr-defunded-rural-stations-fundraising/

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Article in AP by Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 8/25/25

Headline: “After Trump and Congress spending cuts, public media stations wait on money for emergency alerts”

“Warning: This may be an actual emergency — as far as emergencies about emergencies go, at least.

“The recently defunded nonprofit corporation that distributed federal money to public media stations across the United States is warning of another casualty when it shuts down next month: the resilience of the nation’s emergency alert systems.

“In 2022, Congress created the Next Generation Warning System grant program, meant to help stations in rural, tribal and otherwise underserved communities repair and improve the warning systems that tell people about evacuation orders, Amber alerts, tornado warnings, and more. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fema-cpb-npr-public-radio-emergency-alerts-warning-systems-99a5a37b6a62e0e01b9ee99b39cfe457

Keeping Public Media From Drowning?

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Article in The Washington Post by Scott Nover, 8/19/25

Headline: “Foundations step in to offer $37 million lifeline to public media”

Subhead:  “The Knight, MacArthur and Ford foundations are among those pledging emergency funding after Trump’s rescission stripped federal funding from PBS and NPR stations.”

“Major philanthropic organizations said Tuesday that they are committing nearly $37 million in emergency funding to keep public media stations afloat after Congress passed President Donald Trump’s rescissions bill, which eliminated $1.1 billion in federal funding from PBS and NPR stations over the next two years. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/19/npr-pbs-foundations-funding/

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Steve Waldman, 8/20/25

Headline:  “What Will the Next Era of Public Media Look Like?”

Subhead: “After the demise of CPB, the industry has an opportunity to build more creative models for public support.”

“. . .In response, Knight, MacArthur, and several other foundations announced this week that they were funding a Public Media Bridge Fund to fill the absence of CPB. About a hundred TV and radio stations were receiving more than 30 percent of their revenue from CPB; many of those would be in danger of going dark. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/what-will-the-next-era-of-cpb-public-media-look-like.php