Since the launch of PBS (in 1970) and NPR (in 1971), conservatives have been anything but fans of the public broadcasters, including mad about the fact they receive some funding from tax dollars (via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Famously, Mr. Rogers himself spoke in favor of funding for public broadcasting in 1969 to a Congressional committee. Over the years, the threat of “killing off Big Bird” was enough to ultimately sway efforts to defund the CPB (and PBS/NPR).
Unfortunately, it seems federal funding of public broadcasting is finally at an end. This week, a bill to rescind $1.1 billion in funding (i.e. the next two years’ worth of funding) has passed Congress, albeit narrowly and with arm-twisting by Trump. Like any authoritarian, Trump is no fan of any news outlets that aren’t glorified stenographers or report anything remotely negative about him. That especially includes the likes of public broadcasting; Project 2025 (whose writers also make up Trump’s staff) makes said defunding one of its goals.
As such, after decades of defunding attempts, PBS and NPR funding from the federal government ’s finally at an end. And since it’s Trump, there’s no “better nature” or conscience to appeal to, similar to a comic book supervillain. (Something I wish Democrats, media conglomerates, and others would learn; negotiating with a bully doesn’t work.) Case in point: on Friday, he gloated on his own social network about defunding PBS/NPR, as well as about the other major media-related news story this week: CBS axing “The Late Show,” in a transparent attempt to appease Trump and allow the Skydance-Paramount merger to go through.
The future of PBS and NPR?
Of course, this will wreak havoc with PBS and NPR, on top of previous budget cuts. (The show in the image above, “Molly of Denali,” recently ended production thanks to a previous round of Trump cuts.) During Trump’s first term, I wrote about why PBS matters. Basically, commercial broadcasters don’t fill the same niches, and will always prioritize profit over everything else, including things that serve the public interest. See: HBO Max and Warner Bros. cancelling “Sesame Street” out of changing business priorities.
As for what will happen to PBS and NPR, my guesses:
- Cut backs in programming, including fewer new shows and more reruns of existing programs.
- A lot more pledge drives.
- More promotion of PBS Passport, PBS’s streaming service benefit that starts at $5 a month for most stations.
- More reliance on donations. Unfortunately, as Deadline notes, thanks to Trump’s across the board government cuts, PBS and NPR will be competing with a lot of other nonprofit interests for such donations.
- A number of smaller and secondary PBS and NPR stations going off the air.
On the last point, major stations like WTTW in Chicago, WNET in New York, or KCTS in Seattle, will ultimately stick around, even if not as well off as before. (The same goes for PBS and NPR as networks.) I’m not as optimistic about secondary stations in or near these cities, such as WYIN (in northwest Indiana), WLIW (on Long Island, New York), or KBTC (in Tacoma, Washington, near Seattle). And I’m definitely not optimistic about PBS and NPR stations in rural areas. KCTS has low-power repeaters to cover much of western Washington State’s rural or mountainous areas; I could see those being shut down. As for viewers who can no longer get PBS and NPR over the air, I assume those audiences will be directed to PBS and NPR’s streaming services instead. And if they don’t happen to have adequate broadband internet service, I guess no more PBS/NPR for them?
A similar situation as above is what happened in Canada. Their public broadcaster, CBC, saw its funding cut by conservatives (for similar ideological and penny-pinching reasons as the conservatives here) in the early 2010s, with CBC transmitters/repeaters everywhere outside of major cities shut down. Those that could no longer get CBC over the air were directed instead to use CBC’s streaming service.
Conclusion
This is definitely the toughest point ever in the history of US noncommercial public broadcasting. I hope that whatever happens, PBS and NPR eventually recover from all this and see its federal funding restored. As various media corporations have recently shown (in bending the knee to Trump), having neutral media and news outlets that aren’t motivated or influenced by profit is important for society.
Left to right: PBS logo (PBS); “NPR headquarters” by James Cridland is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr / cropped from original)
