The White House plans to eliminate nearly all federal funding for public media, including NPR and PBS, and is seeking to rescind $1.1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to reporting by NPR. President Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully in his first term to kill federal funding for public media but now may be within days of succeeding in his second term.
Some members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation are reacting to the news with concern about future access to “valuable” news and information.
A White House statement released last week accused NPR and PBS of allegedly promoting "radical, woke propaganda" under the guise of news, asserting that taxpayer money should not support such content.
Pennsylvania Democrats defended public media, calling it a “valuable” and “essential” source of news and information.
“As a kid who grew up watching ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,’ I know first hand the vital role PBS and other public broadcasters play,” Rep. Brendan Boyle said in a statement. “As co-chair of the Congressional Broadcasters Caucus, I’ll keep fighting to protect public broadcasting and the local jobs it supports.”
Democrat Rep. Dwight Evans accused President Donald Trump of attacking unbiased news sources that independently report on his administration.
“Trump can’t seem to handle anything but fawning North Korea-style coverage,” he said.
Republican Rep. Scott Perry said he is behind the president’s effort.
“It’s a no-brainer to slash taxpayer funding of NPR and PBS — disinformation and propaganda outlets that only publish leftist talking points. I support President Trump’s rescission request. Let’s get it done,” he said in a statement emailed to WHYY News.
High stakes for rural access
The CPB’s annual funding — about $500 million — represents a fraction of the federal budget, but it is a vital source of support for more than 1,500 local public television and radio stations. Around 1% of NPR’s total budget comes from direct federal funding via CPB, while around 15% of PBS’s does. Over 70% of the CPB’s distributions go to locally owned public radio and television stations.
The proposed funding cuts could have significant repercussions for public media outlets in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. In Pennsylvania, stations like WHYY in Philadelphia, WQED in Pittsburgh and WITF in Harrisburg already saw some government defunding when, in 2021, state funding for public broadcasting was eliminated.
Last year, WHYY received just over $3.5 million in direct federal government funding via the CPB that supports its newsroom as well as nationally syndicated shows, such as Fresh Air and The Pulse. Local TV productions and PBS content, such as the popular children’s show Albie’s Elevator are also partly supported by federal funding.
CPB funding also helps WHYY News provide local and regional coverage for residents of Delaware and southern New Jersey. In addition to its broadcasting operations, WHYY offers after-school media training, media literacy for youth, community engagement events and other local programming, such as Studio 2.
Bill Marazzo, president and CEO of WHYY, said that public media is already “undercapitalized” considering the added value of hyperlocal programming that distinguishes WHYY from other news sources.
While WHYY members “appreciate the kind of news NPR offers about the nation or world affairs, they have a strong predisposition to also having news information that connects them to their local community,” he said. And “there really are no other news sources that offer fact-based, trustworthy, bipartisan, even news and information quite the way we do. So we’re a standout in a news ecosystem, which is becoming more and more segmented based on people’s personal preferences.”
The CPB only accounts for more than 7% of total revenues for WHYY, which serves the nation’s fourth largest media market. However, many smaller stations, particularly in rural and underserved areas around the commonwealth, rely more heavily on federal funding, so it can be the difference between survival and closure.
Case study: Erie, Pa.
WQLN, a smaller NPR and PBS affiliate that serves the city of Erie and mostly rural Erie County, relies on federal funding for around 40% of its budget. Cindy Spizarny, station president and CEO, says that losing it would present an existential dilemma.
“It impacts everything that we do. Being such a small station, it’s a huge loss to WQLN,” she told WHYY News. “It’s going to be a huge challenge. We’re going to have to make a lot of changes, a lot of adjustments, and rethink our strategies going forward.”
Spizarny said she regularly hears about how much the station is valued from the community, particularly parents and older residents.
“A lot of kids in the area don’t have access to preschool, so they use PBS Kids programming to learn,” she said. “Most of the times, they don’t even realize they’re learning, but it’s such a great tool to prepare them for school. Also, we have a high percentage of lower-income individuals and older adults who rely on public media on our programming to keep them company and provide a source of entertainment for them.”
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat who represents Montgomery County, agrees that stations like WQLN provide essential services.
“NPR and PBS are vital sources of news and cultural programming for communities across our country — but particularly for rural areas that rely on them for trustworthy reporting of local news and a diversity of opinions,” she said in a statement sent to WHYY News.
A history of attacks
Trump is far from the first Republican to attempt to slash or eliminate public broadcasting funds, dating back at least as far back as Richard Nixon’s attempt to assert greater control over public broadcasting as a result of coverage of the Vietnam War and the Watergate hearings.
In the 1990s, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich famously vowed to “zero out” federal support for public broadcasting as part of the “Contract with America.” Though Congress ultimately restored most of the funding, Gingrich’s effort marked a major turning point, politicizing the issue for years to come. Republicans have since threatened to reduce or eliminate funding for the CPB during budget negotiations with Democrats.
During his first term, Trump also proposed eliminating CPB funding but Congress — controlled by both parties at various times — consistently rejected the cuts.
“The President’s antipathy towards NPR and PBS is longstanding,” Scanlon said. “He tried unsuccessfully to substantially cut or zero out funding for these agencies in all four years of his first term, claiming, untruthfully, that alternative forums and paid media provided sufficient alternatives.”
However, Trump’s party now controls both the Senate and House of Republicans giving another attempt better chances. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal Trump ally, echoed his call during a House subcommittee hearing in March titled “Anti-American Airwaves,” which targeted leadership from NPR and PBS. Greene called NPR and PBS “radical leftwing echo chambers” with a “communist agenda” and called for the complete and total defunding and dismantling of CPB.
The DOGE effect
Although it’s not directly linked to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Greene’s Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee shares the same acronym and, ostensibly, the same goal of reducing the federal budget.
However, the Pennsylvania representatives that responded to WHYY News pointed out that the CPB funding is just a drop in the bucket of federal spending and challenged the White House and congressional Republican priorities.
“While Trump and Republicans push trillions in tax breaks for billionaires, they’re targeting the tiny 0.01% of the budget that supports public broadcasting,” Boyle said.
That’s a sentiment echoed by Evans.
“If Republicans actually want to balance the budget, they can work with Democrats to close tax loopholes that favor their billionaire donors,” he said.
What is next
Congress is in recess until April 28, when the White House is expected to officially make the request. It is extremely rare for Congress to claw back funding that has already been appropriated to a federal program, but Congress has that power. For example, a deal to raise the debt limit made between Republicans and the Biden administration required unspent COVID relief to be returned.
Marazzo still shows some optimism that even Republicans in Congress won’t be inclined to “kill Big Bird,” noting that around 38% of WHYY’s member base identify themselves as “conservative Republicans.”
“We are reaching people with very different perspectives who frankly appreciate what we do and who are devoted to public media – or, in our case, WHYY – for all kinds of services; not just news, but entertainment and lifelong learning,” he said. “Maybe this environment is different than the recent past, but I think there are more people than less people who want to preserve those sort of fundamental elements of what we do for the coming years.”
Pennsylvania Democrats also said that they would fight any effort to defund the CPB.
Scanlon alluded to public media’s popularity in the country. A recent Pew Research Center report showed that the percentage of Americans who support public funding of NPR and PBS is nearly 20 percentage points higher than those who say they should be defunded.
“I will continue to stand with the American people in support of federal funding for public media and will do everything I can in Congress to fight back against attempts to defund and dismantle this unparalleled public service,” Scanlon said.
WHYY News also reached out to Republican members of Congress in Pennsylvania, including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie and Dan Meuser and Sen. David McCormick, but none responded.
In February, Perry introduced the No Propaganda Act, which would fully defund NPR and PBS which he said “actively pushed Chinese propaganda and have prioritized disinformation over free speech” in a statement on his website announcing the bill.
Perry did not respond to a request for elaboration on what he identified as “Chinese propaganda.”
McCormick also answered questions on the subject posed to him by central Pennsylvania NPR affiliate WPSU, in which he accused NPR and PBS of left-leaning programming.
“I’m all in favor of public broadcasting in the sense that we’re giving neutral, objective news to people,” McCormick said. “I think it’s important that our citizens be informed, [but] I think that if government funding is going to be used to support public broadcasting or other things, it needs to be not politically motivated.”
McCormick did not directly say if he would or would not vote to defund public broadcasting.
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