@PJF: “NPR is propaganda garbage. So grateful it's being defunded.”
Dude hates rural America! Here’s what our #1 troll forgot. And the reason nobody takes him seriously….See what results when you skip the part where you actually use your head!
Last Friday, PBS and a local member station that serves rural northern and central Minnesota
filed suit against the administration to block Trump’s effort to cut off funding, calling it an “existential threat.” Three days earlier, NPR and three Colorado public radio broadcasters
filed a similar lawsuit, citing constitutional violations and executive overreach.
Setting aside any constitutional questions, the administration’s actions against public media are a direct threat to
essential services for rural Americans in reliably red states such as Wyoming, West Virginia and Idaho. These stations aren’t run by coastal, big-city “woke” liberals; they are news and entertainment stations run by locals. The evisceration of community services should worry every Republican voter and politician in America.
Contrary to common misconceptions, the federally funded
Corporation for Public Broadcasting doesn’t directly fund NPR or PBS. About
70% of its taxpayer-supported budget goes to
1,500 local TV and radio stations, more than half of which are in
rural, underserved or sparsely populated areas. These
community service grants fund staffing, educational and local programming and emergency alert systems. In rural communities, CPB support often accounts for more than 20% of a station’s budget. The total cost to American taxpayers? About $1.60 per year per American family – or
just 0.01% of federal discretionary spending.
In
Marfa, Texas, CPB provides 40% of the local station’s funding. KUTE
Four Corners Public Radio, which serves Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, and KSUT
Tribal Radio, heard in tribal lands in Colorado and New Mexico, demonstrate the importance of CPB funding to far-flung communities. Tribal and indigenous communities in Oregon, New Mexico and Alaska are especially reliant on Congressional funding, with four stations getting at least
90% of their revenue from CPB.
Across America, public media is often the sole source of local news, music and community storytelling. If every station that relied on CPB for 20% or more of its budget were forced to close because of Trump’s budget cuts,
the U.S. would lose 68 public radio stations and 49 public television stations.
More than 60% of public radio stations offer
commercial-free music. Nearly all of the classical music broadcast on U.S. radio originates from public radio stations. These stations could no longer broadcast to 21 million music listeners nationwide if CPB can’t provide affordable system-wide
music licensing agreements.
CPB also plays a crucial role in rural emergency communication through the
Next Generation Warning System through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, helping deliver secure alerts even when commercial networks fail. The
Public Radio Satellite System receives and transmits emergency alerts from FEMA to more than 1,200 local public radio stations, providing secure and reliable communications even when the internet is down.
The next time catastrophe strikes rural America, there may be no team of dedicated journalists available to keep survivors informed.
pen.org
Much of the country has little access to local news, with public media filling the void – and serving as a lifeline
www.theguardian.com
When Hurricane Helene walloped North Carolina last fall, residents were hit by a second threat at the same time: the dire need for accurate information.
The loss of electric power amid the widespread flooding meant that people – especially those in isolated areas – were deprived of basic news. They needed to know about everything from road closures to the whereabouts of their family and friends to sources of drinkable water.
Blue Ridge Public
Radio stepped into the breach.
Residents used car batteries or crank-powered radios to listen to the station’s daily broadcast, as the editorial staff stayed on the air for long hours, sometimes sleeping on the floor of the Asheville-based newsroom.
It was one example of how public media serves its audience, especially those in rural or small-town America, and especially at times of crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/24/fox-host-jesse-watters-rules-for-men
But with the Trump administration’s draconian
push to “claw back” more than a billion dollars in already approved funds for public radio and television, that service is threatened as never before. It’s up to Congress to decide whether to agree to that demand or to allow the next two years of funding to stand.
“This would disproportionately harm rural areas and smaller communities, where public media really is a lifeline,” said Tim Richardson of PEN America, the non-profit organization that advocates for press rights and free expression.
It’s not only at times of crisis that public radio and TV make a difference. It’s every day, particularly in places that don’t have a lot of other news sources.
With the sharp decline of the local newspaper business over the past 20 years, many parts of America have turned into what experts refer to as “news deserts”. These are places that have almost no sources of credible local reporting.
As local newspapers have shuttered or withered – at a rate of more than
two every week – news deserts have grown. The effects are sobering. People who live in news deserts become
more polarized in their political views and less engaged in their communities.
One of the foundations of democracy itself – truth – begins to disappear. People turn to social media for information and lies flow freely with nothing to serve as a reality check.
Right now, many small and rural communities that are on the brink of becoming news deserts do still have access to public media – particularly to National Public Radio’s network of member radio stations, which employ dedicated local reporters.
But the Trump administration’s new effort targeting public radio and television is a serious threat.