The IPI global network expresses deep alarm over the cancellation of $1.1 billion budgeted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds the U.S. public broadcasters NPR and PBS. The passage of the bill demanded by President Trump marks the latest development in the administration’s targeting of the news media. The cancellation poses a particular threat to rural news stations which rely on CPB grants and other federal funding.
On May 1, Trump issued an executive order to “end taxpayer subsidization of biased media”. On July 17, the Senate approved a bill cutting $8 billion from foreign assistance programs and $1.1 billion from the CPB. House and Senate Republicans claimed the cuts were necessary to reduce “waste, fraud, and abuse”, criticizing the purported increasingly liberal bias of public news stations.
Both NPR and PBS receive federal funding in the form of grants, accounting for about two and fifteen percent of their budgets, respectively, while the majority of their funding comes from donors and corporate sponsorships. In contrast, local stations in relatively remote areas receive much larger portions of their funding from federal grants and will be disproportionately impacted by these severe cuts.
After September, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will no longer be able to make grants. This is expected to have dire effects on the roughly 1,000 NPR member stations, the most vulnerable of which serve rural and underserved audiences. The cuts also put at risk the broadcasting of vital reporting such as emergency alerts or coverage during times of crisis.
While the full extent of the impact is not yet known, some local stations may be forced to shut down come October, and others will likely broadcast fewer shows with less air time. An analysis by Public Media Company found that 78 public radio and 37 TV organizations are at risk of closing down completely once cuts are implemented.
“The drastic cuts by Congress and the White House to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting cast a worrying picture for the future of public-service media in the United States,” said IPI Director of Advocacy Amy Brouillette. “These cuts will exacerbate existing news deserts and do a tremendous disservice to local audiences who rely on local public-service broadcasters for essential reporting on their communities.”