Public Media

Saving a Community Station

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Article in AP by Jonathan Landrum Jr., 4/9/26

Headline:  “Dave Chappelle helps keep Ohio radio station rooted in hometown with restored building”

“YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) — Comedian Dave Chappelle stood on the front lawn of a newly restored 19th-century schoolhouse Thursday, joining neighbors and local officials as a small-town radio station secured its future in the community he calls home.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked two historic moments: Chappelle’s restoration of the Union Schoolhouse and WYSO’s relocation of its new broadcast facility inside it, bringing together distinct efforts to keep the station rooted in Yellow Springs at a time when local media outlets face mounting challenges. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/dave-chappelle-radio-station-1297aeb70e20d61e5a46481f0b660332

Voice of Who?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty, 4/6/25

Headline:  “VOA’s Legal Fight for Independence”

Subhead:  “Journalists at Voice of America have been to court in the hope of getting back to their jobs. Now they are suing to protect against censorship.”

“For the embattled journalists of Voice of America (VOA), first came the fight to return to the newsroom they’d been unceremoniously booted from by the Trump administration. Now comes another daunting challenge: clawing back their editorial independence.

Late last month, four employees joined with Pen America and Reporters Without Borders to sue the administration over allegations that President Trump and his political appointees at the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, had censored their coverage, transforming the newsroom into a “partisan mouthpiece of the administration” and breaching a congressionally created editorial firewall. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/voas-legal-fight-for-independence.php

Damaged Public Media Comeback?

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Article in The Guardian from Associated Press, 3/21/26

Headline:  “Federal judge blocks Trump order to end funding for NPR and PBS”

Subhead:  “Citing the first amendment, judge says president’s executive order is unlawful and unenforceable”

“Citing the first amendment, a federal judge on Tuesday agreed to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing a presidential directive to end federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), two media entities that the White House has said are counterproductive to American priorities.

“The operational impact of US district judge Randolph Moss’s decision was not immediately clear – both because it will probably be appealed and because too much damage to the public-broadcasting system has already been done, both by the president and Congress.

“Moss ruled that Donald Trump’s executive order to cease funding for NPR and PBS is unlawful and unenforceable. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/31/judge-blocks-trump-npr-pbs-funding-cut

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Article in New York Times by Benjam,in Mullin, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Executive Order on NPR and PBS Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules”

Subhead:  “The ruling will have minimal effect on the federal money going to public media because Congress voted to claw back funding. But it could have implications for any future funding.”

Read the article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/business/media/trump-npr-pbs-executive-order-ruling.html

On the Radio – Listening for the Aether

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Article in Poynter by Amaris Castillo, 3/26/25

Headline:  “A quarter of US radio stations are religious, and most listeners aren’t tuning in for politics, study finds”

Subhead:  “The Pew-Knight study shows religious programming is nearly ubiquitous in the U.S. and often blends faith with lifestyle content”

“About a quarter of all AM/FM radio stations in the United States have a faith focus, and 98% of U.S. adults live within range of at least one religious radio station, a study from the Pew-Knight Initiative released Thursday found.

“The research found that while religion is a throughline, programming often interweaves lifestyle advice, conversations about family, parenting and education, and social commentary or discussions of politics and current events. Among listeners, 62% of those surveyed said they tune in because the content is “spiritually uplifting.”

“Most did not cite news and politics coverage as a core reason for tuning in. . .”

Read the full article at:https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/christian-news-radio-united-states/

Defender of Public Media

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Article in Mother Jones by Michael Schiller and Reveal Staff, 3/19/26

Headline:  “Mr. Rogers and the Fight for Public Media”

Subhead:  “Take a trip to Mr. Rogers’ real life neighborhood in this special episode that celebrates the life and work of public media’s most famous defender.”

“On the anniversary of Fred Rogers birthday, we take a trip to Mr. Rogers’ real life neighborhood in this special episode that celebrates the life and work of public media’s most famous defender.

“Reveal’s Michael Schiller visits WQED in Pittsburgh for a look back at how Fred Rogers, the host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, championed public television throughout its decades-long struggle to survive Washington politics.

View the episode at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/mr-rogers-neighborhood-public-media-birthday/

Storm Over VOA Done?

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 2/19/26

Headline: “USA: Victory for RSF and VOA journalists as court orders VOA back to work”

“A federal judge has ruled that employees of the international public broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) must return to work no later than Monday, March 23 and that broadcasting operations must be resumed. The ruling follows a major decision in a summary judgment the previous week that Kari Lake was unlawfully appointed by President Donald Trump as Acting CEO of the US Agency for Global Media, reversing the government’s attempt to dismantle the agency and the media outlets under its supervision, including VOA. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/usa-victory-rsf-and-voa-journalists-court-orders-voa-back-work

After Purge, US Broadcasting Back?

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Article in Daily Beast by Cameron Adams, 3/12/26

Headline:  “Trump Picks New Propaganda Boss After MAGA Loser Kari Lake Ousted”

“Donald Trump has nominated a senior State Department official and free speech activist to oversee government broadcasters after the ousting of his previous appointee, Kari Lake.

“Sarah B. Rogers, who has been serving as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy since October, was nominated as CEO for the U.S. Agency for Global Media in a court filing on Thursday, according to the Washington Post.

“The media agency oversees Voice of America and other government broadcasters, as well as funding international outlets including Radio Free Asia.

“Two-time failed gubernatorial candidate Lake was removed from the role after U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan administration nominee, ruled on Saturday that she had been running the agency in violation of the law, labelling her a “de facto” CEO. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-picks-new-propaganda-boss-after-maga-loser-kari-lake-ousted/

The Fall of the BBC?

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Savage, 3/5/26

Headline:  “BBC says ‘irreversible’ trends mean it will not survive without major overhaul”

Subhead: “In opening response to charter review, corporation points to ‘mismatch’ between TV licence rules and viewing habits”

“The BBC has said it is facing “permanent and irreversible” trends that mean it cannot survive without a major overhaul, as it revealed a stark divergence between the number of people consuming its content and those paying the licence fee. . .”

“It said the rise of streaming services and digital platforms such as YouTube had caused blurring and confusion around when the licence fee needed to be paid, suggesting there was “a mismatch” between TV licence rules – based on watching live TV – and the nation’s viewing habits. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/05/bbc-charter-renewal-tv-licence-major-overhaul

Nonprofit Lifeline for Journalism?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Emily Bell and Heatger Chaplin, 2/19/26

Headline: “Profit or Nonprofit? A Debate over Journalism’s Future”

Subhead: “While the newspaper industry continues to contract, nonprofit news outlets have proliferated over the past decade. But dismissing profitable models for journalism is premature. “

“How can journalism survive? Perhaps the question would once have sounded unduly panicked, but it has only grown more pressing over the past twenty years. Between 2004 and 2019, newspapers lost an astonishing 77 percent of their jobs—more than any other industry on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/profit-nonprofit-debate-journalism-future-amazon-washington-post-bezos-bureau-labor-statistics.php