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'The lights will go out': Public broadcasters brace for federal cuts
By Maggie Amacher
Congress is closing in on a major decision about public media funding, threatening the future of PBS, NPR, and hundreds of local stations that rely on federal support to stay on the air.
Early Thursday morning, the Senate passed the rescissions package, a bill that would eliminate $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The package also contains deep cuts to international aid programs, including $7.9 billion aimed at combating issues like famine and disease.
Passed by a 51-48 vote, the bill now returns to the House for final approval before being sent to President Trump’s desk. If enacted, the cuts would take effect in October, placing hundreds of local PBS and NPR stations at risk, particularly in rural and low-income communities.
“Federal funding for the public broadcasting system is irreplaceable,” Patricia de Stacy Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, wrote in a press release. “Public media serves all — families and individuals, in rural and urban communities — free of charge and commercial-free.”
The bill comes in the wake of Trump’s May 1 executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.” The order called for CPB to cease funding to PBS and NPR and argued “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
While popular national programs like PBS News Hour and Nature may be able to seek alternative funding through sponsorships or syndication, it’s the local stations that stand to lose the most, according to The New York Times.
More than 70% of the CPB’s federal funding goes directly to over 1,500 local stations, supporting core operations like programming, staffing, and community outreach.
While federal funding accounts for about 15% of PBS’s overall budget, many small and rural stations rely on it for a much larger share of their operating costs. Without this support, many stations face staff layoffs, program cancellations, or even complete shutdowns.
“Losing this critical money makes it far more likely the lights will go out on local, independent media in counties across the country,” PBS warned in a fact sheet.
For many Americans, public broadcasting is more than a source of entertainment. Nearly 60% of PBS viewers live in rural areas where local news coverage and media choices are limited. (Click here to see how these cuts will impact communities nationwide.)
If the proposed cuts go through, stations’ two largest expenses — maintaining infrastructure and producing local content — would likely be the first casualties. This could drastically reduce the amount of locally relevant programming and hamper stations’ abilities to provide critical emergency information.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of only two Republican senators who opposed the rescission, warning that cutting funding for public broadcasting could negatively impact radio stations that are often the only source of information during natural disasters.
Despite partisan divides in Washington, public broadcasting continues to enjoy broad bipartisan support. In Oklahoma, 70% of residents say their local PBS station provides excellent value to the community, including 52% of Republicans. In Maine, 87% of residents — including 71% of Republicans and 70% of Trump voters — believe PBS funding is either too low or just right. (Read on to see the role public broadcasting plays in education.)
The House is scheduled to vote on the funding cuts by Friday, July 18 — a decision that will determine the fate of public media across the country.
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