Among the many budget cuts passed during the Trump Administration are a complete government defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, namely stations NPR and PBS. These stations cover a variety of news and public shows, such as the Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) “Sesame Street” and the National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Tiny Desk Concert.” The House vote was divided among party lines, with only two Republicans against the cuts to be sent to President Trump’s office for signature. The Trump Administration and conservatives have long accused the NPR and PBS of spreading “radical, woke propaganda disguised as news” and “a waste.” The White House lists articles it considers having left-leaning political bias, such as coverage of transgender individuals, racial reparations and anti-fat attitudes. Further, the White House cites a zero-tolerance for non-leftist attitudes, like a refusal to cover Hunter Biden’s “Laptop Scandal” and its CEO’s open disdain for President Trump. NPR’s CEO, Katherine Maher, commented that the elimination of funding “directly harms […] th[e] community and constituents, and could very well place lives at risk. NPR also rejects all accusations of bias and claims to abide by journalistic standards.”
According to Pew Research Center, Americans more likely support the funding of public media, with 43% surveyed agreeing that NPR and PBS should continue to receive funding, along with 33% that are unsure and 24% that believe Congress should remove funding. However, Republicans are both more likely to believe funding should end (44%) and of Republicans, only 9% regularly receive news from NPR, along with only 11% receiving news from PBS. This compares to 32% and 31% of Democrats for each respective media outlet. Democrats are also more likely to trust NPR and PBS than Republicans. Harvard Library’s Media Bias Chart places NPR and PBS almost skewed to the left, such as stations like NBC and CNBC. These stations are on the more reliable side of media with NPR slightly more reliable and valuable as news as CNN, and PBS as much as the BBC.
As it now stands, the CPB will likely lose $1.1 billion from funding over the next two years, directly cutting all government money towards NPR and PBS. While NPR’s national branches receive only a small fraction of their funding, their local member stations receive 8 to 10% of their funding from the federal government. Leaders in the community have warned that this would be especially troublesome for small stations, especially those in rural areas. Rep. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK) openly opposed the cuts, mentioning how she received a text from the publicly funded KUCB about a 7.3 magnitude earthquake and tsunami warning earlier. A reported 206 counties in the U..S do not have a local news source, while 1,561 have only one, with a combined 55 million Americans living in a “news desert.” Rep. Sen. Alma Adams (NC) defended public broadcasting, saying that “When Hurricane Heline devastated western North Carolina, public broadcasting was there when traditional communications failed.” She insisted that with power, cellular and internet outages, thousands of residents received news through public radio. Further arguments cite the possibility of broadcasts to more rural areas and especially Native Americans could be shut down. In Austin, Texas, two stations will lose $1.2 million in funding. The station’s general manager, Debbie Hiott, says the station may have to stop airing some shows, including national and local programming. Abilene’s KACU station director, Heather Claborn, stated its station is autonomous and picks what serves its community when asked about its relation to NPR’s national services. The station is set to lose 30% of its budget, putting a further strain on its staff of five people. Claborn says the region is on “the verge of turning into a news desert,” even though the city is one of the fastest growing in Texas. Based on the reactions from cutting publicly funded broadcasting, these rural areas will have issues garnering up the support they need to continue supplying news to the areas that lack it the most.